Ghost tour, Historic Williamsburg

OK the picture above right we were told is the most haunted place in Williamsburg....if not the USA. How scary is that? If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can actually see an orb (a ghost!!!) floating above the roof to the right of the chimney!! Oh wait....it was raining and that's just a rain drop on the camera lens. Drat, thought I captured a ghost! Next time. HA HA.

This evening we drove into Williamsburg for a ghost tour. I am now convinced Judy is after my life insurance $$$. She skillfully guided us walking miles eastward, the wrong way, to meet the tour's starting location after parking the truck. I think we walked so far east I could see London Tower. After doubling back we had to walk the ghost tour, thank God it started to rain so we could abandon the tour after an hour and a half. The ghosts didn't have me scared but that walking sure did. Don't ask me what the guide was telling us, I was huffing & puffing so I didn't hear much.

1607 Jamestown

We spent a few hours today at Historic Jamestown, a national park.

Here's Mary, I forgot her last name. She reenacted the life of the real Mary of 1623. She was the second woman to arrive and was the preachers wife & mother of 4. She told us of her trip across the Atlantic and life in Jamestown before she died, along with her husband, in 1624 of the plague. The other picture is of the foundations built over graves. The settlers did not want the Indians to know how many died the first year so they buried them without marking the graves. As time passed the graves were forgotten and building constructed over them. You can see the small crosses making graves that were discovered.

Here's the outside of the church. The 3 story bell tower in the front of the church is the oldest above ground structure remaining, it was built in the 1640s or 1680s, they are not sure. The other picture is of the current excavation of the original wooded church structure which they have been looking for for years.

Here is Pocahontas & John Smith.

This is a reconstruction of the inside of the first English church in what was to become the United States. The Tercentenary Monument commemorates Jamestown's 300th anniversary.

In the woods at Williamsburg, VA

Today was a travel day to Virginia. It was only 170 miles but we noticed the expressway in Virginia was ruffer than any others since leaving Alabama. One bridge in particular really caused the rig to porpoise, when we arrived the only disturbance was one plant on a rear shelf was knocked over spilling some dirt on the couch & floor. When we pulled into Outdoor World we started to wonder about the park because we had to wait for a gate to open, the interior roads are narrow & in a forest, & the lady behind the desk said go find a site while leaving the rig blocking the entrance. There was no golf cart to take us around (as often is the case) and she did not advise us to wander around with a large RV in tow. The couple in front of us had a 40' motor home so they disconnected their toad and drove around. Anyway, we selected a site next to the other couple and both of us had never run into a setup like this. After zig zagging we were set up in the forest but the rooftop dish didn't lock onto the satellite for TV reception which was no surprise. An hour or so latter I was relaxing in my chair when I noticed Judy climbing up the rear ladder onto the roof. She had brought over a worker and he was sawing limbs off a tree above us and she was on the roof collecting branches. I helped pick them up and guess what.....we now have satellite reception in the forest! What a wife!! After all this we have decided we like this place after all, it's not often we are set up in the woods. We will extend our stay two more nights.

Kampers Lodge in Wilson, NC

We were on the road by 9 today and made an easy 210 mile run east to Wilson, NC where we will be for two nights. Tomorrow we will visit Gary & Deb who we met at Life On Wheels in 2007. They are stationary now taking care of aging parents so we haven't seen them for quite a while. Nice little campground here.

Hendricks Racing

Today Judy went to Curves while I fueled the truck and stopped at the post office. We had lunch at the Cook Out, a burger joint were you either drive through or order and eat outside. It was nice out. After that we found Rick Hendricks facility and were quite impressed. It is by far the largest and on what I'd call a campus with several buildings. Very nice landscaping too.

NASCAR Hall of Fame

Today we drove to downtown Charlotte to visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame. We spent 2 or 3 hours there and I'd rather have checked out the inside of one of the teams shops. It is a great interactive activity that kids and young folks would enjoy but I am glad we did visit it. I can't remember that last time it cost $2.50 for a bottle of soda. I would think that a more fitting hall of fame location would be in the country just outside Mooreville where most of the NASCAR teams are located.

Ann & NASCAR country

We started the day with an hour tour of the Charlotte Motor Speedway including a lap around the 24 degree banked track at speed, well, the best speed of an 15 passenger van. We have been on tracks before but this was the first time they did 60 or 70mph. From there it was a stop at DEI, our second time there. Since Dale was killed in 2001 at the Daytona 500 the museum is now half memorials from his fans. Next stop was to see and visit with Ann, Judy's niece. She showed us her & Mark's new home, very nice. Mark is on the road living his dream. He drives the motorhome and works for Brad Keselowski who drives the #2 Miller Lite car in the Sprint Cup Series for Roger Penske. The three of is went out for a BBQ lunch which Judy (the BBQ queen) said was very good. We then went to JR Motorsports, Kasey Kahne Racing, Martin Truex Jr Motorsports, Kyle Bush Motorsports & Penske Racing. Sounds like a lot of traveling but they are all located within a very few miles of each other in Mooresville, NC. Ann also showed us where she & Mark use to live, their landlord was a guy names Dale Earnhardt Jr. When they took their trash out they drove a golf cart up his driveway to a dumpster. Neet. I stopped to visit him but the gate was closed, seems he was in Richmond, VA for a race so we turned around in Dale's driveway. We really enjoyed hearing Ann talk about meeting some pretty famous NASCAR people, including Jr. My last comment.....this darn blogger program sure doesn't put the pictures where I told it to put them! Dang.