Day 1
Monday 25th June 2007 - 38085 miles on clock Maryland / Northern Virginia
Preparations came to a head in frustration and wrangling - we ditched the big tent and set off far too late at 5pm on a miserable afternoon. Hit rain on 340 and headed for Skyline Drive at Front Royal. Stopped at last 7/11 for bread and supplies, washed broken egg off front of shorts and left toilet to pitying looks. One rear wheel extremely hot. Dusk gathering so nothing to be done but worry, buy yearly ticket at the park entrance and head up the hill at 25 mph.
Manual says we can change gear on the move. Unconvinced but more confident after a few grinding miles of tight bendy hills at 20 - 30 mph. Quaint leafy road, gentle evening, delicate light - rain stopped. Gloaming drove right past twin bear cubs on the road - too surprised to photograph. Lisa spotted mother’s head rising out of the ditch so we moved on. Unconcerned deer walking almost at our speed, treating us as fellow evening loiterers. Driving in the dark down headlit leaf tunnels we found Big Meadows campsite and drove onto an unoccupied rv pad. Electricity and water on wrong side. RV pads are designed to reverse in - 1st 6 point turn in the dark. Plugged in our wealth of rechargeable electrics, showered in the disabled toilets because it was free and slept very badly on a tilt. 100 miles from home. No signal on ultra expensive Sprint EX720 mobile broadband express card with 2 year contract. Repacked all my stuff into more intelligent paces - most used things in front. Forgot to take photos. Camp toilets open to the world, not quite clean enough, spooky at night and attracting great banging black insects. How to clean your backside properly?