Chesapeake Bay Virginia Thousand Trails RV Park - 2021/08/10-17

Today is another travel day! It's been a fun time in North Carolina, and it was a late night last night watching meteors in the Outer Banks, but it's time to pack up and head to our next destination. We're headed north toward the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia!

Today's drive shouldn't be too bad either. Just about 4 hours or so. 

Welcome to Virginia! Virginia is for Lovers apparently. 

And you know what that state line means! One more state for Alli and Ian on their map! It is certainly starting to get filled in. 

Around 4:30pm I pulled up to the Ranger Booth at the Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails campsite. After confirming our reservation, we were given a map, and were told that we could pick any of the spaces that were free. I don't love driving the RV up and down narrow camp roads looking for a space. Next time we might park it on the side temporarily, get out the bikes, and scout out a location before trying to maneuver the RV everywhere. 

After going down a few loops, I spotted a location through the trees for something that looked promising. Once I got the RV over to it, I saw that it wasn't taken and was able to back into it successfully on the first try! 

This is a great location for us because it's right across the path from the basketball, volleyball, playground, and pool. While I got the RV set up, the kids took their basketballs over to the court to practice shooting. 

After our usual Taco Tuesday dinner, it was time to go exploring on the bikes. After getting bit so much last night, Theresa wasn't taking any chances and donned some mosquito proof clothing. We all rode back up the entrance road to see the corn that was growing along side the road. 

These are pretty big and looking tasty. We're definitely going to have to get some corn while we're here. 

The campground is pretty large with 365 sites. The sites themselves are situated around small lakes and rivers, feeding into the Piankatank River, which eventually winds its way into the Chesapeake Bay. 

Wow, the sunsets here are beautiful. 

Ian and I rode down to the water's edge to get a closer look. 

While Theresa and Alli stayed away from the underbrush and all the biting insects. Probably a good strategy for them. 

During our ride the kids found the playground and were able to get some energy out from their travel day. 

That's a nice looking mini golf course. We're definitely going to have to try it out. 

There are two swimming pools at this RV site, but for at least the last 2 weeks, this bigger pool has been closed. It was our luck though that today was the first day it opened! That's our RV in the background and we have a great view of it from our dining room window. 

Hmm, rule number 2 is interesting. We can't even have pool noodles here? 

The pools did get busy at times, but we did luck out a few times and have it all to ourselves. Theresa and I both hopped in the water with them and were able to work on a few more swim lessons. 

My only complaint here is that even though the signs say that the pool is open until 10:30pm, we were told we had to get out of this pool at sunset. Something about not having lights in the pool, though the lampposts around the area were super bright and on all night. 

While we were here the piano came out and the kids started learning some of the basics. 

We're using an app called Simply Piano that uses the iPad's microphone to listen to see if you've played the right note, and doesn't let you continue until you get it right. It's also set up like a game, with streaks, scores out of 3 stars, and popular songs that you can start playing right away. 

And the kids aren't the only ones trying to learn the piano. 

The kids have wanted to get started playing volleyball too. We're going over some of the basics like, how to hold the ball and serve. 

And how to get down low to pass. We're still working on it, but I'm seeing improvement. There's times when we're able to pass it around to everyone twice before it gets shanked. 

On our walks around the campgrounds, this tree has seen some erosion. We can get a good look at the root system going on down below. 

There's a dock out on the river where we watched some herons. 

During our weekly shopping outing, I happened to miss a turn on the way back and had to go down a road we hadn't been down before. I noticed a truck on the side of the road with a sign for free cantaloupes. I mentioned it to Theresa and asked if I needed to turn around. YES! Always when there's free fruit. 

They're a bit ripe, but Theresa found a few. Both kids love cantaloupe. Theresa left them a Thank You note. 

Back at home, these need to be eaten soon. They're very ripe, especially from sitting out in the heat all day. 

One thing Theresa has really been wanting to find has been Farmer's Markets. Looking online for them in the area has been a real challenge. Theresa and I found pages that showed Farmer's Markets happened on Friday, and another in a different location on Saturday. Both days we took the truck out and only found empty parking lots. 

So on Sunday as we were driving to a Kroger for fresh fruit and veggies, when Theresa saw a market and a fruit stand, we had to stop. 

Unfortunately this was more like a flea market versus a farmer's market. The one truck selling produce that Theresa saw from the road was the only such truck in the whole place! Being in the RV, we don't have much use for the other things offered here at the flea market. Old Coke bottles, old toys, furniture, appliances, etc. 

Before we go, I want to see how good the kids have really gotten in the pool. This pool is 75 feet long and both kids were able to swim from one end to the other. They also started a competition to see who could tread water the longest. I stopped both of them at 91 seconds. I'm really happy with how they're progressing and I'm starting to think that the float vests might end up getting put away for a while. 

We said we were going to get out and go mini golfing before we leave and we're running out of time. Tomorrow we're driving to the next stop. It's been raining, so things are a little soggy, but that didn't stop the kids from wanting to go. 

Yes, just a little soggy in places. 

It was neck and neck for a while between Theresa and I. 

And I managed a couple hole-in-ones that I thought would help me pull ahead. 

But on hole number 16 it all fell apart. The evil hole was at the top of a hill that sloped down on all sides. If you didn't hit it up the hill and into the hole, it was going back down again for another long putt. Theresa sunk it in two shots, while I took the maximum six. 

Followed by a hole-in-one from Theresa on hole number 17 and it was all over for me. Congrats Theresa! You win this round! 

After dinner I wanted to get out and stretch our legs before our travel day tomorrow. Plus we always seem to be falling behind in our walking and riding to hit 500 miles in each before the end of the year. 

We walked back up the road to the entrance, stopping by another farmer's field to see what is growing. 

Soybeans! These are edamame pods!

The USA is 2nd in the world in the production of soybeans, supplying 29%! Brazil is the leader with 34%. These beans are usual for protein, oil, and livestock feed, and of course that tasty condiment Soy Sauce. We love seeing flowering and fruiting plants, and I love showing the kids where food actually comes from. 

Chesapeake Bay RV has been a wonderful campground to stay at. There's been lots to do here, both at the RV park and outside the RV park. This was one of our favorite campgrounds to be at so far. 

Ian - Chesapeak Bay - Chesapeak bay was fun. My favorite part was playing volleyball. They had a good golf course. I treaded water for 91 seconds and swam a 25 meter pool.