Big Update

Everything started well. Got up, to the metro and the right train was pulling onto the platform as I came down the escalator. Had to wait 1 minute for the airport shuttle bus to depart from the closest station to Dulles airport and then stepped onto the car hire shuttle bus without waiting.
I am not sure what happened but somehow I have ended up with an upgraded car.

I thought only wankers drove these but I must be wrong!

I drove the short distance to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum (9kms) and spent the next hours in a camera clicking frenzy. Thanks Ram! - it is much better than the museum in Washington. The lighting is a little dim so almost every shot required the flash (They had signs up to say they were in the process of fixing this) but even still I have never flattened a full battery in one session. As you come in you can see the Shuttle right out the back:

There is a big focus on missiles and rockets and the best collection of obscure WWII German tech I have seen. Thermojet version of a Kamikaze flying bomb. I am pretty sure fighter aircraft could fly almost twice as fast as this so it really was a suicide machine

Recently declassified photo I just took-note the drive shaft

The F35 above was the first plane to do a short take off and then fly supersonic.

P51C

After this I drove to Richmond and had a quick look at the track there although unfortunately all gates were closed. When the race goes to this track it must completely dominate the local town. The track is surrounded by the small town with only local roads in and out so it would be a parking lot for the entire event.
I tried to see a famous gun called Anzio Annie at Fort Lee which was a famous World War II rail gun but although it shows up on Google, it has now been moved or partially dismantled. The guard at the front gate thought I was a little crazy but after checking my passport and a phone call let me in to see "the gun on rails":

not Anzio Annie

Its an active base with many troops of chanting trainees.
I then drove to Newport News intending to get a hotel but couldn't find one so spent the night in the car out the front of a conference Centre. The seats fold down in the back and I easily fit lying at an angle.
Newport News is were the US Navyies aircraft carriers are built. Whislt driving around I got some good views of ones in various stages of construction but felt a bit exposed taking photos when blocking traffic with the car. I thought I could see one from a public vantage point but its the USS Enterprise being decommissioned. 65 was the first nuclear aircraft carrier. There is a new carrier being fitted out behind it.

 Right across the bay were 2 operational carriers tied up at the naval base but I really came here to see the battleship Wisconsin moored right in the downtown area

I didn't go on board this ship as opening time was about 3 hours away and I had read access was limited to the deck area. There was also a boat tour of the navy base which would have been awesome but was 4 hours away. I would definitely come back to Norfolk to go on that tour.
This plane appeared to be stuck on a stand protruding out of the Nautico building for some reason??

After that I headed to Virginia beach and then for some reason drove down the coast along the sand islands that form the barrier between the Atlantic and Pamlico sound. This really is an insane place to live as the islands are meters above sea level (the road surface appeared to be the highest point in many cases) and large storms like a hurricane must wipe them clean regularly. Yet, despite this, there are large clusters of wooden buildings on stilts - some 3-4 stories tall. Smart people appear to truck in rocks and assorted land fill and build a plateau then build a stilt house on that. I can only imagine the knowing nods to sanity the owners do when in storm the Atlantic decides to flood into the Pamlicoo and their block is the only piece of land above water level for 30 miles or so. The road ends in a Ferry which takes me to Orakoke Island and a short drive later another ferry. The 1st ferries were leaving every 5 minutes or so, the 2nd ferry to Cedar Island didn't leave to 8pm and it was 5:30pm. So I had power kip and waited.
By 11:30 I stopped for the night at a State rest stop in Morehead City. These are really well fitted out and I felt safe

I have created a new page called "2014 GPS trail" which I hope will show up soon. I will do some more photo updates as I visited another battleship today and am staying at a hotel surrounded by freeways in Charleston, South Carolina tonight.