The Thin Blue Ride - Part 3 Day 1 - Jamestown & Yorktown, VA

Monday, September 9th, 2019

Ride Report:  Oops - sorry.  I’m a creature of habit.  No ride report today.  Although I reserve the right to insert ride reports as appropriate.  For example, I want to be able to say I rode my bike on Cape Cod - so ya may see one then.  But  - NOT TODAY!

Lots'a cheesy tourist stuff today.  But then that was the plan all along.  There’s tons of history here dating from the first English settlement in the area (Jamestown) in the 1600s to the Revolutionary War nearly 200 years later.  Since today was supposed to have a 50% chance of rain pretty much all morning and most of the afternoon, we thought today should be museum day and hoped that in between showers we could dash between the museums or The Rig, as appropriate.  So - we left at about 0930 this morning and didn’t get back till about 1930.  It was a long day.  Museums are just like shopping, except ya don’t take anything home with you unless you go to the gift shop.  Both (museums and shopping) make my back and feet hurt owing to being on hard surfaces for so long. Regardless, it was good - and interesting.  Oh - and it never rained - not all day.  "AcccuWeather" strikes again.

Oh yeah - the day - it went like this...

Susan snagged this pic of me on the scooter after we pulled in to the parking lot at the Jamestown Settlement.  Other than not being able to get my hands to adapt to the scooter controls yet, I'm pretty comfortable on it what with it having two wheels and all.  I did notice, however, that hills aren't such a big deal any more.

This water sculpture was just outside the entrance to the Jamestown Settlement.  Kinda cool since they arrived on three sailing ships.

There was a replica of a Powhatan village on the Jamestown Settlement site.  They had a bunch of actors dressed as Powhatan natives who gave lectures on how the Powhatan lived - it was pretty interesting.  This is Susan standing outside a Powhatan yehakin.  I thought this pic was interesting because it's the first time I've seen Susan have to duck to pass thru a doorway. 

They also have actual sailing replicas of the three ships (Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery) that brought the original settlers to Jamestown.  All of them are still functional.  The largest of the three, the Susan Constant, is the backdrop for this pic.  We went aboard the mid sized one, the Godspeed.  It sails about 12 days a year, mostly in the summer.

Susan took this one just to make Sig jealous what his penchant for militaria pics.  Not wanting to scare any babies, I waited till an old lady walked by, peered down the cannon and shouted "BOOM".  She didn't cry, but she scowled a lot.  I can see what Sig gets out of it now.

They had some strange ball caps in the 1600s.  But as with most things, the design probably improved over time.  Note the short bill, all metal construction and sloped sides of this one.  Not very comfortable either.  I'm glad I wasn't around in the 1600s to wear this thing, it does nothing to keep the sun outta your eyes.  One benefit - little kids avoided me while I had it on.

A replica of the Governor's mansion in the Jamestown settlement.  The Governor's furnishings were the most lavish.  He had three actual beds in his home.  Everyone else slept on what were essentially wooden cots.  But even the Governor didn't have Air Conditioning. 

There were a bunch of these running around the settlement.  This chicken's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, (etc.) grand chicken was probably an original settler chicken.

After the Jamestown Settlement we headed over to Yorktown.  We first wanted to hit the Yorktown Battlefield Visitor's Center because they have a log book there for Trans-Amers who have completed the ride.  I wanted my name preserved for posterity.  Where better than with the National Park Service? 

But when I got there, I got a little distracted.  They still let me fill out the log, but the Ranger guy behind the counter made up an excuse to leave - something about a tour or something.  They had to call in a back-up Ranger guy to help me.  He stood away from me a good distance.  I dunno what the first guy told him.

By this time it was about 1700 so we decided to have dinner in Yorktown.  We'd received a recommendation and decided to follow that advice by going to the Riverwalk Restaurant.  It was a pretty fancy place, but they had both seafood and stuff Susan would like.  We had intended to do something like this yesterday to celebrate the end of the ride, but were both tired and didn't feel like getting out. 

This was dinner.  Susan opted for the chicken parmesan.  The plate in front is mine.  My choice was - get this - Scallops wrapped in duck bacon with beef brisket on a bed of sunflower risotto with creamed leeks.  HA!  Tell me ya saw that coming and I'll call ya a liar!

Then Susan decided that we needed dessert.  She had the chocolate chip cheesecake while I had the blueberry/peach cobbler with ice cream.  Susan made me eat it all.

This is our waitress Rachael.  When we chatted her up we found out that she was 19, recently married, and a life long resident of Yorktown.  Her hubby of these now past two months is in the Navy but has no ship duty in his schedule for at least three years.  Here's a quick Thin Blue Ride quiz for the reader.  Two of the people in this picture were married when they were 19.  Which one wasn't?

When we went to the parking lot to leave we found this.  Here's a second Thin Blue Ride quiz for the day.  Which one was ours?  The Suzuki or the Porsche?  Oh sure, you all know.  Susan had to stop me from getting in to the Porsche.

And in closing, I leave you all with this 1788 quote from James Madison.  I found it in the Revolutionary War Museum in Yorktown.  No truer sentiment concerning governance has since been uttered.

Till next time...