We left Fayetteville after getting a motorbike fix. Greg had spoken to his friend Google and discovered a dealership that was not Harley! We spent a while wandering through the shop which sold Ducati, Triumph, Honda and Suzuki. We then went to check out an accessories shop as well. Greg was tempted by a new summer jacket but he didn't like how it fitted so we walked out empty handed - not like us at all!












We had seen a sign to Fort Bragg Army Base so drove off in that direction. Arriving at the security checkpoint (6 lanes wide) we knew we had no hope of getting in for a look so we claimed to be lost and asked for directions to turn around.

Our destination for the day was Norfolk, Virginia. We have read just about everything that novelist Tom Clancy has written and Norfolk is mentioned in many of his books. Norfolk, we were told by a Marine we spoke to over a beer, is the largest USA Naval Base in the World. We could see many naval vessels in the waters around the city. As we have discovered there are numerous decommissioned ships moored in city harbours as museums, Norfolk was no exception. The USS Wisconsin was tied up beside the Nauticus Museum for visitors to see. We gave the tour a miss as Greg said "seen one Battleship, you've seen them all".


Norfolk is also the burial place of General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur was a five-star General. He is one of only five men to get to the rank of Gereral of the Army. He was the Supreme Commander for the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War Two. He was a Medal of Honour recipient for his service in the Phillippines Campaign, his father was also a Medal of Honour recipient. As we found out when we visited West Point Military Academy, MacArthur graduated first in his class in 1903 and won all three major awards for his class. We visited his statue which is outside the Douglas MacArthur Memorial (formally the Norfolk City Hall). MacArthur is buried in the rotunda of the building.


When we woke up in the morning the TV news channels were still warning of the devastation that Hurricane Matthew was causing, we were so glad we were not still in that area. There was a large shopping centre next to our hotel so we wandered across to have a look before we left town. It was 9:45 am but the shops weren't open yet. Score another one for Greg who has a habit of only taking Kerrie shopping when the shops are shut. He better be careful when we get to New York - I hear it never closes!

We headed out of town towards Virginia Beach. The effects of Hurricane Matthew were definitely being felt in this seaside holiday town; the strong wind was bending the palm trees and the surf was choppy with no one venturing on to the sand. We were treated to a fly over of several fighter jets while checking out the beach.


Our next destination was Ocean City, Maryland. To get there we travelled across and through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the largest such complex in the world. Following its opening in 1964, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was selected as one of the "Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World". Measuring 17.6 miles (approx 28 km) from shore to shore, the Bridge-Tunnel consists of two mile-long tunnels, two bridges, 12 miles of trestled roadway, four man made islands, almost two miles of causeway and five and a half miles of approach roads totaling 23 miles in all! Amazing! We stopped at the first tunnel entrance for photos of two Naval vessels going by. One of the ships was the brand new USS Zumwalt - a stealth destroyer - which will be commissioned on 15th October in Baltimore. The captain of this vessel is........wait for it........ Captain Kirk, guess he wasn't re-signed for the next episode of Star Trek!


We continued north along Highway 13, a narrow peninsula of land that is part of Virginia but looks like it should belong to Maryland. Our only stop was for lunch in the little, historical town of Onancock.

After crossing the state line into Maryland, it was only a short trip to Ocean City, the most popular family holiday resort in the USA. On any given weekend in summer, between 250 000 and 300 000 visitors come to Ocean City. The 10 miles of beaches attract up to 8 million people annually. Lucky we are here in fall! Most visitors, if not all, would walk along the 3 mile long boardwalk lined with hotels, arcades and restaurants. Our hotel is right on the boardwalk overlooking the ocean. The boardwalk started in 1902 as a portable wooden walkway but hotel owners decided to collaborate and build a more permanent structure so that visitors could walk along the beach without getting sand in their shoes - I like their thinking! By 1910 the boardwalk was five blocks long and it was expanded in the 1920's. A devastating storm in 1962 wrecked the structure which was rebuilt but now ends at 27th street (there are 145 streets along the beach front).



Sometimes when you visit a place something unexpected occurs that makes the visit more memorable. This weekend in Ocean City is one of those times. The 19th Annual Endless Summer Cruisin Car Show is on. This 4 day event is one of the eastern region's largest car shows with more than 2000 hot rods, street machines and customs attending. The cars parade down the boardwalk each morning. Kerrie stood happily on the balcony of our hotel room snapping photos of a huge variety of cars. A couple of notable cars here are the 1961 " Double Bubble" Chevy Impala named as one of the Great 8 in the 2016 Riddler Competition as well as the 48 Studebaker Pick-Up, winner of the 2014 Gene Winfield Award. The cars drive up and down the 2 main streets and people sit on the footpaths just watching them go by. You've got to be lucky sometimes!




Being by the ocean, seafood is the most common food right along with ice cream, funnel cake and frozen custard. A seafood buffet was our choice for dinner.

Tomorrow we head to Washington for a 3 night stay.