It’s been quiet here at WandaFree for quite a while. We’ve had busy times that have kept our attention at home and in other places. It’s finally time to get Wanda out of storage and back on a trip. And what a trip we have ahead of us! We left home on February 29 and aren’t planning to be back until sometime in the fall. It’s the longest time we’ve planned to be traveling so far.

This trip will take us down the eastern seaboard to Gulf State Park in Alabama, where we will be snowbirds for about a month. From there we travel to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho where we meet up with fellow travelers for a tour of Alaska. We return home from Alaska via the northern United States and Canada.

Leaving home

Our plan was to leave home at 4:00 a.m. on February 29 and drive to our first overnight in Virginia Beach. Despite our best intentions, our departure time morphed into 6:00 a.m. Not too bad of a delay, but it made me change my mind about driving through the I95 corridor into NYC and over the GW Bridge during the morning commute. Instead, we sailed through Hartford on I84 early enough to miss the usual morning tie-up, and crossed into New Jersey over the beautiful new Mario Cuomo Bridge, standing where my sentimental favorite Tappan Zee Bridge used to cross the Hudson River.

At that point the GPS wanted to send us onto the Garden State Parkway, not a friendly option for trailers. We stopped for fuel and were directed to an alternate route to avoid the parkway. Crossing into Delaware at Wilmington, we used Route 13 all the way down the Delmarva (Delaware / Maryland / Virginia) peninsula to the amazing Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. This combination of three bridges and two tunnels crosses a seventeen-mile expanse of Chesapeake Bay. We were lucky to cross it at sunset, and the sky reflected in the water all around us was a lovely sight. Sadly, there are no photos of this, since we were unable to stop on the bridges, but the memory remains with me.

Upon arriving in Virginia Beach, we squeezed into our campsite at the Virginia Beach KOA Holiday for the night, 500 miles and 12 hours after leaving home that morning. We normally don’t like to spend this much time on the road in one day, but the options for campsites are few at this time of year, until you’re far south enough for campgrounds to be open.

Three more days to Gulf Shores

Next day we traveled to Carolina Shores, NC, spending most of the day on Route 17 in North Carolina. This very nice four-lane road parallels the coastline and would make a great week or two trip during warmer weather. There are side trips to Kitty Hawk, the Outer Banks, Hilton Head, and so on, all connected by this road. Maybe another time!

In Carolina Shores we connected with our friends Sheila and Michelle, who we met on our Mississippi River tour in 2022. They’ve relocated their home base to a nice new house there, and we had a great evening catching up with them. We will meet up with them again for the Alaska tour in June.

Our third day on the road took us to Lake City, Florida, where we spent the night at Lake City RV Resort, a nice little campground right off the highway.

Finally, our fourth travel day brought us to Gulf State Park Campground in Gulf Shores, Alabama, our destination for the month of March. We had covered 1569 miles to get there. And we were ready for some relaxation, with a little adventure mixed in. Stay tuned!