GoofyMom's Even Greater American Road Trip - 2008 - Updated 11/14 - Page 19 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Originally Posted by GoofyMom
I got a lot of pictures like this one, where I have no idea where they were taken other than we were still in Florida. I'm thinking it's Jacksonville. I guess I need to take better notes!!
That is downtown Jacksonville!! My office is just to the right of where your picture cuts off.
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We checked into POP Century and found out that my TA had done a marvellous job and got us connecting rooms even though Bill had booked their room himself.
Phew - I just had a marathon reading session and read your whole TR to this point! Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Your photos are great. Add me to the list of folks with camera envy!
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Great updates! I love your Tink pins. I rec'd a set of Tink pins in May but I think that they were the same. One was for me to keep and the other was for me to spread the pixie dust. I finally gave it away on the last day of my October trip.
__________________
ºOº ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
Wow you made pretty good time out of Florida. Those south of the Border signs start all the way up here I think, talk about advertising! Love the new signature picture by the way!
Hey! Where's the rest of this TR? I sat here and read the entire thing from start to finish in one marathon sitting and now MY bum is tired and you have the nerve to leave me hanging?
Just kidding. You're doing a great job. I'm so sorry your bike injury is acting up on this trip, but I'm glad that you're not letting it stop you from having a wonderful time. The time you spent with Jan and Bill sounds so restful and peaceful. He sure has a lot of critters in his yard! Icky bugs, but that's FL for ya! Oh, that one pic of the orange bug on the plant could've come with a warning, BTW. Ewwww!
I'm glad you got to have fun in WDW and meet up with so many PP'ers. How to run into Amy and Janine like that! And your Tink pins are awesome, too.. Glad being in the wheelchair didn't hinder you too much and thumbs up to Dan for pushing you around (in a good way!). to Dan also for springing for the AP! He truly is a prince, even if he woudln't kiss that frog!
I've traveled I-95 many times over the years to visit my grandparents in FL. The SC welcome gates were new to me on my trip this past February, but I think they're , too. the Pedro signs. My favorite is "Pedro's weather report; chili today hot tamale." I believe that one of your pics is of Lake Marian, which is HUGE; you can't see from one side to the other. Florence SC is usually where we pick up I-95 after coming down the more inland route from Central NY State (via I-81 to Roanoake, VA to Federal 220 through Greensboro NC to 52 in Cheraw, I think, to Florence). That would take us right through Darlington which was great for Dad the NASCAR fan, but not good if we were traveling anywhere near race weekend. NO motels! They've moved the date of the Darlington race, but it used to be right around Easter/Spring Break, so that route could get hairy.
Oh, and FYI: If you think I-95 is boring as an adult, you should try it as a kid in the pre-portable DVD players days! Luckily, I was a reader and could read in the car w/o getting carsick. I used to read all the way down to FL and all the way back! I hated nights when Dad still wanted to drive but it was dark and I was bored.
Okay, enough stalling. On with the report, please!
__________________
-Lisa
The World is a book. Those who do not travel read only a page." - Augustine
I hope you went looking for Darlington Raceway the next morning.....it's only a few miles away from the I-95 Florence exits, and literally no longer than 10 minutes from exit 164 on I-95.
Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip up the Eastern Seaboard.
Well, today was a loooonnnng day in the van. It started off at 7:30 after we had eaten our complimentary breakfast at the Comfort Inn. The odometer read 102908, so we drove 781 km, or 488 miles. Definitely not as far as we would have liked to have gone, but you do what you have to do. It was very foggy and 72º.
Did I mention it was foggy?
What’s that mystery ball glowing in the sky?
“You never sausage a place. You’re always a weiner at Pedros”
All the signs were for this??
We got to North Carolina at 8:00.
The North Carolina welcome sign.
This drive was so boring that I even made a note that 3 state troopers passed us going to beat the band. No lights, no sirens or anything, just lots of speed. Well. About 10 miles up the road, all 3 of them were pulled over to the side of the road… with lights because all 3 of them were handing out tickets. Then I have another note that my cell phone crashed. Wouldn’t turn on, wouldn’t turn off, wouldn’t do anything. I spent a few miles cussing it out and trying to figure out what was wrong with it because my first phone did that too and I lost all my phone numbers out of it when it couldn’t be revived and they had to give me a new one. After finally deciding there was nothing else to do, I ended up resetting it with a paper clip that I’d been using as a bookmark in our “The Next Exit” book. It worked and I didn’t lose my contacts.
That reminds me… The Next Exit. Get it. If you are planning any road trips, you will find this book to be invaluable!! It tells you exactly which exit the next rest stop is, or which exit has restaurants, gas, hotels, etc. I’m so glad we got it. Ok. Commercial over. But seriously. Get it.
The sun finally came out when we got to Rocky Mount, NC. And this picture just cracks me up!
It was just after 10:00 when we stopped for our first rest stop. We were making pretty good time. A quick 10 minute break and we were back in the van. Then we ended up with just one lane for a while.
What was that I’d said about making good time?
We crossed into Virginia shortly after 10:30
Oooh, what’s this? Could it be something interesting coming up?
Must’ve been because we both took pictures of it!
We took the bypass Interstate 295 so we could miss most of Richmond. We stopped for lunch at Ruby Tuesday at 12:00 and we filled up with gas at $3.699/gallon. Ruby Tuesday has a salad that I absolutely love – the Carolina Chicken Salad.
We left Richmond at 1:15 and picked up I-95 again. Around Fredericksburg we realized we were driving on a racetrack. The GPS had us clocked at 87 mph and we were only keeping up with the average speed guys.
Then we found out why. It was to make up for the time we were going to spend sitting in the I-95 parking lot as we approached DC.
If it’s like this at 2:30 going into the city, I’d hate to see what it’d be like at 7:30….
….. traffic…..
A shot for people familiar with the area, this was the path we took through DC
Drawbridge? Cool!! We don’t have a lot of those in the Prairies….
At 3:45, we got to the sign welcoming us to Maryland.
Then we got stuck in more traffic. Dan cracked me up whining about how we were going to starve to death.
Part of the road was so pretty with the stonework bridges.
We were trying to get a photo of every state’s welcome sign, but we missed Delaware’s. But we did cross the state line at 5:07 and it was raining.
As you can see, it was really raining when we crossed into Pennsylvania.
We were hitting the Philadelphia area around 5:30. Ugh. I’ll spare you the photos we took of all the taillights sitting in front of us!
We were starting to get into some pretty country, but it was getting dark.
We’d hoped to make it to Sue and Steve’s somewhere around 6:30 or 7:00 but it was around 7:45 before we got there. It was so good to see them again, especially after such a long drive! Steve almost immediately opened up Charlie & Joe’s, which is the name of their bar they have in their rec room in the basement.
Steve at Charlie and Joe’s.
Sue had an absolutely delicious dinner waiting for us of lasagne and salad and garlic bread. We spent the rest of the night meeting Sue’s zoo (2 dogs, 4 cats ), playing pinball and deciding on music in the jukebox and just having a great time together! Oh yeah, Charlie & Joe’s is a pretty amazing place!!
The bar is open!
The singing/talking deer head! Sue, does he have a name??? He has a microphone that you sing into and then he moves and sings for you... You should hear him do Dan's version of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" or even better, when he does Sue's and my version of Joe Diffie's "Third Rock From the Sun". Actually that one may still end up on YouTube if I can figure out how to do it....
The weather today was... foggy and/or mostly rainy and 70s The best thing today was... arriving at Sue & Steve's!! The worst thing today was... the traffic from Washington, DC north The funniest thing today was... Dan saying "We're going to starve to death on this road" when we were stuck in traffic in Baltimore Today we tried... Charlie and Joe's and the result was... we had a lot of fun The most magical moment today was... definitely seeing Sue & Steve again!
Fabulous update! I can't imagine traveling thru all of those states. Looking forward to more.
__________________
ºOº ~*~
Oct '99: CSR ~ May '02: CR ~ Nov '04: SOG ~ May '06: SOG ~ Dec '07: Solo @ Pop ~ May '08: Pop w/friends ~ Oct '08: SOG ~ Dec '09: Pop w/LeAnn ~ Sept '10: Solo @ Pop ~ Spring '11: AKL ~ Jan '12: Pop for 1/2 Marathon ~ Sept '12: 1st trip for DL 1/2 Marathon? ~ Feb '13: Pop w/pals? ~ Mar '13: Tokyo Disney w/PP's?
I hope you went looking for Darlington Raceway the next morning.....it's only a few miles away from the I-95 Florence exits, and literally no longer than 10 minutes from exit 164 on I-95.
Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip up the Eastern Seaboard.
Sorry, nope. We just didn't have the time to make any detours.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grammy Grumpy
Great updates and I am all caught up. Thanks for posting pics of the pins, they are really special!
Keep it coming, will you finish this before your leave again???
We shall see how it goes. I have to get cracking and finish packing up!! The good news is that I should be able to keep updating while I'm away if I don't get it wrapped up by Thursday.
Sorry to hear you didn't get a chance to see Darlington... You also passed by Richmond International Raceway on your way up I295... it's only about 10 minutes away, between I295 and I95.
Doubly sorry that you got stuck on the Capitol Beltway.
Triply sorry that you got stuck in rush-hour traffic in Philly.
Glad you made it to Sue and Steve's at a not-too-bad hour and had a great meal and some fun at "Charlie and Joe's".
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I guess I need to take better notes!!
That is downtown Jacksonville!! My office is just to the right of where your picture cuts off.
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And yes, I remember how boring that drive up the I-95 is... 
Phew - I just had a marathon reading session and read your whole TR to this point! Sounds like you had a wonderful time. 
ºOº ~*~ 
Love the new signature picture by the way!
to run into Amy and Janine like that! And your Tink pins are awesome, too.. Glad being in the wheelchair didn't hinder you too much and thumbs up to Dan for pushing you around (in a good way!
). 
the Pedro signs. My favorite is "Pedro's weather report; chili today hot tamale."
I believe that one of your pics is of Lake Marian, which is HUGE; you can't see from one side to the other. Florence SC is usually where we pick up I-95 after coming down the more inland route from Central NY State (via I-81 to Roanoake, VA to Federal 220 through Greensboro NC to 52 in Cheraw, I think, to Florence). That would take us right through Darlington which was great for Dad the NASCAR fan, but not good if we were traveling anywhere near race weekend. NO motels! 
They've moved the date of the Darlington race, but it used to be right around Easter/Spring Break, so that route could get hairy.
Ok. Commercial over. But seriously. Get it. 
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