Our agenda for today was unencumbered by appointments or forethought so we started the day by cogitating over coffee. We realized or remembered that our campground reservations for the future month or so were fragmented such that we had some immediate and some far-in-the-future reservations but there were gaping holes in between.
Of course, we started attacking the problem and quickly realized that we had again foolishly selected a Sunday for this task. Nobody in the campground business answers phones on Sundays and many of the Thousand Trails reservation websites are mystifying to operate properly, particularly for your narrator – a complete Luddite. We are Elite Members of TT (which means we paid a lot for the membership) but the websites seemingly derive some kind of cyber ecstasy from torturing recently impoverished members by cleverly arranging the site so it will automatically send you to all the features of the site except the one you need.
We had some partial success but there is still some work needed to firm up our accommodations schedule. In the midst of today’s mindless wanderings through electronic reservation systems, the weather put on an extravaganza. It was a bright clear morning. By 10:00, there were a few wispy clouds. By about 1:00, we noted it was getting noticeably darker outside and by 2:00 there was some preliminary thunder grumbles before the sky opened up and shat upon us. The wind went from about 5 mph to about 60 mph in 3 minutes during the heaviest squall lines of vision-obscuring rain mixed with a bit of small hail. The entire thunderstorm was here and gone in about 15 minutes. The weather here can be impressive, especially to those of us from drought-plagued states. After I ignorantly convinced myself the trailer wouldn’t fly away (it weighs six tons) it was great to watch.
It is our last day in Virginia on this trip. Although their interstate highways are…uhhh…interesting, the rest of Virginia has been just exceptional. While we were here this spring, we have encountered historical sites from 1607 through the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and seemingly coming right up to about the 1930s. The people we have met have been very hospitable and friendly. The rural areas from the coast all the way to the Appalachians have breathtaking scenery much of which can be easily seen from paved roads. The weather has been interesting since I am from California where there is no weather. Weather here changes quickly compared to the location of my residence in San Diego; the effect of two or three completely different types of weather on the same day is fascinating. I will miss this place until I return.