EAST COAST USA (DAY ELEVEN)

Packing up after a rain filled night is never fun. I hoped that the day would bring sunshine so the tent could dry out again. It was still over cast but the forecast looked a little better further south.
My destination today was Virginia Beach which meant crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel which I was looking orward to. Three years ago on my first trip around the US, I had crossed it south to north on my Kawasaki 650 so it was deja vu all over again, as they say.
Following the opening on April 15, 1964, the bridge-tunnel was selected as one of the "Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World" . Measuring 17.6 miles from shore to shore the bridge-tunnel consists of 12 miles of trestled roadway, two mile long tunnels, two bridges, four man made islands, almost two miles of causeway and 5 1/2 miles of approach roads, totaling 23 miles. The total cost of this mammoth project, including a second span in 1999, was $450 million but not a dime of local, state or federal tax money was used.

  

 This shot, taken while riding shows the road descending into the first tunnel. The reason for the tunnels is to allow large ocean going ships to sail over the tunnel and up to their ports further up into Chesapeake Bay.

This is a shot of me coming out of the first tunnel.

This is the exit island at the end of the second tunnel where they have a pier for fishing as well as a gift shop and restaurant.

Virginia Beach is on the southern end of the mighty span. I located a nice KOA camp ground and set up camp. There was a group of three couples on Harleys that camped across the road from my spot. We had to say hello and it turned out that they were from Quebec, just outside Montreal. It's a small world sometimes.