On the Road to New Hampshire
23 August 2023
525 miles
Up at 6:00 and garage door down at 6:56. Almost forgot to turn off the water! We were in Jacksonville by 8:30 and crossed the border into Georgia around 9:15. The drive was boring, but two things happened along the way that were worth recording. First around Darien, Georgia (near Brunswick) there was a semi that had detached from its cargo. It was a moving truck – Dick’s Moving – and there had been a huge fire right in the middle of the container. The two right lanes were closed due to the hazard, and multiple fire units had responded. We felt so bad for the people whose belongings were lost – it was heartbreaking.
The second thing that happened is that we were getting back onto I-77 north (we stopped to fill up with gas) and there was an oversized load with a police escort. It was the largest that we had ever seen but what was remarkable was that it was being both pulled and pushed down the highway. Just like a train with engines at both ends! We got through Charlotte with only minimal slow-downs, and we were at our hotel, the Home2 Suites, in Mooresville by 4:00. We had chicken with a salad and macaroni and cheese for dinner and turned in early. It had been a long day.
24 August 2023
455 miles
We got on the road at 8:15 this morning. We crossed five states today: North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was an uneventful drive. The highlight of the day was when we stopped for gas in Virginia. I went in to get a cup of coffee, and the cashier gave it to me for free! The days are just packed!
We are staying the night at the Staybridge Suites in Harrisburg. The last time I was in the Pennsylvania Capital was 1972, with my grandparents. I was seven years old! I met Reid Bennett, who was our state representative from Mercer County. I am not sure why my grandparents were meeting with him; I will have to ask my mother if she remembers the occasion.
In this journal entry (Get Outside paper journal), I am supposed to describe something beautiful. I have two things that I saw today that were so pretty, I pointed them out to Markus. The first was the beautiful wildflowers that grow in the median along I-77 in North Carolina – gorgeous yellow, red, green, purple – a riot of beautiful and bright colors. The second was the crape myrtles that were also along I-77 in North Carolina. The blooms were the color of lilacs, and I have never seen such huge crape myrtle trees – and so full of flowers.
Footnote: I asked my mother about the visit to Harrisburg. She seems to recall that it had something to do with the Shenango Valley Boat Club and the property that the Club owned at Shenango Dam.
25 August 2023
390 miles
We didn’t get started until almost 9:00 this morning. Since we were planning to drive less than 400 miles, we thought it would be an easy day. We couldn’t have been more wrong! We hit fog east of Hershey and had to slow down to about 45 mph. Then traffic was super heavy and slow between White Plains, New York and Hartford, Connecticut. We averaged only 53 mph over 7 hours and 20 minutes.
Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got to the hotel and in serious need of a massage – guess happy hour will have to suffice instead! We stayed at the Embassy suites in Marlborough, Massachusetts. We had a one-bedroom suite with a full kitchen. It was super nice!