Days 33 to 35: Pocahontas State Park, VA

We left Chickahominy on Friday.  Alea rode about 46 miles through on-and-off drizzle and light rain, in temperatures that stayed in the mid-50s the whole time.  The only upside was that the entire distance was on a paved trail, so there were no traffic issues to deal with.

The cooler than normal weather was forecast to continue through the weekend, with off and on rain as well.  So we opted to spend three nights at Pocahontas State Park (Including tax it was a bit less than $39, power and water), which is 20-25 miles south of where we left our route in Richmond, VA.

Richmond is where the Library of Virginia is located, so on Saturday I drove into town to do some genealogy research.  They have an extensive collection of Virginia county deed and will abstracts, so I pored through several dozen book indexes to see if any contained a reference to Simon Williams, one of my fourth great grandfathers.  Some family lore says that he was born in Culpeper County, VA in 1753.  There is a Revolutionary War militia roll that lists a Simon Williams in the Company of Captain Benjamin Harrison of Fauquier County, VA (which was created from Culpeper County), and there is a Simon Williams in a 1782 Census record in adjoining Frederick County, VA that matches what is known about Simon's family at that time (whether either of these refer to the correct Simon Williams cannot be proven).  But I found no reference to Simon in any of the deed or will abstracts for those counties and several abutting counties.  That was pretty much what I had expected, as my prior research suggests that he had not owned property until he was in his sixties, and likely did not come from a propertied family.  But by the time they arrived in Posey County, Indiana Territory he and his many children owned over 800 acres of prime farm land.

On the way back to the campground, the van's "service engine soon" icon lit up.  I drove to a Ford dealer near the campground and luckily they could check things out in the couple of hours remaining before they closed for the weekend.  They say we have a leak in a fuel vapor recovery system.  To have them fix it would mean we'd have to hang around until at least Wednesday afternoon, because they will need to order the required part.  So our plan is to wait until we get to King of Prussia, PA to have it fixed, as the dealer there should have the part in stock.  This dealer said that wouldn't harm the engine if it isn't fixed for a couple of weeks.  

Today is forecast for on-and-off rain until later this afternoon, so we're hunkering down and waiting for the weather to pass.  If the engine problem was fixed we would head into Richmond to do some sightseeing, but we are playing it safe and not driving it anymore than we need to until we get to King of Prussia.