Peanut, Pork and Pine…..with some camping and running to
boot.
Michele and I have had the camping bug for little over three
years, we started with a truck camper and have traded up to the biggest fifth
wheel we could find (aka afford). We look for every
opportunity to go camping, we exercise, we chill out and we explore. On top of that we live for the outdoor
adventures…we are an active couple so camping, run/walking, zip lining, and
doing outside stuff fit us like a foot in a running shoe.
(Base camp, Our Sandpiper RV)
The town of Surry ,
Virginia has a great festival celebrating locally grown peanuts, pork and pine
(local crafts) and this was a good reason to go camping. Michele found us a great river front
campground along the Chickahominy river.
Our site was close to the festival and right near a trail junction of
the Virginia Capital Trails. The Capital
Trails is a project connecting the original colonial settlement/capital of Jamestown with the present day capital of Richmond .
Once finished this network of multipurpose trails will consist of 50
miles covering some 400 years and very history rich lands.
Running the Capital Trail is pure pleasure. The trails run along some very scenic
roadways yet remote enough to allow you to take in all the history of the
area. By comparison, I’ve run from Jamestown settlement to
Yorktown National Battlefield along the Colonial Parkway many times, and although
a major milestone in the revolutionary war, it still feels like running along a
secondary road. Although surrounded by
history, you still have traffic to deal with.
The Capital Trial System removes the runner from the roadway and moves
them closer to running thru history.
I ran 33 miles over 3 days, a 9 mile opening run on Friday
night, 14 miles Saturday morning, and 10 more Sunday morning before heading home. While running along the trail I got lost in
the thought that I may have been covering some of the same ground as Capt John
Smith and Pocahontas. One of my favorite
parts of Capital Trail is being routed thru wooded areas. These areas make it feel
like you are covering the route explorers or an old time steam train would have
taken back in the day. This route rolls
in and out of wooded areas, up and down rolling terrain and over small streams via
old fashion wooded bridges. AND there is
no truth to the rumor that I may have made train noises while crossing one of
the longer bridge sections. That’s
between me and a few random squirrels.
(One of the bridge sections, chooo choooo)
Although never feeling over crowded, the trails see their
fair share of use. Runners, walkers and
bikers (both recreational and serious road races) frequent the trail
system. The trails provided only part of
the Capital Trail systems, not only did I get in a good workout,
but I managed to take in some history along the way. The Capital Trail is posted with historic
markers calling out all the important dates/times in our nation’s history.
(self pic fail...ha ha ha)
If you find yourself in a position to vacation in Virginia , ensure you
position yourself in a place of history and near the Capital Trails. Your brain and legs will thank you.
#runhistory
#runhistory
In case you missed it, my other favorite running place:
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