U.S. Route 1: An Airstream Adventure, Part II

By Colin W. Sargent

If U. S. Route 1 is The Scarlet Letter, Interstate 95 is the CliffsNotes version.

Our next leg is 204 miles to Raleigh, North Carolina.

Google Maps recommends that we travel instead 227 miles along Interstate 95. It’s safer. It’s so much faster, with better restrooms. It has uniform signage and standards. Interstate 95 just makes us feel comfortable.

Yeah, but U. S. Route 1 is America.

Raleigh I Do

The State Capitol rotunda in Raleigh has a statue of George Washington…dressed as a Roman senator! The nearby Falls Lake State Recreation Area beckons with five swim beaches, RV hookups, and water views that glow at night, but we have miles to go before we sleep.

Splashing the Potomac

Our first overnight stop is Pohick Bay Campground in Lorton, Virginia, with breezy, woodsy bike riding and waterfront recreation areas smack dab on the Potomac River, just south of Washington, D.C. Think of this entire area as Mount Vernon, because George Washington’s pharaonic estate once spanned a slice of Virginia that easily covers what is now Route 1 to the Potomac. In fact, Washington’s Distillery and Gristmill is just feet from Route 1. Take the virtual tour of Mount Vernon, virtualtour.mountvernon.org/, or tear through the matrix and really come here. Sit on the back porch of the Mount Vernon Mansion and answer other travelers’ endless questions about your Airstream. We bought ours because we wanted to see the world up close—and the rivets on the smooth aluminum surface reminded me of pictures of the B-17 Flying Fortress nicknamed “Worry Bird” that my Dad flew during World War II. (I guess if I pulled one of those on a trailer, I’d get some questions too.) Don’t miss the murals, the 18th-century music, some great Virginia wine, and the she-crab soup at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant, near the gate to the mansion. It’s convenient to the free Mount Vernon parking lot that easily accommodates RVs.

See the full story in the digital magazine above.