Day 1- Atlantic Dip and Across Rivers: Virginia Beach to Jamestown

I started my cross country adventure today at the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia Beach. This differs from the traditional start at Yorktown because I very much wanted to start at the ocean proper.

The downside of this decision is that getting from VA Beach to the TransAm route proper is pretty challenging. There is lots of traffic along the route as well as a couple of brutally tall bridges. Also, I hadn’t realized this until the trip started, but apparently I had to use two ferries.

Pretty much right away on the trip two things jump out. First, People are stunned and then very friendly and helpful when they find out what I’m doing. Second, there are lots of cool things to see along the way. In fact, a lot of them happen quickly, so no time for a big to-do with the camera. The coolest of those today was a hawk EXPLODING out of a bush about 10 feet from me. Scared me worse than any cars on the road. But here are some cool things I *did* take pictures of:

This church is in a very rundown area of Portsmouth. Even though it is a little beaten up, it looked very hopeful to me.

I crossed a bridge out of isle of wight county and suddenly I was in the deep south. Found a biker bar. Nailed it.

After a pretty tiring and hilly 2nd half of the day, I’ve setup home for the night. I’m pretty sure I have too much stuff, I’m already thinking about finding a post office and mailing some back home.