Nomad Life - Day 195

After a restful sleep overnight, I was awake at 0715 and spent some time reading, doing puzzles and completing Duolingo exercises.  A bit later, I moved out to the living room to work on my blog (there was a "desk" in there).  Erin got up at about 0845 and we visited for a little bit.  My "breakfast" consisted of some more Jelly Belly candies but that was OK.  My more immediate worry was that I realized I'd forgotten about meatless Friday the previous day!  This rarely happens but, when it has, I've "restarted the clock" by abstaining for the subsequent day.  With my mindset adjusted, I checked with my daughter and son-in-law about their plans for the day.  After learning that they both had things to do (Erin had a baby shower and Austin had some important errands), I decided to find a place to hike nearby.  Remembering a conversation that I'd had with Mollie during the previous year, I decided to investigate the possibility of accessing False Cape State Park.  Saying goodbye to Erin and Austin, I headed south from their home (1100).  Outside, it was 48 F, sunny and windy.  On the way, I stopped at a nearby Walmart to pick up an online order (1120).  Next, I ate lunch at Taco Bell, located right across the street.  Fortunately, their ordering kiosk allowed for extreme tailoring of the menu items.  In the end, I managed to substitute beans for meat in all the things I ordered.  I thought about sitting in the restaurant for my meal but, instead, tried to eat in the car.  That ended up being too messy so I held off from my lunch as I continued driving south.  There was a lot of traffic and construction on the way to the Sandbridge area... It's been years since I last visited but memories from the early 1990s (when I had friends nearby) came immediately back into my head.  By 1210, I reached my goal: the parking lot for Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  It was much windier here and lots of people were wearing heavy winter coats and other gear.  For my part, I just wore two layers and started hiking at 1215.  There were a few signs about trail closures as I walked along the West Dike of the NWR but they didn't really make sense until I reached an actual gate.  Apparently, the trails are closed nearby until April 1 - I was just a few days too early to use them.  I'd only traveled about one mile at that point but I still wanted to get to the State Park.  Fortunately, an alternate route - following the shoreline of the beach - was recommended.  Hoping to avoid a lot of backtracks, I bushwhacked from the Dike trail fence across the sand dunes until I reached the beach.  From there, it was a windy walk to the south, with very little in the way of landmarks or border indications.  I met up with a a few folks with backpacks - they planned to spend the night in the State Park in a reserved campsite and I picked their brains on the process and experience.  It sounded nice!  They were not in a hurry (because they didn't have to get back to their cars until the following day).  My situation was different and, after saying goodbye to them, I motored away in search of indications of the entrance to False Cape State Park.  I finally found a sign - it was laying down on the edge of the dunes.  Otherwise, I saw nothing manmade as I hiked.  A few other interesting things I encountered strange "sand fog" that developed along the way and evidence of a huge fish kill (a ranger later told me that the beach had a horrible smell only days before but today was clear and odorless). There were plenty of seabirds; most were chasing the waves but others were soaring in the heavy breeze.  I should mention that I'd been walking with the wind at my back - I could already tell that heading north would be much more difficult...  At 1345, I reached a "state park type" sign for the Barbour Hill area.  My paper map indicated that this trail across the dunes would provide me with access to the Visitor for the State Park so I headed west along the sandy track.  Almost immediately, the wind was blocked by the higher terrain and the warm sun made me feel a lot hotter than I had all day.  There were lots of short, scrubby trees in the area and I soon found myself walking into the campground area.  I encountered several folks sitting near their tents in the shade.  Like the people at the NWR, they were geared up for winter weather.  Meanwhile, I was thinking about removing my jacket...  The number of birds increased and I enjoyed watching them playing on the branches of the tall trees.  I reached the False Cape State Park Visitor Center at 1400 and was pleased to find a large buoy that talked about how I was at the Southernmost Virginia State Park.  The markings also added that I was 1146 miles from Key West.  I looked around in the VC building and eventually encountered a park ranger - she was cheery and helpful and we had a good conversation.  By 1430, I reluctantly made my way back to the beach and started my shoreline walk towards my car.  The tide had started to come in again and there were places where my footprints had been erased by the surf.  It was a lot of work to fight the headwind but I plodded along steadily.  Like the earlier part of my hike, I encountered backpackers enroute to the State Park for the night (more chatting).  At 1540, I had reached the Dune Trail and exited the beach.  This trail led back to the East Dike of the NWR and had a pretty boardwalk with overlook.  When I finally reached my car again, I passed it to walk along the Kuralt Trail that took me to a beautiful estuary.  There were many more birds there and my Merlin App was very busy.  Finished with my outdoor time (nearly 10 miles!), I got in my car (1610) and drove back towards Erin's home.  The timing looked good for me to attend Mass and I decided to drive to St. Nicholas Catholic Church on Little Neck (our family's Parish between 2005 and 2008).  The 1700 Mass, which celebrated Palm Sunday, was a LONG service.  We started outside and walked, with our palms, into the sanctuary - it was a free-for-all for seating.  The music director was clearly invested in performance art - everything sounded beautiful,  However, the service was already the longest one of the year; the Priest's homily didn't help the situation either...  Once Mass was completed (1820), I returned to Erin's house and joined her and Austin in the process of ordering their dinner from Marco's Pizzeria.  Austin was very helpful in getting a meatless pizza ready that had olives, peppers and mushrooms.  It seemed like a very short time later when an actual pizza delivery car arrived with the food!  We sat at the dining room table for a little while but then adjourned to the couch so Erin could shower me with more episodes of "The Middle".  We stayed up together until 2130 and then said good night.  After that, I did some reading in the guest room and finally went to bed at 2300.  After a great hike today and some nice visiting with my daughter, I'm feeling pretty good!