Wright Brother's Memorial, and Air show at Virginia Beach.

This is the outbound and the meat of this trip (Point A to E). I have the air show and the memorial visit here. For return trip which includes crossing of Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and Easter shore ride, click below.

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Type: Long Trip (Multiple Days)

Distance: 626 miles (325 miles this leg)

Riding Time: 11 hours 3 min according to Google Map

                        (5 hours 22 min this leg)

It's beach time! Well, actually, an air show at the beach. I found out that Patty Wagstaff was performing at an Airshow in Virginia Beach VA. She is a legend in aerobatics. She is one of the winningest competitive aerobatist of all time. So much so that her aircraft now hangs in Smithsonian next to Amelia Earhart's. I've wanted to see her for a long time, and of course, I wanted to do so before she retires from the air show business. So, I planned a trip around it, and while I was planning, realized that I could just ride out to the Wright Brother's First Flight Memorial in 1.5 hr. I decided to make a trip. This trip also let me stayed at and enjoyed the beach. Great plan, isn't it?

Point A (Point G) to Point D:

Kick stand up at 7:30. I should have left earlier, but still acceptable. The whole point of going down to Virginia Beach is to see the air show, so I just hurried down there. I took US-50, I-95, I-295, I-64 then I-264. Notice that it's interstates almost all the way. Of course, this is not at all the way to enjoy a bike trip. It just get you to the destination quicker. That's all. I needed to get there by noon. I normally try to avoid interstates as much as I can. As expected, this outbound trip was pretty boring. Fairly heavy traffic, fairy straight road and not much of a view. I stopped at a visitor center in Fredericksburg (Point B), and one more stop to fill up a gas. Besides that, I just rode non-stop.  Fredericksburg apparently has a close association with George Washington. It may be a good place to visit some other time. Oh, one more place worth mentioning on the way is Williamsburg (Point C). It is a living history museum, where 18th century city (it was a capital of Virginia colony) is preserved. I have taken my family once. Maybe I will write about it some day.

"Virginia is For Lovers" the state slogan says... 

Point D:
I got there just about noon and quickly checked into a hotel. Why? I wanted to drop off my riding gears  and get into the beach ware. As I was pulling into the parking lot, I saw sky divers coming down. That meant I was just missing the first 10 minutes or so  of the show while I was checking in. That's OK. I came here for Patty. As long as I catch her and see the rest of the show, it's all good. And what a good show it was! Patty Wagstaff's solo was amazing. I got to see her 8 Sided Loops and Water Dance (aka snap rolling 360 circle) with my own eyes.  BTW, I almost hate to mention, and do so in disbelief but she is 62 years old this year. How do you get to be pulling -6G to +10G at that age (or at any age for that matter...)?  (Actually, there were a couple of more performers that probably worth noting their age. It's either flying upside down creates monsters or only the monsters gets to fly upside down.) Anyway, other performers were great as well, Kirby Chambliss (5 times national champs and former Red Bull Air Race champion),  Skip Stewart, MIke Wiskuss to name a few. The greatest was though, when Patty and Skip came out together and flew what they dubbed Air Duel. Basically showing off each other and having fun. I was on my feet with tears in my eyes. Boy that was exciting and fun fun fun.

It's so hard to take a pic of high speed aircraft, but here is Patty Wagstaff flying her Extra 300.

GEICO Sky Typers

Point D to Point E:

The beach was fun and relaxing. I stayed at the Virginia Beach overnight and nursed my sore butt while I get a plenty of sun. The ocean in the morning was beautiful too. I left the beach around 8:00AM and headed down south. There is a toll section on VA-168. The toll was $2 for motorcycles. It was actually a very short segment of the168 right before where it turns into NC-168. It makes you wonder why such little section had to have a toll. It also makes you wonder if there is a way to avoid that section. Probably the locals know such way. Let me know if you knew it. The drive was beautiful though, especially in North Carolina. It is a rush green and relaxing farmland all the way. You see fresh produce market here and there. Strawberry must be in the season now.  You also see brothers of this truck  on the way. You can't miss it. The "dungeon" is right on the highway.

Point E:

I got to the Wright Brother's Memorial around 9:45. This is it. The holly place of flight. The entrance fee is $4. You can almost divide the place in three sections. The actual place where the first flight took place, the memorial, and the airstrip (yes, you can fly in here). 

Let's start with the first flight. You have to use some imagination though. You see, a hundred and ten years ago, when Wright's were here, the place had nothing but sand. Today, it is covered in grass, rush and green.  In fact they chose to come here because they wanted a good sandy place for landing of the aircraft. So, as yo see the picture, every green you see was actually gray sand. This stone memorial stands right at the point where the first airplane took to the air.

Click on the pic. The stones mark the landing spot of the first, the second, the third and the fourth flight (all the flights happened that day.)

The first landing was only 120 feet, lasted only 12 seconds. You will be struck by how short that was when you actually see it. It was a short hop. but mankind was never be the same from that moment.

The fourth flight, on the other hand was more than half a mile (you can barely see the take off point in the distance in this photo. The shack on the left is a reproduction of their hanger and the living quarter. You also see the memorial on top of the hill.) It was definitely a sustained flight. You can imagine how ecstatic the brother was on that day.

 The memorial is on top of the hill. This hill is where the Wright's experimented with kites and gliders. Life guards from the nearby coast guard station helped them bring up the machine to the hill. Remember, the hill was just a big mound of sand.

A little snap shot of the memorial and FZ-1. I walked, but I could actually ride up to the hill. There is a road looping around the bottom of the hill, and small numbers of parking space on that road.