So there we were in Manassas with a brand new RV. Where to go? The nearest cool place was the Manassas Battlefield, (First battle of Bull Run) the place Stonewall Jackson got his name.
It was a short drive from the dealer, so off we went. First lesson with an RV. They are longer than a regular car, so you have to be careful where you park them and how you back up. No problems, but after I parked, I noticed that I picked one of the few places in the lot where there was a light pole. No harm, no foul. it was sunny, but overcast and cool with pretty gusty conditions and we weren’t really dressed for the cool temperature.
There is a very nice museum/interpretative center at the battle field. There was one of the best dioramas I have seen, that did an excellent job of depicting who was where when, throughout the first battle of Manassas. I was also impressed that someone with foresight was able to preserve a decent portion of the battlefield with the views unimpeded with tract housing, strip malls or the like.
They have cannon set up where Captain Griffin of the Union army was ordered to place his long range cannon a little over a three hundred yards from the Confederate cannon line and at Captain Imboden’s location where he held off the Union army.
It’s one thing to hear a number, it’s entirely another to see it. Nine hundred feet is too far to throw a baseball, but looking over the expanse of the battlefield it seems that someone with a good arm could bean the opposing force. If you’re in the neighborhood, I recommend spending more time than we did. It’s a great place to help anyone understand what the Civil war was about.
It was windy and cool, so we returned to the center, visited the gift ship, bought a pin like we always try to do, and hopped back into the RV for the trip home. There were gusts up to 35 miles per hour as some sort of front moved through, so there were some white fingered moments keeping everything in lane. Our route was over the northern part of DC on 495, so we hit the rush hour traffic. To my pleasant surprise, the RV was easier to drive than any of our other cars in the traffic. The automatic transmission slows the coach nicely, and I wasn’t in any rush. I guess that when you carry everything you might need with you, your’re always at home.
The trip home took about five and a half hours, the Turnpike was uncrowded and we spent the majority of time under cruise control. It was like sitting in a big easy chair and watching the world go by. The View is aptly named as the front windows are huge and tall and your vision is unimpeded. We stopped by Mom Zimmers on the way home to show everything off, gassed up, about 14 MPG, very nice. Backing the coach into the driveway was exciting, I did yell once or twice, and I only hit the arbor once, no damage, thank goodness. The cops stopped to see if there was a problem, smiled and then left, but the measurements I took while we were looking were accurate and we fit. It was a great trip and the great start to a great journey.