Pierce RV Park, Williamston
Thursday, 13 July 2023.JPG) |
| today's route |
We left the campground at 8:45, and as we drove away I thought about the area and the towns we'd visited and came up with conclusions: Durham was smug; Chapel Hill was laid back, Raleigh was comfortable. Accurate or not, those are the impressions they left with me.
I crossed the Neuse River, which begins in the Piedmont Region (where we've just spent 6 days) and flows to the Atlantic Ocean. It's the longest river entirely contained in NC.
I saw a sign that I think was an official road sign that said Sir Walter Raleigh's original colony was 3 hours from Raleigh. I thought that was a weird sign - 3 hours away? And no directions or other information?
Anyway, Sir Walter Raleigh's original colony was founded in 1585 on Roanoke Island. Roanoke Island has no relation to the town of Roanoke (VA) and lies between the Outer Banks and mainland NC. It's where the town of Manteo (pronounced MAN tee oh) is - remember the expression "from Manteo to Murphy" to describe the extent of NC? Anyway, this small colony of about 120 people mysteriously disappeared some time in its first 5 years - including the child Virginia Dare, who you may have heard of. If you're interested in more information, here's the Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/Roanoke-Colony
At the town of Zebulon, I saw a sign: "Welcome to Nash County - Where Business Meets Opportunity." The county has about 95,000 residents, and Zebulon has only about 7,000 of them. I was surprised to learn that the town's name came from a 19th century NC governor, Zebulon Vance. My surprise is because they chose his first name, where the last name is much more usual. Nash County was the home of the first Hardee's restaurant in 1960, and it ranks near the top of NC counties as a solar power producer. So maybe their slogan makes sense.
For some reason, that name Zebulon was ringing a bell, which is why I'd looked it up in the first place. I finally remembered the explorer Zebulon Pike (as in Pike's Peak) had that name, and I think that's where the ringing bell came from.
We crossed the Tar River, and I was curious about the name. Apparently nobody knows exactly where it came from, but the theory is that the area used to be home to extensive long-leafed pine forests, and those trees were once important for the tar they produced.
I got up at 2:15 this morning and I'm already sleepy, which doesn't bode well for the rest of the drive.
We came to a road work area and a long single line of traffic trying to get through the area. It took miles before we saw even one road worker, which is frustrating. The 65 mph speed limit signs when we're stopped dead or rolling stop-and-go are also frustrating. But traveling in the summer means road work.
We got to Rocky Mount at just about 10:30, stopped at yet another grocery store, and then went on to the local dog park. By the way, there are several reasons for these frequent grocery store stops. Partly it's because I have limited storage facilities and can't buy ahead - especially fresh stuff. And partly it's because I really have my preferred brands of lots of products and often have to visit several stores to find what I want. And partly it's because, try as I might, I'm just not organized enough to avoid the multiple trips.
Anyway, the dog park was apparently new and certainly very fancy - 9 acres, they say online. It has 3 fenced areas: small dogs, large dogs and agility training. That last had a lot of equipment in it, unusual in a public park. Dext spent some time sniffing - only one dog came and didn't stay long - and then we all had some lunch before getting back on the road.
The folks (of all ages) I talked to in Rocky Mount said it was a good place to retire but not good for finding a job or starting a business.
A highway sign warned that "Slow Moving Farm Equipment Uses This Highway - next 14 miles." I don't remember seeing that sign before - although I may have seen some variation on the theme. A lot of states have a lot of farm equipment moving on its roads.
We crossed the Tar River again, passed the towns of Tarboro and Princeton (odd assortment of names) and came to a sign saying we were on the Historic Albemarle Highway. Unlike most scenic highways around the country, this one doesn't follow a specific route but instead includes pieces of quite a few local highways and the places they connect, such as the oldest continuously inhabited house in North Carolina. The state legislature established the route in 1975 and expanded it in 1978, so it's been around a long time.
As I got close to Williamston, Google's directions tried to send me on a bizarre detour, believing there was road construction. Online I found info that said Google was wrong so I prepared alternate directions, just in case. It turned out we were both right - there was a detour but it was much shorter than Google claimed and not in the location it claimed.
Google had also said today's drive would take me about 2½ hours, but as usual I drove slower than they expected and stopped for nearly 2 hours in Rocky Mount, so we didn't make it to tonight's campground until 3:00.
Actually, I'd intended to make the drive even longer by going farther down the road to the Old Colony Smokehouse in Edenton for some BBQ, but their website says they open at 11:00 and stay open "until the food runs out." By the time I finally got into the vicinity, I figured my chances of finding food might be slim, and I just wasn't up for an extra hour+ of driving that was likely to get me only disappointment, so I passed it up for today.
Tonight's campground turned out to be a strange place. First, when I'd made the reservations the owner told me to call 30 minutes before I arrived. But when I did that, she sounded impatient as if I were doing something strange and unnecessary.
Second, it was a thoroughly mixed group of mobile homes and RV sites. The owner led me to an RV site but, after she'd left, I found the electric plug didn't work and called her. She kept telling me on the phone I hadn't flipped the breaker switch, but of course I had and persisted until she agreed to come back (she'd gone to get groceries). She came back and, sure enough, couldn't make it work so moved me to another site. Which also didn't have working electricity. Third time was the charm, fortunately, so we were able to settle in.
Third, the road in the campground was entirely dirt, so Dext and I had a couple of hot dusty walks around the place. I wiped us both down with damp paper towels before we went to bed.
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