Viriginia and Bridge/Tunnels

 When I volunteered to go spend a month in Virginia Beach to help out another WTU, I had no idea that I would be faced with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel!

20 miles long with 2 one mile long tunnels that go under the bay, this photo shows an Aircraft Carrier going over one of the tunnels.

Of course I mention this because I am not quite sure, but I think when I was a kid I had a fear of bridges over water; and if I am only imagining this childhood fear then that one day 5 months ago it became real!. So whether this fear was real or not, I can at times be paranoid and/or pessimistic about  things, so either way I was not happy about driving on this bridge that has a very thin guard rail holding one back from a potential watery demise. So as I was driving along this bridge getting closer to the first tunnel my paranoia began kicking into gear.

 Several things were going through my mind, the first thing being that about 2 weeks before going to Virginia me and my wife watched an episode of Fringe in which a guy who is messing with time may cause a similar tunnel somewhere near Boston to suddenly not exist, naturally anyone who was in the tunnel at the time would suddenly be unexplainable underwater! While I am thinking about this I enter the first tunnel and of course the whole time I was on the bridge my hands were at 10 and 2 on the wheel just hoping nothing crazy happens, and of course scarred as hell, hands on the wheel not touching anything else. So when "Concrete Jungle" by BLS comes on my MP3 player I didn't think anything of it and of course I was keeping my hands on the wheel, not touching anything, not even to change the song). Then the part of the song where Zakk sings "No one gets out, They're ready to die" (I was hearing no one gets out, get ready to die!)

 After getting through the first tunnel I was thinking ok I got through that, now I just need to worry about the rest of the bridge! exiting the first tunnel I had no idea there was a second tunnel at least not until driving a little further along the bridge I see what appears to be a very large cargo container ship, which is moving in the direction of the bridge. The position of this cargo ship is in pretty much the same position as the Carrier in the picture above. That is when it hits me, that Oh Crap there is another tunnel; and based on the ships position and how close I am to the second tunnel I realize that as I'm driving through the tunnel the ship is going over it! So take all my previous thoughts of the Fringe episode and the BLS song, that are still in my head and throw in the fact that I am literally driving under a cargo ship, I was freaking out!

 So after I finally get done with the bridge and tunnels and think I am done with it. But no, two weeks into my time down there I had to go to Fort Eustis which is about an hour away. I get about half way there and a see a sign for the Hampton Road Bridge-Tunnel (the coincidental music playing this time, God Hates Us by Avenged Sevenfold; in which several times throughout the song M. Shadows screams “Total Nightmare”).

So while I enjoyed my time in Virginia Beach and was able to help the other unit quite a bit, I a very happy to be away from Bridge/Tunnels! And if that wasn't bad enough when I was driving through eastern Pennsylvania to get there, I had to drive through a friggin mountain!