We departed Colonial Beach TT and drove up I-95 to Prince William Forest Park about 25 miles south of Washington, D.C. Again we were punished by the terrible Virginia interstate system roads due to their awful paving technology. Yawning gaps in the road surface at paving joints, potholes that are apparently repaired by being filled with mud and placed such that they are unavoidable and uneven surfaces between lanes are abundant and widespread.
However, once we left the interstate, the roads improved such that they are actually identifiable as roads although better roads are easily found in Mexico, Viet Nam and Mongolia. Prince William Forest Park is part of the National Forest system but, for some peculiar reason, our Federal access pass was useless here so we had to pay their rather expensive camping fees of about $45 a night. Proximity to D.C. must be the reason for the high fees because the RV camping area is nothing special although it does have pretty good wi-fi. TV reception sucks but all the utilities were good. The RV spaces are apparently measured by some mysterious Federal system because our 34′ trailer extends out both ends of a 40′ site. Maybe a Federal foot is only 9.5” long.
Our drive today only took a bit over an hour so when we got to the park and set up, we had most of the afternoon to explore the surrounding area. Manassas & Bull Run Civil War battlefields are close so we took a driving tour of the area which has pretty good interpretive displays and, weirdly, the burial spot of Stonewall Jackson’s arm. Although Jackson was a Confederate General, he was wounded in the left arm when shot by some nameless and careless Confederate sharpshooter. The Confederates hauled him to a local house, which is still standing, where his arm was amputated and subsequently buried in the back yard. The armless Jackson was then hauled over a long, circuitous road to another house about 25 miles away where he croaked a few days later from pneumonia, of all things.
The driving tour of the battlefield areas around Manassas is pretty interesting but some of the spots are hard to find due to the cleverly designed Virginia signage which only tells you where to turn after you have missed the opportunity to do so. The countryside is gorgeous here so even if you get lost the views are still very nice. Despite the beauty of the area it is a place where about 15,000 Americans were killed in two campaigns in the area and that weighs on you some.