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March 29, 2009 (Sun) Petersburg CG to Smithfield, NC (328/3609 miles)  - No wet blankets this morning. But it didn't rain during the night either. In fact when we went to bed a beautiful new moon dominated a sky full of sparkling bright stars. So would the duct tape have worked? Don't know.

We got off at about 8:10 (54° clear but windy) and cruised some of the rest of the campground on our way to the dump station. There are quite a few really nice spots, many on the water like ours has been. There are very few spots taken so a stop in the future should not be a problem. This campground definitely is a keeper.

Hildene scored another win! We had her set to take the shortest route to Greenville, NC hoping that would keep us off the interstate highways where she has a tendency to lead us. It worked but at one point she directed us to turn south when we knew we should be going north. Then when she told us to turn left we said, "That can't be right." and went on. After a while we turned around - we were going the wrong way after all - and bypassing the "wrong turn" went north for several miles - Hildene complaining all the way. "She's confused," we said, but finally decided we were lost and had no choice but to begin following her directions - right into a dead end road! After some weaving around, we ended up back at that "wrong turn" and took it this time. That worked. The road got pretty narrow (i.e. one lane) for a while but we finally emerged onto "civilized" roads and we were on our way again. We thought we heard Hildene giggling at on point.

We had planned to stop in Fayetteville, NC for the night but we thought it too early when we got there so we came on to Smithfield. After getting permission to spend the night from the Walmart store management there we went to a Ci Ci's Pizza Buffet for supper.

Q049595 Camp Walmart, Smithfield, NC
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March 30, 2009 (Mon) Smithfield, NC to lower Delmarva peninsula in VA (226/3835 miles) 41/66° - The Walmart was somewhat noisier then we remembered it being from the last time we were there. Cars and noisy trucks seemed to be coming and going all night. This is not usually a problem for us but last night there was a truck that would idle for a while, shut down for a while and then start up again - all night long. It was a way off but we found ourselves lying there waiting for it to start or to stop. Morning finally came though. After showers, breakfast, and paying our dues to Walmart (shopping), we got back on the road at about 8:55 (48° mostly sunny).

It was only an hour and a half to Greenville so we got there a little early for our lunch rendezvous - so we headed for the Walmart to see if we could pick up a few things we couldn't in Smithfield. This being Monday the choice of restaurants was limited but we found Hamm's open and had a great lunch - and, of course, a great visit with Luke and Jake. It was warm enough to eat lunch out on the terrace and that was wonderful.

The rest area just north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel has signs posted limiting parking to 48 hours. We (as well as other RVers and long haul truckers) interpret this to mean that overnight parking is OK. So here we are. The last time we were here it was pretty noisy. We're in a different area of the parking lot this time so we'll see how it is tonight.

Q049821 Lower Delmarva Peninsula Rest Area
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March 31, 2009 (Tue)  Lower Delmarva peninsula in VA to home (349/4184 miles) - Woke up last night at about 11:30 to the sound of a big diesel engine idling right outside our bed room window! About the time Mark was about ready to move to an other area of the parking lot the truck pulled out - leaving the sound of another idling three spaces away. That wasn't as bad. It was a quieter engine and not as close. But we were awake and it was irritating so we moved - to an area more heavily populated with trucks. But they were quiet and so was the rest of the night.

We got off at about 7:40 (43° clear) and headed north on US13 in search of a McDonald's for our traditional last-day-on-the-road breakfast. On our way again, we stopped at the rest area at the south end of I-295 where there is a sanitary dump station and cleaned out our tanks. No need to winterize this time. We also ate lunch there. We jumped off I-195 and turned south to Lakewood in search of the Camping World there. We wanted to talk with them about some repair (or replacement) of the propane tank - we'd been told it needed work. We didn't get much satisfaction in that respect but we ended up spending some money in their store. We seem to be trying to keep the economy afloat!!!

We got home at about 5:30 - too late to pick up our mail, but happy to have the space and our own comfy bed again

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