We woke up to a beautiful morning in the Dismal Swamp. The sun was rising and the air was peacefully quiet. Wait. Why was the air peacefully quiet? We did not hear the duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh of vehicles going over the noisy drawbridge we were about to go under. Closer inspection, er, a look outside, showed a police car blocking traffic at one end and a firetruck on the other side.

The lockmaster for the lock .25 miles after the bridge also serves as the bridge tender. We knew he didn’t arrive until 8:00 for the scheduled 8:30 opening. I walked over to the police officer, who was sitting in his car and asked if he knew what was going on. He said there was a fire under the bridge, so they closed it while the firefighters checked things out. A firefighter came over to say that they needed an engineer to come out and inspect the bridge before it could reopen. I asked if they kept an engineer handy or if that was an hours, days, or weeks kind of thing. He said he didn’t know. That’s fair.

So we went to the boat to see what we wanted to do. We can’t really afford to lose a weekend of travel time, so we needed to have a back up plan in case the bridge was damaged. Our plan that day was to go to Yorktown, about 51 miles. If the bridge damage was more serious and the bridge wouldn’t open today, or this week, or this month–however long it takes to get bridge parts these days, we would need to go back through the Dismal Swamp Canal, back to Elizabeth City, up the ICW and to Yorktown (or wherever), about 222 miles! That’s not really something we were eager to do, though we certainly would if that was our only choice.

In the meantime, another boat came up. The lock master wasn’t answering the phone or the radio, and we don’t think he would have a lot of information anyway. The other boat rafted next to us, and we had a great conversation with our new friends.

Eventually, we saw a guy pull up in a vehicle, park nearby, and hustle across the bridge. We were so glad the engineer was there so quickly on a Saturday! He talked to the police officer and walked across the bridge. We were hoping the wait wouldn’t be long now!

After awhile, it looked like the firefighters were finishing up on their side of the bridge, and one came over to talk to the police officer. When he was done, I went over to the police officer and asked what was up. He said they decided the bridge was okay to open, and he was about to let all the waiting traffic cross.

I said we were excited when we saw the engineer and were happy he got there so quickly. The officer laughed. That wasn’t the engineer, that was a man eager to go to church! He parked there and asked the officer if he could walk across the bridge to get to church on time!

We saw the lock master/bridge tender drive up. He waved to us and talked to us on the radio. He had turned the lock to our direction, and he was about to open the bridge for us. Meanwhile, a woman came up and started talking to him, and they chatted forEVER. We thought we were ready to go, and here our boats sat with four engines pumping fuel at almost $6 a gallon!

It turns out that was a woman from the Army Corps of Engineers talking business. When she left, the bridge tender was able to let us through the bridge. Then we slowly approached the lock while we waited for him to get in his car and drive back to the lock. He assisted both boats with tying up to the lock on our port sides and off we went, down 8 feet.

He gave some advice about leaving the lock. He said it gets shallow on the starboard side, so stay to port leaving the lock. Well, guess what? It’s shallow there, too. We churned some mud on our way through.

We were only about a half hour later than planned, and we were glad to be on our way. Then we approached the nearby railroad bridge that is only down when a train goes through. The bridge was down. Sigh. One thing we learned is that when the railroad bridges are down over the waterway, EVERY BOATER IN THE REGION must get on the radio and ask if the railroad bridge is down. They were a bunch of chatty Cathys.

When the train did come, it was a doozy. There must have been hundreds of cars. We waited for quite some time, holding our position and burning our deisel. Eventually, the train passed and we waited. Then we waited some more. Finally, the bridge opened. It was glorious.

Our next treat on this trip was Norfolk. Owen was like a kid in a candy store. I drove while he took pictures of all the ships in various states of assembly and repair. I’m just going to let him post his pictures and explain them here. He was pretty happy.

The river opened up and we entered the Chesapeake for the first time. We had just under 2′ waves, but Owen kept them off our beam to keep us riding pretty smooth. It was nice to have a cool breeze after the last couple days of high heat.

We were a little concerned about wind as we came into Yorktown, but the wind actually helped us get into our slip. Troy and Dakota were there to catch our lines. This marina is awesome! We are right on the beach and on the same dock as a small cruise ship and a schooner that gives a few rides a day. Other than that, our part of the dock is empty. There’s a trolley that goes to all the historical sites in town, restaurants right by the marina, and screaming fast internet. The one thing missing is laundry, but we will make due.

After getting tied up, Owen and I hopped on the trolley and took a ride through town. What an important part Yorktown played in our history! The battlefield and museums are so close, and the trolley goes right to each one. There’s a long boardwalk area for a morning walk, and we were told we could rent a car nearby and get help with parking.

We heard there is also transportation to Colonial Williamsburg, so we hope to figure that out this week. We are so happy with our decision to stop here and so glad the bridge opened this morning to let it happen. Can’t wait to explore this week!