Having spent 2020 except for about a month trapped by Covid in Boynton Beach we left John Prince Park on 5/9 and Florida on 5/10 our first stop was Daytona Beach and then Jekyll Island for a three night stay.


Jekyll Island

Dead stump on the beachBeach

Bicycle Path through the woodsedge of the island

Hystoric districtHorton House
From Jekyll we went to Santee State Park in South Carolina. We had often stopped there in the past mainly for a night on our way up or down from Florida. They have some interesting paths, a large lake and an old highway bridge used by fisherman and walkers next to I95. On this occasion we spent 3 nights and walked in the park. Occasionally I use my Garmin  Montana 680t  not that I needed a GPS here but it's another toy I get to play with. When I turned it on I noticed several Geocaches near by. For some reason the Garmin was less then helpful however my iPhone was able to help us locate about 3 caches during our stay. I think the  park set them out for the kids but it was a nice interlude. We haven't geocached in a long time. Geocaching like photography is something I do while we walk or hike. Our purpose is to walk or hike geocaching and photography are after
thoughts.

When we arrive in a park we usually go on a short sometimes long walk to get the road trip out of our system and stretch. It also provides an overview of the park. This time was no exception but it was interesting. In all our years visiting this park and it was numerous we never walked or drove on the road past the park office. This time we walked it and discovered the very nice looking cabins in the woods and on platforms in the lake.
cabin on the lakeCypress trees in lake

cabins in the woods    


On the following two days we walked on the trails and looked for Geocaches
on the trail in view of the lake   Geochaching

finding a geoccheopening a cache

After our 3 day pleasant stay in Santee we went to the RV Resort at Carolina Crossing it's an interesting campground in an arrested development shopping center. There is a theater  a Hampton Inn and the campground the rest of the place are just empty streets. They either ran out of money or never got stores to buy in. Who knows but it's a nice campground and convenient place to stop for a night on the way to and from Florida. We used to go to a Motel campground in Roanoke Rapids and walk on the Roanoke Canal but that place closed. Now we just walk on the empty streets not as nice but after a drive The canal is too far. From there we went to Newport News and the Newport News Campground for another three day stay. We found this town Campground in October 2014 when we were headed for a family event in Reston.  While there we shopped Costco and Trader Joe to replenish our groceries. The park is situated on the site of a Civil War battle field and not far from a Revolutionary battle field in Yorktown where Washington finally defeated the British. We did some geocaching here as well and this one was a little harder to find.

Civil War explationCivil War Rifle Pits

Bridge over lack where Civil War Dam #0ne wasturtle feeding frenzy

cypres treesgeocache
Path


After another pleasant 3 day stay in Newport News we drove the relatively short distance to the 13 Mile Bay Bridge Tunnel connecting the Eastern and Western Shore of Virginia. Our destination for a 4 day stay was Kiptopeake State Park in Cape Charles, Virginia. We have been coming to this park for over 28 years since it first opened. It was carved out of old farmland and wide open but now the non campground part of the park is covered with trees with forest trails and not to few geocaches.
our rig at campground

Out on the trail of Geocachesunopened geocacheopened geocache
We walked in the park and nearby on the ever expanding Eastern Shore rail trail. Agriculture and fishing still dominate the area but artists and other crafts people are starting to populate the abandoned buildings and store fronts. In fact we visited an upscale farmers market  in a renovated potato drying shed.

fisherman's shedFarmer's fields


Pearl Farmer's Market

New farmers marketThe Pearl Market

We always walk down to the fishing pier  to check out the concrete navy. When we first started coming here the old Norfolk Ferry terminal was here. They tore it down because the building was loaded with asbestos. Now it's just a wide open area for fishing people. The concrete Navy is old World War Two concrete cargo ships loaded with sand and sunk off shore to provide a natural harbor.

Fishing pierConcrete Navy

leftover from the ferry days is the old motel sign
old Motel sign nearwhere the ferry terminal was

and we walked in the woods overlooking the Chesapeake Bay 

Bench overlooking Chesapeake Bayresting on our walk


On Monday May 24, 2021 we left Kiptpopeake and drove up US 13 to Dover where we got on State Road 1 and continued up the Peninsula to Bear Delaware and Lum's Pond. We have been coming to Lum's pond for years. It's a great place to stop at the top of the Delmarva Peninsula. We came here when only a handful of spots had electric and none had water or sewers now they all have electric, water and sewers. Ever since they put in Yurts and a Zip line fixing the entire park into a popular destination and I suspect a money maker. Lum's pond now has a Costco and a Shoprite nearby and now a President so what's not to like. Rain maybe, which we had the first day we were there so we walked around the campground when it stopped for a short while.

We have always walked on the Little Jersey Trail sometimes further then other times. Once we even walked around the whole pond  on it but for some reason it was closed about a mile and a half from the start which was fine with us as we wouldn't have gone further anyway.  As you can see it skirts a farmer's field and the pond
Little Jersey TrailFarmer's field

Lum's Pondclosed trail sign

Since we were there for 3 nights I looked at Trail Link and found the nearby C and D Canal Michael Castle Trail a paved trail which I believe is new adjacent to the Canal and walked there.

C and D Canal TrailMichael Castle Trail 

ON the 27th we packed up and headed to Croton Point Park in Westchester County New York one of our home's away from home, for doctor and family visits.

On July 8th we left Croton to visit the Flight 93 Memorial and several other sites in Ohio and NY