T & A’s Kick Ass Visit

We drove about 50 miles west of Williamsburg to mooch-dock at Tom Connor and Alice Clark (T & A)’s place outside of Richmond, VA. We met T & A at the Myakka River Motorcoach Resort (MRMR) a couple of years ago and also spent a few weeks with them last summer in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Pagosa Springs, Colorado; and Moab, Utah. They own a lot down the street from us and they are building a casita this summer. I can tell you that they made us feel right at home:

Although Camp T & A came with some very specific rules (two pages worth) that we had not seen in any other campgrounds that we have stayed in over the past four years:

If you read the third paragraph you will understand this photograph:

Check out the itinerary that Alice put together:

Here’s their place (Tara (think GWTW) like):

The place was named:

Bear enjoyed their deck area:

That evening we had hors d’oerves and drinks at the Fine Creek Brewery

and then we went back to White Gate for a delicious chicken dinner that Alice prepared. Tom informed us that he had something in his eye. Alice couldn’t find anything, but Tom insisted daily that something was there. Sorry Tom.

The following morning they took us on a driving tour of Richmond that started with a drive down Monument Avenue that used to have many statues of Confederate Generals. Over the past few years they have all been taken down and moved. A newer one has remained which is a statue of Arthur Ashe, the tennis player from Richmond. Then we stopped at the Jefferson Hotel which was beautiful:

Very grand! I could only imagine getting married and having a reception there! We loved the dome which is a trademark of Thomas Jefferson architectural designs.

Tom got a little too close to the alligator and I had to help him out:

Next we drove by the Tredegar which was an iron works factory that the Union Army wanted to capture to limit the Confederates ability to wage war.

As you can see, the building is still standing and along with a few others housing the American Civil War museum. From there we got to see the Virginia Capitol although with all the construction and one-way streets this was the best picture that we could get:

Very pretty Greek Revival structure.

Richmond sits on the banks of the James River and has some rapids so in order to move products by boat a canal was built along side of the river. We took a canal ride to learn more about the area:

Some of the things that we learned (and some are pictured above) was that during this time of the year the canal is only a couple of feet deep. This is the only place in the world were three railroad lines cross at the same point aptly called Triple Crossing. Out the bow of the boat you can see a drawbridge that no longer works, but used a counter weight pulled by only two horses to raise the bridge. Just out of site in the park is a small grey box where a slave curled up in and was smuggled to his freedom in Philadelphia. Imagine being cramped up in a box that could be arranged any which way for over 24 hours!

The other passengers on the boat talked us into trying Kat’s for lunch. It was a much farther walk than we anticipated but fun running into them again and the food was good.

Later that day we stopped at the Capital Ale House for a beer.

Afterwards we enjoyed watching the Elton John movie back at White Gate. Tom liked it immensely, ask him about it.

The next afternoon we headed to Hardywood Brewery:

What a beautiful brewery! It reminded us of the Angel Envy’s Distillery. Beer was good as well!

That evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Buckheads:

Fantastic steak meal! Although for those prices we didn’t think that the service was up to par.

The following day we loaded up our bikes and drove over to the Capital Trail starting near the plantation Berkeley.

What a great bike path along the road and through the woods! We rode past this beautiful wedding venue called Burlington:

Then we briefly stopped at Culs Courthouse Grille to see if the owner, Colin, who was a student of Alices’, was working. He was:

They calculated that they were teacher/student 40 years ago! I’m not sure how that is possible because Alice is in her early 50’s!

We then pedaled over to have lunch at Indian Fields

where our server was fantastic and the food was great! We also stopped for a pictures at this sign:

We rode back to the cars, packed up and drove back to White Gate. After getting cleaned up, Fran and Mitch Mason (another couple from the Myakka River Motorcoach Resort – Lot 99) met us for drinks at the house before heading to Wild Ginger for dinner.

Great sushi! We learned some interesting facts about the Masons. The biggest shocker was that Mitch used to be a ballerina! Never judge a book by its’ cover!

The next morning we drove over to see Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home. Here’s a picture of Katrina and I with the author of the Declaration of Independence:

Monticello’s family and invited guests entrance:

Our tour guide was phenomenal and very knowledgeable. Check out these other pictures:

The tour focused on the architecture of Monticello which I really enjoyed since Thomas Jefferson was a master architect that I had studied. Our guide talked some about Jefferson’s ideals, life as the President of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, the grounds, and slavery. Other tours were offered if you wanted to get into depth on some of these topics. We didn’t have the time as we had scheduled a wine tasting at the nearby Blenheim Vineyards.

The Blenheim Vineyards is owned by Dave Matthews, the musician. What a beautiful venue, wonderful wines and great tasting room!

We learned that the Petit Verdot grapes grow extremely well in Virginia! Surprisingly real good reds! The tasting room looked very small from the front as it was built into the side of a hill and then when you went inside it opened up to reveal a gorgeous view of the vineyard. We purchased nine bottles as they were priced well.

Across the street was the Trump Winery where we headed for a late lunch. Talk about eloquent!

Look at the view:

What a grand tasting room!

The lunch was great, I really enjoyed the turkey sandwich that Tom ordered! The wine was ok, we liked Blenheim better.

The entire day was exhausting:

Back at home we were able to catch our breath and decided to play a game of skittles.

I had never heard of it either! Fun game that pitted the genders against each other. The women caught up to the men and passed us for the win!

The following day we rested a bit. Alice and Katrina went to play pickleball while I smoked some pork. Tom called the local sheriff on me because I wasn’t adhering to one of their rules – blood alcohol must be kept above 0.08.

After a wonderful early dinner, we drove downtown for drinks and dessert at The Tobacco Company Restaurant which is located in the Shockoe Slip area of Richmond.

Beautiful building with a great bourbon selection and a yummy butter cake dessert.

Wonderful evening!

The next morning we packed up and said our goodbyes to T and A. Wonderful stop! Thank you both for your southern hospitality!

Our rating for Camp T & A is five stars because the hosts went out of their way to accommodate any requests that we had. The restrooms and showers were very clean and the water pressure was great when the water worked. Although our assigned site was gravel, it was fairly level because we only had to use eight leveling boards. Waste water dumping was provided with the use of a six gallon bucket, I would recommend getting a bigger bucket to alleviate mishaps. The chauffeuring was an extra benefit, however I would recommend that only the person behind the wheel perform the actual driving responsibilities. As a real value add, the camp host entered my coach to aid in the safe arrival to our site. He also provided expert traveling logistics when leaving the facility. Camp T & A was very affordable and I would recommend staying there as soon as possible, as I believe that they are planning a price hike next year. The largest complaint that I had with these campground hosts was that they did not arrange for cooler weather while we stayed there. All-in-all I highly recommend Camp T & A and plan on staying with them for months next time we pass through!