Norfolk – Our Levels Are Down

Wednesday was a normal travel day for us.  We figured we’d probably pull out of the Orangeburg, SC Elks about 8:30 but we really got on the road about 7:30.  We also figured we’d probably only drive 220 miles to the Wal-Mart in Smithfield, NC.  That didn't quite happen as we really drove about 400 miles to the Elks in Norfolk, VA.  That’s pretty normal for us.  Whatever we start thinking we’ll do is rarely what we end up doing.

The weather was beautiful and other than a ton of cars upon our arrival it was pretty uneventful.  We pulled into the Norfolk Elks and it definitely looked deserted but it didn’t stay that way long.  It’s not that they had any activities at the lodge as they didn’t. A snow storm last year did a lot of damage.  The lodge has recently reopened but the membership dropped drastically during the repairs.   Our timing was definitely poor.  We figured we’d probably hang out a couple weeks there but that was before we knew about the contractors and the repair folks.  Plus, we also thought we would have access to water and a dump …. not so.  The pipes broke when they froze over this winter and they were in the process of trying to get them fixed. 

We met several of the local Elks members who stopped by to chat and also one neighbor that I really didn’t want to chat with.  A plumper showed up several times a day for a few minutes, park right next to us and squealed out every time he left.  One night he was there fiddling until well after 10:00.

This was also the time the pool was drained to get ready for cleaning.  The huge pump sat close to the bedroom window.  The noise was extremely annoying. Also, an apartment building just behind the Elks was in the process of getting built.  The workers sometimes started as early as 6:00 and worked very late with their loud music boxes blasting well past dark.  We felt we were in the middle of the construction site. 

We did love watching the Fox Family come out and play every morning.  There was a mom, dad and three little ones.    We could watch them for hours.  What fun that was!!   I took hundreds of pictures and a few movies so aren’t you glad I’m only posting five?

Thursday night we had a visitor.  Justin dropped by after he got off of work – 8:00.  Originally he was supposed to be out on a deployment until early May but that deployment was cancelled.  We were glad about that.  After chatting and getting caught up, plans for dinner was made for the next night.   I knew being good with what I eat would be a struggle for the next few weeks.  I decided to try to be good but there was no way I was getting on the scales over the weekend after eating out.

Friday was busy.  We spent the day trying to track down another place to move and a storage place for the motorhome.  We also got to check out Chesapeake Bay, Justin’s home and a couple of his friends.  Plus we visited another BBQ restaurant and did some NEX and Commissary shopping.  Like I said, we were busy, busy, busy.

Terry even found a great Tommy Bahama shirt on sale.

So, do they turn the life guard tower over after the season or did it get blown over?

How often do you see big pine cones in the sand?  I bet not too often.  There were quite a few on this beach.

Saturday morning rolled around.  The lodge at the Elks had been rented for that weekend and lots of touchup work had been done on it over the last few days getting it ready for the rental.  It’s not a bad place to stay.  Matter of fact, it’s a good place to stay.  It was that our timing was very, very bad and it was definitely time to pull out.  We did that early Saturday morning before the main activities of the day got started. So, after staying about 3 nights we were up pretty early for our next move and on the road to our next location.  Not a long move but it tells you how anxious we were.

Seven miles later we moved to Virginia Beach and  into our next RV site.   Oops …. we could only get one satellite from our Dish Network antenna.   We were lucky to be able to move (and set up again) in another site just down the same roadway.  We were finally ablet to receive signal from two of the three satellites.  Thank Goodness.

About noon Justin showed up and we took off for lunch.  It was Mexican food this time and really good Mexican food at that.  We had to eat fairly light because Justin wanted to fix dinner for us that night.  It was a fun day.  We ate, we shopped, we ate and then we watched a movie at his place.  What fun for sure.

This was an interesting sight at Barnes and Noble.  Mama is sitting on the eggs and Papa is guarding the area.  The store put down little cones to keep people away.

  Justin was busy at work preparing dinner!

  Our delicious hamburgers right off the grill!

This was Justin’s burger!

We were thankful Justin had picked us up and was driving us back because it was another late night for us.  Besides it being late, it was also raining hard and he knew more about driving in the area than we did.

‘Tis life on the road.