Day 11 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

On day 11 of our 2025 summer adventure Gary, Sheryl, Milton & Gaby, Charlie, and I traveled from Pollocksville NC to Virginia Beach, VA our home for the next 3 nights!

My morning walk at the park included this guy, I think he was trying to pace me around Lake Georgia!

Yes, that is the name of the lake at the campground.

We spent last night in a great small campground in Pollockville NC. The Town of Pollocksville is a quiet agricultural town. Once prosperous for lumber milling, the Town of Pollocksville still maintains its rich architectural history nestled alongside the natural beauty of the Trent River. Pollocksville is a Bird Sanctuary and welcomes any aviaries. The Town boasts nearby fields of corn, soybean, and cotton, surrounded by the dense pines of the Hofmann Forest to the East, and the Croatan National Forest to the West. 

New Bern, NC, was the next town we came to. It boasts a rich history with several interesting facts. It's the second oldest town in the state, was the first capital of North Carolina, and is the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola. Additionally, it was the first city in America to celebrate George Washington's birthday and is home to over 150 sites on the National Register of Historic Places. The town was named after Christoph von Graffenried's hometown of Bern, Switzerland, which means "bear" in German. This has led to the "Bern Bear" being a symbol of the city, with over 108 creative Bear Town Bears appearing throughout the city. 

The Neuse River is unique for several reasons, including its status as the longest river entirely within North Carolina and its role as a critical habitat for various species, including threatened ones. It also features unusual geological formations like the Cliffs of the Neuse, a 100-foot canyon carved by the river on a coastal plain. Furthermore, the Neuse River is known for its significant role in North Carolina's fishing industry, serving as a spawning ground for many fish species. 

Tar River, east of Greenville NCThe Tar River is a nearly 200-mile long river that flows southeast beginning near the North Carolina/Virginia border through Greenville and Pitt County to the wide estuary of the Pamlico Sound separating the mainland from the Outer Banks and Atlantic Ocean. Though technically the same river, once you pass under the US Highway 17 bridge between Greenville and Little Washington, the Tar River becomes the more brackish Pamlico River as it then merges into the sound. The Tar River gets its name from North Carolina’s history as a naval stores colony, where our dense longleaf pine forests provided much of the tar, turpentine, and pitch needed for shipbuilding and transporting goods throughout the colonies and abroad. Like all coastal rivers, it is also due to this abundance of trees, and the tannins their leaves produce, combined with the stirring and movement of rich sediment during storms that the Tar River gets its brown color. 

Gary & Sheryl had an issue with their tow car on this leg of our adventure. The good news is they, the car and the RV are all good. All installed safety equipment worked perfectly. We have most of the repairs made, waiting on a couple more items to arrive tomorrow.

US 17 has many names that are evocative of its role: the Ocean Highway and the Historic Albemarle Tour Highway to name a couple. Originally, US 17 was intended as the North Carolina segment of Interstate 95. But eastern Carolina politicians, appalled by the idea of an asphalt superhighway cutting through their farmlands, vetoed the idea, and the Interstate was diverted further west. Regardless, millions of people travel US 17 each year. The fact that it is not an interstate is a blessing since many of the gems along the route are fairly well kept secrets. All you need is a tank of gas, a road map, and time to spare, and you can be on your way to discovering the charm and history of eastern Carolina via US 17.

We got off US 17 onto I-64 to head into Virginia Beach. We are spending 3 nights here at Holiday Trav-L-Park. We are next to Naval Air Station Oceana and we are enjoying the sound of freedom, very often!