More rain again! And about 40 degrees out at 7:00 AM. Feels like home – heh, heh. Since we only had about 35 mile to Laura’s place we thought we’d do a little exploring on the way. So we powered up the web and mapped out a route out into the countryside over to the James River. So we got everything put away, hooked up the car and headed out. Tina specifically wanted to explore on back country roads so we got off the main highway and picked up a road going East. It started out as a typical two lane road but quickly became a narrow one lane farming road. Well, that was okay, I just slowed down to 25 mph and stayed in the center. There wasn’t a center line so I judged the center by keeping 2 feet on each side of the coach before the ditch started. It quickly became a roller coaster of ups and downs, twist and turns. At one point we went down into a hollow with water on both sides and two measuring sticks at the side of the road so when it rained you could judge how deep the water was over the road. Fortunately it wasn’t raining very hard and the water was about a foot below the bottom of the dip.
With Tina reading the directions and telling me when to turn we were doing pretty good. Rolling hills with fields being cultivated, some with crops already growing and lots of horse farms with white painted fences. About 45 minutes into our drive we realized that we’d missed a turn and only vaguely knew where we were. Our big driving atlas wasn’t detailed enough to have all the roads we had mapped out, so Tina took a guess and sent us on our way down another country road, and another and another. Eventually we came out on a basic two lane road with lines in the middle and located it on the map. We were only twenty-five miles from our lunch stop in Clairemont on the James River. So, on we went.
We pulled into Clairemont and it turns out to be a very small riverside community that has seen more prosperous days. Rather than drive all the way to the river beach, I circled the town center and pulled to the side of the road in front of a couple of abandoned buildings. In between showers I walked the dogs while Tina fixed our lunches. We sat in the coach eating lunch and watching the rain. After a delightful repast it was time to get on our way again. From here we could follow our route instructions again.
We left Clairemont and following more one lane roads picked our way through the countryside towards Laura’s arriving about 3:30 PM (after a ninety mile side trip) and parked in front of their home in Prince George. We went inside and visited with Cameron and his girlfriend Angel, Brandon, Dakota and his friend Jerry, and Noah. Soon Laura got home followed by Zelon and we had a chance to visit before dinner. After dinner the boys cleaned up while the adults watched TV and visited.
To see all of our photos click on the following link:
Distance for this leg, 90 miles. Total for trip, 6,482 miles.
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