Days 68 and 69 One Last Stop – Final Blog

Days 68 and 69 One Final Stop

On Tuesday, my daughter Ashleigh joined me for a trip to the Assateague Island National Seashore which is located across the states of Maryland and Virginia. We drove through Annapolis and saw the State House and then continued toward the shore, driving across the long Chesapeake Bay Bridge along the way. The island is 37 miles long, but only one mile wide at its widest point. The Maryland District half includes campgrounds, trails and beaches, but the Virginia District is a Wildlife Refuge which does not allow overnight camping. I had reservations for two nights at the Bayside Campground, which is a short walk from both the ocean side and the bay side.

The Assateague and Chincoteague islands became very well-known due to the presence of a herd of wild horses and the 1947 children’s novel written by Marguerite Henry entitled “Misty of Chincoteague.” The book is based on events concerning the real-life Beebe family and their Chincoteague pony, Misty. It also describes the annual Chincoteague Pony Swim, also known as Pony Penning, held in late July, with this year’s event being the 100th. The event features the wild horses swimming across the Assateague Channel when the tide is “slack calm” so the young ponies, which are born during spring or early summer, are safe from any strong currents. For the pony swim, a group called the Saltwater Cowboys round up feral Chincoteague ponies from Assateague Island and drive them across the channel to Chincoteague Island where some of the foals are auctioned off. The pony population on Assateague Island needs to be managed to prevent overgrazing and damage to the island’s ecosystem.

I was thinking we would be lucky to see some horses, but as soon as we crossed the bridge to the island, we saw four off to the side of the road. We would see many more while we were there, as they would casually wander through the park in groups of four or five and graze on the land or in the marshes.

We walked up to the ocean side, and Gipper jumped into the water with Ashleigh holding the leash, as pets were not allowed unleashed in the park. We then went back to our campsite for dinner. Shortly after, four horses came within ten feet of our camper, and Madison and Gipper had to be held back from running up to them. Gipper pulled towards them, but Madison barked, which caused a young foal to walk even closer, likely out of curiosity. Signs everywhere warned that the horses are truly wild, and would bite, kick, or charge if provoked, but we never witnessed any such activity, as the horses were somewhat oblivious to people. After ten or fifteen minutes, these four horses just calmly walked away.

The night was a horrible experience due to mosquitoes and flies. I was bitten at least 30 times, which was mildly annoying at first, but welts and itches progressed steadily over the next 24 hours, to the point of being very painful.

Ashleigh is a big paddleboard fan, and we strapped two on top of the camper for the trip, so we made sure to include some time for her to use her board on the bay side on Wednesday morning. Rain and thunderstorms had been predicted for both days of the trip, and it started to rain shortly after she finished paddleboarding, so we quickly strapped the board back on the camper. Because of the bugs, and the continued threat of rain, we decided not to stay the second night and instead drove down to Chincoteague on Wednesday afternoon. We drove through the town, which is very much a beach town with many shops and restaurants as well as homes and a large campground called Tom’s Cove. We drove over to the National Wildlife Preserve in the Virginia District on Assateague and I stopped to take a picture of the Assateague lighthouse which was constructed in 1876.

We then headed home, the final leg of my ten-week trip, which covered 69 days, 48 states (plus DC) and over 16,000 miles. With the trip complete, this is my last blog entry.

Photos include the Maryland State House, the dogs at the beach, a few photos of horses (including the ones near the campsite and the foal that came close), and the Assateague Lighthouse.