Home is Wherever We Are!

When we left Smith Mountain Lake we decided to drive up through Bedford, VA. We had both been wanting to go the the National D-Day Memorial which is located in Bedford and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Once we got to town we decided to find some food first, so we drove around until we found a shopping center with multiple restaurants. One of the choices was something called Huddle House. I had never heard of HH but Joseph was familiar and said it would be right up my alley so that is where we went. We asked our waitress about free internet (we are learning to ask now). She confirmed that they did have wifi so Joseph ran back out to the rig to get our laptops. We ordered breakfast foods even though it was mid-afternoon and our meal was EXCELLENT! We even got dessert which we don't normally have, but their key lime pie seemed too yummy to pass up.

When we were finished we dropped the laptops off in the rig and walked over to a Goodwill Store and then a Tractor Supply store to get some shopping done. Then we headed back to the Welcome Center and WWII Memorial. Imagine our surprise to see two other motorhomes not only parked on the grounds but hooked up! They actually have 3 RV sites there for overnight stays!!! You can only stay one night but it only costs $25! We enjoyed the Welcome Center exhibits and then headed back to the Memorial. It was a very bright, hot day and there was NO SHADE. I wished mightily that I had an umbrella to use as a sunshade. (I have since added two umbrellas to the permanent rig inventory.) There was so much to read, dozens of plaques with long involved descriptions of the people involved. We read all of them for a while, but then it became overwhelming as did the heat and we had to skip through to the "important" stuff. The whole time we were walking along we could hear simulated gunfire from part of the exhibit. When we got to the part where the statues of boys were climbing up onto the beach it became more and more emotional. Realizing that most of those boys who died were only a couple of years older than my son Miles made me very sad and emotional. After catching our breath and walking through the rest of the sculptures we made our way to the gift shop. I love museum gift shops because they always have a nice variety of items that can be gifts for others. This time I was thrilled to find a book about the Boys of Bedford. If you are not aware, the reason the National D-Day Memorial is in the tiny town of Bedford, VA is because more men (boys) per capita were lost from Bedford than anywhere else in the U.S. Bedford lost a total of 19 boys in that one day alone. We also found some Marine pins for My Marine.

Soon we were pulling out of Bedford and headed back north towards home. The further we got from the lake, the longer our faces got! We did NOT want to go home. We did not want our time in our Rallye Girl to end. We stopped in Staunton to get gas and just on a whim I decided to get out our GPS and see what she could find for us. One of the most wonderful functions on our GPS is that once she has found a satellite you can ask her for local restaurants, gas stations, hotels and CAMPGROUNDS!!!! So I asked Jill where the closest campground was and lo and behold there was one within six miles of where we were sitting! Now picture this, we go driving down a dark country road. We see the campground sign which is also dark. We drive down a long winding driveway still in the pitch dark and suddenly we round a bend and below us in a bowl of a valley is what looks like a city of lights. Compared to the tiny, quiet state park we had been staying in all week, this place was a bustling metropolis. We couldn't believe our eyes. There were motorhomes and travel trailers and tents in row upon row. Most of them either had interior lights on, or exterior strings of xmas lights, or bonfires or all three! We pulled up at the office to see if they even had space for us and while Joseph was inside I sat in the rig with the windows rolled down and marvelled at the spectacle before me. There was a karaoke contest going where one song was was country and the next hip hop, there were teens running in and out of the camp store buying ice cream and such, there were dogs everywhere and little Seamus was trembling with excitement on my lap. Joseph came out a few minutes later after securing us a spot, there were only a few left so we were lucky, but the funniest part was that the reason our particular section was still empty was because there were no cable tv hookups down there...okay, I know we are freaks for needing wifi where ever we go...but cable tv? Really? Our spot was right by the river and yes we DID have wifi!!!! We were so excited it took us several hours to calm down enough to go to bed. It was probably 2am before we got into bed and we laid there talking and laughing for at least another hour. Somehow it felt like a reprieve, we didn't have to go home after all! Our vacation didn't have to be over! Now what is REALLY funny about this is that we are retired, so we are technically always on vacation...