Making my final travel plans and checking to see who is going to be around early and, if so, when you plan to arrive.

I will be leaving on Monday afternoon - after meeting with a client in Virginia Beach in the a.m. So I expect to be around Sunday p.m.

I might arrive Wednesday pm; definitely will be there by Thursday p.m. in order to take the Friday a.m. Chesapeake Charter that Fran arranged.

Boy, airfares are high now.

In talking with Ken Reese, he advises anyone who is driving and who will be traveling around or through the D.C. area to check your route. The construction in horrific. Best to avoid the area all together if you can.

Checking in Thursday afternoon and will be around that evening. The group going down to OBX on Friday plans an early start.

(still room for a few more for the OBX tour if anyone is still deciding their Friday plans)

Flight arrives Thursday 2:30 in Norfolk. Hopefully, the shuttle ride will get me to Portsmouth not too long after that. Leaving sevenish the following a.m. with the caravan heading to the OBX!!! Judy and I are planning to meet up Thursday after check-in. Be sure to wear your Wacko badges in case we don't know you in person yet! Really looking forward to seeing everyone!

Flying in Wednesday, staying and visiting with family until the first tour on Saturday.

Looking forward to seeing everyone then!!

I will be arriving sometime Thursday evening. On Friday I will be with Judy's group bouncing around the OBX. One can not visit Bodie Island too many times!!

Don't know routes Stan intends to take but thanks to John's comments on DC traffic, he'll have to reroute us to avoid bumper-to-bumper.

We leave CT early (4AMish) on Friday to take the afternoon cruise Fran's arranged, then on to where we're staying in VA with the rest of you folks.

Anybody with connections, please ask for especially brilliant weather that weekend. Looking forward to meeting all of you. . . .

Sandy

I'm hoping for good weather too, Sandy. Sunshine throughout the weekend would be really nice.

Sidenote:
I once called a minister (on my golf committee) at 4AM to ask if he thought we should postpone the golf tournament for the day. The weather reports were pretty bad. He told me to stand by for a minute while he called the "powers that be". He called me right back, and told me "Yes, postpone!" He had called another minister friend of his...who happened to also be an amateur meteoroligist.

Good story, Judy! As we all know, hurricane season has started and Alberto is creating problems in Florida already. However, it is early in the season - July, August seem to be when the storms really rev up. Pleeeeaze - no bad weather!

Your best bet is NJ Garden State - Cape May Ferry - Chessapeak Bay Bridge - cut out DC altogether.
HCS

And the best thing about the Ferry is that it has lighthouses on both ends!

Susan and I are making it a mini vacation. We fly in this Friday (June 16th) and spend 3 days in Alexandria, Virginia and see Jones Point Lighthouse, then to Virginia Beach for 3 days and finally to Portsmouth Thursday night and go with Fran for the boat tour of Wolf Trap and New Point Comfort and of course the main event the WACKO Weekend flying out at the end of the tour (computer conversion at work have to be back early Monday morning).

Howdy Fellow Wacko's,
Larry and I will be arriving in Richmond,VA on Monday June 19th for a few days to visit with my mom and two of my 4 sisters, as well as a plethera of nieces and nephews. Then we travel down to Norfolk,Va to visit with my other 2 sisters and 2 of my 4 brother. We are planning a pizza, pool, and beer party on Thursday evening at my sister Beth's place. Larry and I will check in to the hotel in Portsmouth Friday afternoon. We are both really looking forward to this vacation and get together with both family and our lighthouse friends.

Kat

Driving down on Friday with Tom, Judy, Lee, Ellen & Bob, in time for the evening cruise.
We are staying over on Monday with Tom to do OBX.
HCS

I am driving up with Mary Rodgers. We are going to visit every lighthouse we can find on the way up. We are leaving on Monday and will arrive there sometime on Thursday. We are going on the OBX Tour on Friday. Really looking forward to that as well as the Regional on the weekend.

Joe and I are hitting the road right now, well just as soon as I get off this computer. We will be making a two week travel out of this. We will be visiting National Parks across country. First Stop is Asheville, NC Then up into TN, and across VA and WV on I-81 we will also see a few parks in Maryland and spend several days in DC then finally head down towards Portsmouth with additional stop on the way. Should arrive in Portsmouth on Thursday evening.

Gotta go! See you all there!

Hope you find time to visit Biltmore House in Asheville, awesome place - there on site made wines arn't bad either!
HCS

We plan to leave NJ Friday am and hopefully stop to visit Assateague light on the way down. This should put us in Portsmouth sometime on Friday afternoon. Looking forward to meeting new faces and seeing some others we met in Baltimore.

Hank

Currently west of Chicago for our annual Corvette Show, then to the Michigan 400 Nascar race on Sunday. Home for 2 days, then onto Holland to 2beacons home, change cars, and drive to DC Wednesday night. Tour DC Thursday, walk the beaches on Virginia Beach on early Friday, and meet up with WACKOS later Friday in Portsmouth! After our events, onto OBX, climb lighthouses, and visit NASCAR garages in NC! Then home.....

Mary, maybe I should just hitch a ride with you, since you're driving right past my house...and leave Matt with the kids (again!) - although I think he'd have some very unpleasant things to say if I did! :rolleyes:

Things have been very quiet the last couple of days. Is it because everybody's getting ready for Father's Day or is it TIDEWATER?! It's countdown time and some folks are already on the way to VA. What a weekend we will have!

Greetings from Alexandria, Virginia. Susan and I arrived yesterday and last night saw Washington D.C. at night. It was neat seeing all the monuments lit up. The World War II looks very nice at night as it has 2 lighted fountains.

Today we meet with 2 members of the Mt. Vernon Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. We view documents, including blueprints, pictures, and articles about Jones Point Lighthouse. Will make a report later under LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION.

Tomorrow hope to get pictures from a boat tour of Jones Point.

Grace I remembered to pack the Jupiter Lighthouse pin.

Eric, sounds like a great, historical trip! I haven't been to D.C. in years and it has changed a whole lot in that time. I hope you took lots of pictures. The Jones Point visit sounds exceptional. Pretty cool to get to see all those original documents. Can't wait to hear your report and see pictures.

Thanks for the pin and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!! See you and Susan real soon!

Hope everyone brings plenty of sun screen with them. The temps have been upper 80's -90 with plenty of sunshine. Roy and I left Friday 16th and flew into Norfolk. We had plans to see Assateague on Saturday the 17th for our anniversary but a strong case of stomach flu kept me out of action for two days. We managed to get on the road mid day Sunday to head to Currituck and then down to Hatteras. We took the ferry to Ocracoke on Monday and worked our way back up to Kill Devil Hills for a couple of days. After a rocky start to our vacation we have been having a great time seeing all the lights and the other sites of the OBX. Lots of pictures taken so far. Looking forward to the rest of the trip. We head back North to Norfolk/Virginia Beach area tomorrow, Wednesday 21st. We will be checking into the Holiday Inn - Portsmouth on Thursday. Hope everyone has a safe trip and we'll see you this weekend.

Carolyn

Along with the sunscreen, bring BUG repellant if you're going to OBX. The "no-see ums" are heavy around Bodie Island and Ocracoke. Supposedly, if you stay on the sidewalks, it is not as bad. Not true. Besides, you can't lighthouse (verb ) staying on the sidewalks, right?

Bounce dryers sheets work just as good as the put on your skin sprays and lotions. This is a proven fact. We've tested it on Portsmouth Island, NC where mosquito netting is recommended.

Has to be the brand Bounce, and has to be the original fragrance. Don't know why...guess bugs just don't like certain smells...and brands.

I'm bringing a supply for our OBX tour group Friday...so y'all are covered!

I'm leaving on a jet plane for ORF at 11:10 am this morning - joining Ruthie and Terry on that flight.

See you all there. Sorry to miss those who aren't going to be there.

Don't forget your WACKO badges!

The Bradys are heading towards Tidewater 2006 right after work tonight, will get there some time after noon on Friday...

I unfortunately won't be there but I will be at the Molly Pitcher Service Area on the NJ Turnpike on Friday from about 9:30 AM to 3 PM doing a Travel show representing the NJLHS.

If you're driving down the Turnpike between those hours stop in and say HI!.

The service area is just past the merge after Exit 8A. Stay to the right for the service area.

Dennis

Poor Carolyn - nothing nastier than getting sick on a fun trip. Glad you are well now. Judy, lighthousing is a perfectly good verb - it was probably first coined right here on the CF's. We know anything done here is GOOOOOD!!

I had hoped to get away from the soaring heat in Houston but it does not appear that will happen. The temps keep going up in the Tidewater area. Yukkk!

I'm leaving Charlotte early Friday morning and meeting up with the 2:00 NPC & Wolftrap boat tour.
I'll be too late back into Portsmouth for the harbor cruise Friday night, but I'll be ready to party when you all get back.
I'll try to get the bar tuned up, if anybody remembers the reunion.

Ken

Actually, we coined the word at Lighthousing.net.

Yep, it's getting warmer here. The last two days have been a dry low 90's, and that's been pretty nice. Expect higher tomorrow.

Actually Judy the word lighthousing was coined long before lighthousing.net or the forums.. lighthousing.com used to be a Japanese website... I have been using the term lighthousing long before I ever got on the Internet...

Paul ... Judy

So says Merriam-Webster ... we all know better, no?

We have arrived and in the hotel parking lot we met the McBees, Breens, Hannums, Ken Reese and in the lobby was Derith, Bob Scroope, the Parrishs, then ran into the Marys and their hubbies in the hallways.. I am sure the rest are hovering somewhere... Next up our dinner cruise..