The first drive from Virginia to Cape May, NJ was a success but not at all what we expected. We had planned our route well, our stops, and even allotted extra time for traffic. Unfortunately for us though, we planned as if we were driving a regular car. I'm sure it is no surprise that our trip took way longer than we expected! We left Culpeper, VA at 5:00 PM and expected to make the 4.5-hour journey to Cape May in about 5.5 hours. We got on the road and immediately realized EVERYTHING was going to take longer than we had expected since we were driving a giant SAIL down the road! Our mantra for the drive was "Slow and steady stays alive!" As soon as we got over the shock of our new reality, we hit DC and Baltimore traffic. No explanation need there. Then the hangrys set in so we found the nearest Chick-fil-a, which is when we confronted our next challenge, parking. Well, I thought I was pretty slick by parking across five spots, nosing into the corner curb. When I returned to the RV with arms full of chicken, Sarah let me know the locals greeted her with jeers, swears, and one-finger salutes, so we promptly backed out and hid behind the mini-mall to enjoy our dinner. On the positive side, we all sat around the table and ate together. Back on the road, we headed up RT 95 only to see signs prohibiting our RV from going through the Baltimore tunnels. I guess since we are carrying propane in the RV (which runs the refrigerator and hot water heater) we are considered a hazard and a rolling bomb. Fortunately, we caught a glimpse of a sign listing 695 as the alternate route but it didn't happen to say which direction to go for Cape May. After a quick jaunt in the wrong direction and a slightly sketchy u-turn, we were marching on, still not 100% sure how we were getting around the harbor. Waze, my trusty GPS, had no idea we were driving an RV so it kept trying to re-route us back through the tunnel and we were flying blind until it gave up and plotted us a course over the Key bridge. At this point, our anxiety was high but the reward for us "riding the wave" was a beautiful sunset! I watched the road and everyone else watched the sunset. I'm told it was spectacular.
From this point on it was pretty easy driving. We kept our speed down around 60-65 which is where we felt most in control of the vehicle. Any faster and I needed to keep a death grip on the steering wheel to stay between the lines. We stopped 3 more times for bathroom breaks and to pick up supplies at WAWA once we were an hour from our destination. The other thing we noticed while driving was how LOUD it is inside. Somewhere around 9:30, Charlie started falling asleep but the RV sounded like a falling building with every bump in the road. With the camper full of every supply needed for civilized life, including food, coffee maker, pots and pans, etc,, it should have been no surprise, but we weren't expecting the noise and no one slept.
We rolled into our campground around 12:30 AM, about 7.5 hours after the start. The site attendant stuck a map on the bulletin board for us and we desperately tried to quietly drive the V10 powered rig into our spot. With lights shut off, we backed into our first camping spot, killed the engine, and hooked up our electricity. WHEW! We made it. We got everyone to bed fairly quickly and I simply stared at the ceiling for another 2.5 hours while the Dr. Pepper caffeine that powered me through the night drive continued to run its course. But we were here, safe, and excited for the first full day of our vacation.
Up Next... Cape May. Spoiler Alert! You have to go there!
