Day 66

Day 66: 7/22/15 (Great Smoky to First Landing State Park)

487 miles

We got our butts out of bed early this morning because we knew it would be a long drive to Virginia Beach.  Fortunately the tent wasn't too wet or messy so it was a quick pick up and we were on the road by 6am.  We stopped at a Panera in Durham, NC to skype with Jillian's sister who was checking out another apartment for us.  We got some lunch and chatted with Chelsea for about 2 hours.  It turns out that someone had turned in an application for the unit we were interested in so yet another apartment got pulled out from under us.  Chelsea was awesome and we appreciate the fact that she stuck around to and tried to figure out all our options.  There is a new building built on the property, but it isn't expected to be finished until November so we'd be homeless for a few months.  Honestly, it seems like our best option at this point.

After lunch, we drove another 3 ½ hours to First Landing State Park.  We quickly set up our tent so we could head to the beach.  Lucky for us, the beach was just a short walk away.  After such a long hot day driving, getting into the ocean felt great.  The water was so nice and so warm - nothing like off the coast of ME and NH.  Jillian was a little nervous to be in the open water after all the shark attacks we had been hearing about so she kept yelling to Rico to make him come closer to shore.  Once we were at a happy distance from the shore we just floated around enjoying our vacation from our vacation.  We stayed at the beach until the sun began to set which was beautiful to watch.  Back at camp, we cooked up some couscous for dinner and took some showers (yes this campground has showers!!!) before heading to bed.

 
Fact:

First Landing is run by kids - we could have sworn everyone would be returning to high school in the fall

Lesson:
If you really want an apartment, apply for it the day you speak on the phone with the leasing office


Eat Well; Travel Often
Rico & Jillian