We didn't have much of a budget for this trip, so we planned to sleep as many nights as possible in the van, mainly at rest stops. I had never tried it before, but after sleeping in the van at Huntsville and earlier this year in South Dakota, I knew it could be done.
The big pepper order we had been preparing for had to be delivered before we left. We spent all of Wednesday night picking and washing the last group of peppers. We were still out picking after dark with headlamps on, then I had to stay up pretty late to wash everything and bag it up. We left for Virginia after work on Thursday, meeting up with our buddy Paul to deliver the peppers on the way out of town. By the time we finished up our therapy notes and met him, it was 8:30 before we actually started heading east. I was glad to have dropped off those peppers though. It was our largest order yet! And Paul surprised me with a bottle of his latest "Dragon Fire" rub. I couldn't wait to find something to put it on.
We drove through Knoxville and then stopped for the night at a rest area. We had made covers for the windows to block out the light and conceal the fact we were in the van in case we had to sleep in a more public place. It was still very hot at night, so I rigged up a way to hang a box fan from the ceiling and had it running through a power inverter. It was still a bit toasty in the back , but it worked for most of the night until it overloaded the inverter in the early morning hours. We did get some sleep though and then hit the road again when the sun came up. It rained on us in east Tennessee and was very foggy when we hit Virginia. We went over the strip of mountains on I-64 where the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. It was pouring through those mountains, but once we got beyond them the rain stopped.
We were hoping to have time to stop at Monticello on our way into Richmond for a Friday NASCAR Xfinity Series race. The weather cooperated just enough to allow us to visit. Monticello is located on the south side of Charlottesville, VA. It was the home of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
We took a tour of Jefferson's house, which was really cool. He was quite the inventor and had all sorts of interesting contraptions built into the house. Jefferson was also big into farming, so I could kind of connect with him on that. Jefferson had some of the most meticulous weather recordings ever found. The guy studied everything that could affect his plants. We walked the grounds, which are still cared for just like TJ himself were there. They have garden tours as well, which we managed to get on after the house tour. They grow many of the same crops and flowers that TJ did, using seeds from his original plants so the lines are as pure as they were when he planted them. TJ collected many plants in his travels so they come from all over the world. Shannon liked the Cockscomb flower so much that we bought a pack of seeds to take home with us. I found it interesting that Jefferson died on July 4 in 1826. Independence Day was a fitting day for one of the founders of this country to move on after his job was done. Monticello was a nice stop and I highly recommend a visit if you are ever passing by.
Monticello
Sundial on the deck of the house.
Tiny turtle in the courtyard pond.
Our garden tour guide giving us the rundown before we start walking.
Cockscomb flower Shannon fell in love with. Some of the heads were nearly as big as a soccer ball.
The vineyard
The main garden
Thomas Jefferson's grave site.
It was then on to Richmond. We rolled into town in the afternoon, pulling into the Richmond Raceway camping area to park. It was then a long shuttle ride over to the track where we then had to walk about 15 minutes to the gate. We got there just in time for the start of qualifying for the Xfinity cars. The NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series would be qualifying next, then we would have the Xfinity Series GoBowling 250 race under the lights. We got our bag and cooler checked by security at the gate and as I was about to walk off, the guard stopped me. She started looking at the mesh side pocket. There was my bottle of Paul's Dragon Fire rub. I had accidentally slid it into the cooler while we were unloading the peppers and talking to Paul the night before. I never realized it was in the cooler. It was glass so I couldn't bring it into the track. They said throw it away or go back to the car. That stuff is $18 a bottle and I have been waiting forever for it. No way it was going in the trash. So back we went, walking to the shuttle, then riding all the way back to the campground. By the time we got back to the track and through security, we had missed all of Xfinity qualifying. Ugh. But, there was a positive. The Xfinity Series Driver's Meeting was ending as we got off the shuttle and many of the drivers passed us on golf carts heading back to the track. We saw Dale Earnhardt Jr, who came out of retirement to race this race and was second in qualifying. We also saw a few drivers who completely ignored the fans and almost ran over some people. Good to note to douchebags as well.
It was fun to watch Cup qualifying. It was intense out there in the pits and on the track as everyone waited for that perfect moment to hit the track when they thought they could run their best lap time. Then they came back and hooked up a cooling machine the cool down the engine in case they needed to go back out for another lap to try to improve their starting spot. There was some drama as Kyle Busch got into the wall and did some damage to his car. Kevin Harvick ended up turning the fastest lap of the night and go the pole for Saturday night's race.
Our view for Cup qualifying.
Cars lined up and ready to hit the track.
Scoring tower in the middle of the track.
Kevin Harvick does the TV interview after winning the pole.
The Xfinity Series race was pretty good with lots of action. Short tracks are always good for action. There were plenty of crashes and some late race restarts that bunched up the group. Christopher Bell won the race. It was cool to see him win as I think he will be a top driver in the Cup series in the future. The dude has some major skills.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. during driver intros. Of course there was a huge roar from the crowd.
photo by Richmond Raceway
Dale Jr. leads the field on a restart.
photo by Richmond Raceway
View from our seats just before the start/finish line.
Video: Clips we shot during the Xfinity race at Richmond. Includes a crash on a late-race restart.
Video: Full race TV coverage of the GoBowling 250
After the race, we headed east before another night in the back of the van at a rest area. The plan was to explore Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg Saturday morning before we had to head back to Richmond for the Cup race.
We were in Jamestown early Saturday morning. It happened to be a fee-free day for National Parks, but the fort portion of Jamestown was not very busy. Usually fee-free days are insane. We checked out the Visitor Center before walking through the fort and museum.
Driving along the James River on the way to Jamestown.
Shrimp on the beach
Entering Jamestown with boats passing by on the river.
The gate of the fort
Old church
Beautiful brick work on the church
Inside the brick church
I learned some cool things while exploring the fort. First off, Disney lies. I always figured most of their stories were a bit fabricated, but Pocahontas was way more than slightly changed. Did you know that she never married John Smith? She actually married a guy named John Rolfe. John Smith was a real person, but he was not the gentleman the Disney movie portrays. John Smith was more like a criminal that was given a choice of prison or go to the new world and establish a colony. He was a rough guy and made the perfect person to go to what was a tough life building this fort with occasional hostilities breaking out with the Native Americans. Pocahontas ended up moving to England after she married John Rolfe and significantly changed her dress and appearance, moving far away from her Native roots. Rolfe was known as the first person to successfully cultivate tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia. The marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe did end hostilities between the Powhatan tribe and the colonists, so at least Disney got that part right. As usual for a movie, the details were conveniently changed to make the story more exciting. I'm not really sure why they said she married John Smith though. Poor Rolfe got the shaft in the movie.
Pocahontas statue
Info on Pocahontas. That's what she looked like after moving to England.
Remains of an old building
Remaining foundation of the original church built in 1608.
Helicopter passing by a statue of John Smith
John Smith
James River
Old cemetery
The Ambler House, built by the Ambler family in the 1750s as a center to a plantation. It burned twice in two different wars, then burned a third time in 1895 before being abandoned.
There is a nice driving loop around the peninsula that sticks out into the James River. We hiked at the point of the peninsula before heading over to a working glasshouse near the park entrance. Again, I learned a lot, like what is used to color glass. We watched them make a few items, then got ourselves a pumpkin made by the artists there.
On the trail at the peninsula
Jamestown Glasshouse
Facts about coloring glass.
Next up, we went to Colonial Williamsburg, which is very close by. They have a huge Visitor Center, then you can walk over to the town which is still in the same condition as it was during the Revolutionary War period. There are no cars in town, just pedestrians and horses. Carriages pass by as you walk the streets by traditional stores and houses. We watched them till the ground with a horse pulling a plow made from large, sharpened wood sticks. It was cool to see all the history and get a glimpse of how life was back then. Supposedly, parts of town are haunted, but we saw no apparitions.
Windmill at Colonial Williamsburg
Walking from the Visitor's Center into town at Williamsburg
Breaking the ground the old school way
Sowing the seeds
After lunch, we hit the road back to Richmond, finding our nice parking spot and taking the shuttle back to the track. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races are busy and traffic can be atrocious, but it was not bad at all, just a slight line into the parking lot, which we were able to bypass because we had a pass that we bought on Friday.
The pre-race festivities for the Federated Auto Parts 400 were awesome with paratroopers bringing the American flag across the sky. From our vantage point in Turn 2, we had the sunset as a background behind the track and paratroopers. The flyover was awesome! They always are, but Richmond brought four fighter jets at a very low height. They came over from behind us while we were distracted watching some older planes in the distance in front of us. I think a few people needed to change their pants after that.
Paratroopers bringing in the American flag
photo by Richmond Raceway
The race was great, taking place under the lights. This was my first NASCAR weekend in a long time. I think the last Xfinity Series race I saw was at the Nashville Superspeedway in 2006. I hadn't seen a Cup race since 1998 at Charlotte. I appreciated much more about the racing on this trip. The biggest thing I noticed was the competition level differences. In the Xfinity Series race, the back part of the group was very slow compared to the front. Guys were being lapped just five laps into the race. After 10 laps in the Cup race, all 38 cars were still on the same straightaway. The competition level of the Cup series is high. One other cool thing to watch at Richmond is the difference of fresh tires versus worn tires. Richmond is know for eating up tires. Denny Hamlin had trouble early in the race and had to pit, getting four fresh tires during the stop. He lost a lap, but got it back without a caution as he was flying on the fresh tires. He was driving around the outside of one or two cars in each corner for about 30 laps. It was fun to watch.
Getting the race underway
photo by Richmond Raceway
Our view from Turn 2 looking at the backstretch
Cars coming into Turn 1
It came down to a battle between three drivers. Martin Truex Jr. was dominant most of the race, but Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch stepped up to challenge him in the closing laps. Kyle Busch got out front late and held on to get the win. There are a lot of Kyle Busch haters out there so the reception was probably 70% boos when he took the checkered flag. I didn't mind. I was glad to get to see a legend win. I would have been just as happy seeing Truex or Harvick win too, as they are legends as well. Maybe the most fun part of the night was riding the shuttle back to the parking area and listening to everyone talk about the race. We made friends with a drunk Kyle Busch fan. Really he made friends with us. He kept yelling "Kyle BUUUSSSCCCHH" like they say "Busch" in the Busch beer commercials. We were the only ones that thought it was funny so we were instantly his friends. He yelled it about 50 times before we reached the parking lot. I loved seeing the people roll their eyes and hear the occasional "Sucks!" yelled afterwards. Traffic was light getting out of the lot and back to the interstate. Kudos to the track and city for making that flow super smoothly, probably the most smooth departure of any track I have ever been to.
photo by Richmond Raceway
Kyle Busch got the win
photo by Richmond Raceway
Chase Elliott's car being pushed back to the hauler after the race.
Video: Clips from our seats during the Cup race. At the end you can hear the ride back on the shuttle with our Kyle Busch friend.
Video: Full TV coverage from Richmond
It began to rain just after we left the track. We just got that race in! We headed north towards Washington, D.C. spending another night in the van at a rest stop. Sunday afternoon we made it to D.C. More on that in the next post.
