When I woke up this morning (at 0600), I felt sad to be departing from Virginia Beach - I'll miss Erin, Austin and Kiki! But it's time to go back to work "at the airport"... I spent part of the morning (before anyone else was awake) packing, reading, doing puzzles and completing Duolingo exercises. I eventually met up with Erin and Austin (0830) and they talked to me while I loaded up my car. Before putting my computer away, I took care of a few blog and financial items while eating "breakfast" (leftover pizza). At 0930, I said goodbye to my daughter and her little family and headed out of town. By then, the temperature was 47 F - fortunately, it was sunny and clear. I got on I-264 and headed towards the west until I could get on I-64. Things looked good, traffic wise, until I reached the Elizabeth River. Sadly, the clear sailing ended in a massive traffic jam. By that point, though, I'd decided to make a birding stop in Portsmouth City County so managed to get off the Interstate after a bit of inconvenience and make forward progress while driving north on US-17. When I reached Victory Boulevard, I noticed that there were lots of speed and red-light cameras in the vicinity and got a bit nervous about everything I was doing. Fortunately, I believe I reached the Paradise Creek Nature Park without any trouble. Beginning at 1015, I took a walk along some nice gravel trails through the woods. Across the Paradise Creek estuary, I could see infrastructure related to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The weather had turned very pleasant (i.e., warmer) and I explored a lot of the trail system while using my Merlin App to find more interesting birds. Along the way, I crossed a wooden bridge (closed "for maintenance") and got to watch two kayakers passing underneath at that exact moment. Reluctantly, I returned to my car so I could resume my drive to Raleigh - I departed at 1030 and used Victory Boulevard to reach I-264 to reach I-664 and, later, US-13. This latter road headed towards the southwest and took me close to the Great Dismal Swamp, a place our family used to enjoy visiting back when we lived in Hampton Roads. Before long (1115), I crossed into North Carolina (Gates County). From this point, I started recording all county line crossings to make sure I had a record of bird sightings through the state. As I passed by Elizabeth City, I found myself on a lovely four lane highway, nearly free of traffic! My route continued on US-13 through Hertford County (1130) until I reached Shortcut Road (AKA NC-11). By then, the temperature had risen to 55 F. I pass through Bertie County (1145) and Martin County (1200) before reaching NC-111, which I used to enter Edgecombe County (1215). Later, I used Shiloh Farm Road to access US-64 and headed west. I passed through Nash County (1240), locating a "Nashville" on the way. The temps rose to 63 F before I passed I-95 (1245) and I soon found myself in Franklin County (1300) and Wake County (1305). After almost an hour, I got off the four lane and took NC-96 and NC-98 into the eastern suburbs of Raleigh. My destination was the home of my cousin, Tammie, and her husband (Alan) - I arrived there at 1340. Alan came out to greet me eagerly. with is very surprising since we've never really had a lot of time to visit over the years. I think he might have been representing the pleasure of his wife (my mom's niece) and father-in-law (my Uncle Terry) but it certainly seemed genuine. When I went inside their beautiful home, I almost immediately fell into a comfortable rhythm with my extended family. Uncle Terry (age 91) impressed me by his memory (including being with my mom when she passed away almost 40 years ago) and vibrant personality. It was wonderful to be around relatives who knew my mother well when she was young. We spent almost two hours catching up on more than two decades of family stories! There was some wine and warm intimacy that really made me feel welcome. As the afternoon wore one, food came into people's minds and we ended up adjourning our reunion for a short drive to a nearby eatery called the Wakefield Grill. This was, apparently, one of Uncle Terry's favorite places to eat when he was visiting Alan and Tammie. I should note that he splits time between them and the home of Denise (my cousin) and her husband (Doug). The food was very good and I had a local beer while we continued our story-time exchange. Once we finished our meal (1845), we headed back to Tammie and Alan's house. By then, a cool evening had descended on the area. I had planned to take a walk but that never materialized because Alan and his neighbors kept me quite entertained with questions and local news. After it became clear I wasn't going anywhere (2000), I joined everyone on the enclosed porch for whiskey and cigars. It has been a long time (probably since I retired from the Navy) since I had a good stogie and Alan had several from which to choose. Wow! We talked until 2245 and it might have gone one much longer if I didn't have to work in the morning. When I went to the guest room, a marvelous venue with a huge bed (covered with probably 20 different shapes and sizes of pillows), it took a while to calm down from the "high" I had reached during the discussions. I spent time reading and organizing for the following day - I ended up staying awake until nearly 2330. What an amazing day of visiting!
