We left Galax, VA before 8:00am and headed to Thomas Jefferson’s homestead; Monticello. We were able to park the RV alongside the busses. We just had to unhook the Jeep and park it separately. We signed up for the house and garden tour. As an Engineer, I enjoyed seeing all of the technical things Jefferson invented and acquired throughout his lifetime. He was a brilliant man.  The grounds and gardens were spectacular, as was the wine cellar. I believe they ate and drank well back in the day.

Following the tour we got back on the road and drove to Warrenton, VA. This was our first night boondocking in a Walmart parking lot. The nice thing about this Walmart is that it is very close to the town of Warrenton where great restaurants, shops and quaint homes can be found. I actually wish we had more time to tour the shops, but we didn’t arrive until late evening. It was our 3 year anniversary so prior to arriving I searched Yelp for a good restaurant. ‘Claire’s at the Depot’ was highly rated, and for good reason. I had a Beet Goat Cheese Salad follow by a Rock Fish entree. Charlie had She-Crab soup followed by Veal Marsala. Of course we ordered a nice bottle of wine to go with dinner. The ambiance, service and food were all spectacular!

Welcome to Claire’s at The Depot

In the morning we took the toad vehicle and drove down the street to the Red Truck Bakery. As a side note, my daughter had just stopped by the Red Truck Bakery in Marshall, VA and couldn’t say enough good things about it. Even President Obama had been to this bakery and raved about it. She said we had to make a stop by the bakery on our way to DC. We had every intention of doing that until last night, when on our way back from Claire’s we saw that there was a Red Truck Bakery right in Warrenton! We were so excited. We purchased a loaf of Banana Bread and a couple of muffins. We didn’t eat the banana bread until later and when we did I strongly regretted having not purchased all I possibly could have and freezing them. I mean seriously, we had never had bread so moist and flavorful! I’m going to find a way to get back to this bakery!

http://redtruckbakery.com/