The Harley guy rode past us daily, graying hair flapping in the breeze beneath his blue helmet, cheek-to-cheek smile on his face. We always waved as he passed on his way out of Chesapeake Campground in Virginia by the Great Dismal Swamp, since he was the earliest to leave every day to see the many surrounding sites.
One day, though, we decided to hang around camp after a side-trip the previous day to nearby Portsmouth for lunch at one of the many restaurants in the area, and to see more of the swamp. It turned into a big mistake since traffic in town was heavy and the GPS lost us in the shuffle. It kept shrieking "U-turn, U-turn" trying to get us on Jordan Bridge, closed since 2008 in preparation for the new South Norfolk Jordan Bridge, a two-lane, fixed span, high-rise toll bridge that will span the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, a main artery for Chesapeake and Portsmouth, scheduled for opening in 2012.
On our relaxing day at camp, the Harley guy stopped and asked what sort of mileage we got on our small RV. "Average about 22 mpg," Andy, my husband, said.
“That's pretty good." He looked back at his parked camper and trailer. "Sure better than what I get with that. But I gotta' haul my bike. And it's worth every penny."
He seemed to have more to say, so I asked, "Where you from?" Turned out he'd recently retired from the U.S. Army, and since Andy had guessed the guy was about his age, and had maybe served several years asked, "You serve in Vietnam?"
Another big mistake. "No, that was way before my time. I served two tours of duty in Afghanistan. Enough for me."
Andy, a former helicopter pilot in Vietnam, chuckled low and mumbled something about how the years fly by, although his jaw dropped about a foot.
"At the last I couldn't get out of the army fast enough," the guy said. "Man, they work you out every day. Push-ups, marching. Everybody's got to be in shape."
"Yeah, all the guys in today's military look buff," I said.
Since the Harley guy looked lean and fit, a bit like the Marlboro man on horseback a few years back, the one who ended up dying of cancer, I said, "You still look pretty fit."
His smile disappeared. "I haven't done one push up since I got out, and don't intend to ever do one again. "When I first got out I started letting my hair grow, but decided to shave the beard. Now I'm thinking of cutting it since it bothers me on my neck when I'm riding." He sort of tugged at it and continued. "I've been offered a couple of jobs, but don't want to quit roaming while I've got the chance. Beautiful country. Retirement or not, I've got to shake off Afghanistan."
He soon roared off, shoulders straight, riding a bike that usually calls for slouching. Probably he would carry himself straight and proud like a military man the rest of his life.
We'd been roaming around the area a bit ourselves, since the Great Dismal Swamp includes more than 111,000 acres of wetlands and forests, with the 3,100-acre Lake Drummond at its center. The Swamp's wildlife refuge in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina is home to more than 200 year-round birds.
The Swamp's Canal ran parallel to the road fronting the RV park, so on relax day I walked the country road bordering the Canal, a part of what is now the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, an inland channel for recreation and commerce running from Norfolk, Virginia to Miami Florida, maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Chesapeake Campground where we stayed (693 George Washington Hwy S, Chesapeake, VA 23323 757- 485-0149) is approximately 12 miles from the Dismal Swamp State Park in North Carolina where part of the Canal also meanders.
http://www.virginia.org/Listings/OutdoorsAndSports/DismalSwampCanalTrail/
The Dismal Swamp State Park in North Carolina includes a 2000-foot boardwalk for walking through the swamp forests, and 18 miles of hiking and mountain bike trails. The park also houses a visitor center with an exhibition of the Swamp's ties to the Underground Railroad.
Both states offer access to canoeing and kayaking the Canal.
http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/disw/[email protected]
The only puzzling part of the Swamp is its name, since it's anything but dismal. After all, George Washington at one time owned stock in the company that built part of the original canal.
Rita Robinson, an award-winning journalist and author of 11 books, writes from Fawnskin, a mountain community in California. She can be reached at [email protected] or http://ontheroadwriters.com.