Rain, all day Sunday it rained. I like to read the New York Times, drink tea and cook on rainy Sundays. I knew the trip would have some bad weather. I’ve started off in March, but I did hope that as I drove into the Southern States I would begin to see and feel the warmth of spring, especially after all the snow we’ve had in Boston this winter. There are a few trees blooming but the temperature has stayed in the low 40s with strong winds. It does not feel or look like spring.

Leaving Chincoteague, I finished driving the Delmarva peninsula and drove across the Chesapeake Bridge-Tunnel to Norfolk, a 23 mile bridge. I bet the views are beautiful, if it’s not raining. I did count 10 tankers and ships in the water off the coast, reminding me of the Navy presence in area.

My original destination was the Outer Banks. I wanted to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial and discover this vacationland. I hadn’t been to the Outer Banks, not when we lived in Ohio where many people make the trek annually for their summer vacation, and not when we lived, albeit briefly, in North Carolina. I had hoped for unseasonable weather and I got it, just not the unseasonably warm weather I had hoped to encounter. Given the rain, cold and dreariness of the over-built area, I visited the Wright Brothers Memorial and skedaddled off the OBX.

I drove west across beautiful marsh land and then into fertile farm land. I was one of few cars on the road, and spent the night in a small North Carolina town eliminating many of the miles I would drive as I move on to Charleston.