First I want to point out that in my last post I called the Preakness right, with Exaggerator finally beating Nyquist on a muddy track.  Too bad I didn’t bother to put any money on it. After leaving Wilmington we mostly avoided interstate travel and instead chose state roads and the like for our run up to Chesapeake, VA.  I attempted to find a place to park the RV for free like we had in Wilmington, but the navy facilities I called either didn’t return the call or didn’t have availability.  Fortunately my discussion with one of the helpful representatives at, I believe, the Virginia Beach Naval Station’s recreation office led me to a campground in Chesapeake that isn’t even in the All Stays, Campendium, or RV Park Reviews databases.

Pad Kee Meow assists with the navigation into the campground.

The navy maintains Stewart Campground, a small, 14 site place on their NorthWest Annex. It has power, even 50 amp, but water and the sewage dump are a central location rather than each site.   It is located off an easily handled gravel road in a clearing amidst a small wooded area.  The facility is no frills and what I will call “standard Navy quality” (as contrasted with the usually top notch recreation areas managed by the air force.  As the old joke goes, when the Air Force gets funding for a base, they build the golf course first, knowing that it will be a lot easier to get Congress to pony up additional money to finish the runways than it would be for the links.)  At $18 a night for partial hook ups in an attractive setting, though, the place was just short of ideal for us.  We spent the first night there after arrival, but for the next two days it was just an elaborate storage lot since we stayed with Linda and Jayson in their townhouse.

A view of the campground, communal dining area on the left, Serenity in the distance on the right.

While there we assisted a bit with the renovation and prep work Jayson has undertaken on their new place, a single family style home just down the street.  He has done a rather lot of remodeling in preparation for their impending move in, and though my quality or craftsmanship was not quite up to his standards, my labor rate was tough to beat, and I did a bit of caulking around the ceiling moldings and baseboards.

On the way to Linda and Jayson’s for the rest of our stay.

Pad Kee Meow loves visiting  with Linda and Jayson since she has the run of the house and she and their dog Precious get along well enough.  We were gone after a short two day visit, on our way to Shenandoah National Park, though we will see them again next month in Maine when a lot of Rosemarie’s family will gather for cousin JuneJune’s wedding.   Next up, our first National Park of the year.