Day 2 – Friday – June 26, 2015

0630 Alarm goes off.

0650 Kids are up and getting ready to go.

0753 Time to tally up our license plates from yesterday – 35 + Alberta, Canada

0833 Leaving the Purdy’s house

0840 Starbucks

0849 The GPS is confusing me.  But I’m going to go ahead and trust it that it knows the best route.

0904 Second cow sighting of the trip

0914 Buddy’s Diner

0930 Sudden heavy downpour and then stops just as suddenly

0946 Train

1023 Crumpled can sculpture at the recycling center

1029 Blue sky – first time today

1046 Dan River

1107 North Carolina state line

1116 Quebec license plate

12:02 p.m. Neal John Deere Tractor Museum sign

12:07 p.m. Stop at Cookout for lunch.  Apparently this is a drive-thru only restaurant (unlike the one in Knoxville) so we have to find a park to eat lunch in.

12:29 p.m. Train horn scares me to death!!!

12:32 p.m. “Picnic” along the tracks, sitting in the car.  Can’t find any parks nearby.  In front of us is an Oregon license plate.  Across the street is a school called Brittain Academy.  As we look at it longer, we realize it is abandoned.  Online reviews are mixed but nothing mentions the fact that the school is closed.  We decide that it would fit perfectly in a Scooby Doo movie – a haunted school.

12:50 p.m. Walk to see the giant chair – the World’s Largest Duncan Phyfe Chair.  Along the way, Ryan checks the sign on the door of the school.  It is a flyer for mental therapeutic services.

1:07 p.m. Leaving Thomasville.  The kids vote to skip the courthouse museum in Lexington.  I was planning to stop because I thought it would be similar to the courtroom of To Kill A Mockingbird.  Giant Mattress wins over random old courtroom.

1:25 p.m. Carolina Aviation Museum sign – maybe next time.

1:29 p.m. See the giant Daniel Boone roadside statue as we drive past on the highway – don’t even have to stop.

1:31 p.m. Washington license plate

1:39 p.m. North Carolina Transportation Museum sign

2:30 p.m. Gaston County

2:38 p.m. Gas, $2.56 in Gastonia.  Current temperature is 97 degrees with a heat index of 108 degrees!  The car display says 101 degrees.  Too hot!

3:12 p.m. South Carolina state line

3:26 p.m. Giant Peach water tower

3:27 p.m. Cherokee Hills Scenic Road and Cowpens battlefield signs

4:27 p.m. There’s a guy standing on the overpass holding a confederate flag.

4:31 p.m. Baby cows riding in a trailer

4:44 p.m. Savannah River Scenic Highway sign

4:52 p.m. Georgia state line

5:38 p.m. Made it to the mattress store – home of the World’s Largest Mattress.  Fun to jump on and cool furniture to look at too.

6:30 p.m. Beef O’Brady’s for dinner.  See highlights of a World cup game but have to leave before the US game starts

6:34 p.m. Sunset over the Atlanta airport

8:40 p.m. US scores against China (game highlights via text message from Ron)

8:53 p.m. GPS sunset

9:03 p.m. FDR State Park – home of the Little White House

9:39 p.m. Alabama state line and Chattahoochee River but no time change

9:43 p.m. Hotel.  Finally.  What a long day!  Note to self – 9+hours of drive time = 13+ hours of total travel time!  My poor, tired, swollen feet…

Day 1 – Thursday – June 25, 2015

0911 Leaving.  Beginning mileage is 172,459.  Temperature is a nice 75 degrees.

0920 Stopping at McD’s because I’m hungry and forgot to eat breakfast.  And because I like McD’s breakfast!

0947 On Highway 29 south and have encountered our first traffic jam.  Construction.

1006 Our first entry in the license plate game – West Virginia

1009 Maryland license plate

1011 Lots of notes… my secretary (Ryan) is feeling overworked! ;)  First cows have been sighted – it’s officially a road trip now!

1012 North Carolina and Pennsylvania license plates

1015 First roadkill of the trip – a dead raccoon.

1017 MooThru drive-thru restaurant.  Real ice cream from real dairy farmers.  Follow the herd!

1018 New York license plate

1019 Rappahannock River

1033 See a sign for Montpelier – President Madison’s house.  We’ll have to come here sometime.  It’s really close to home!

1044 Washington DC license plate

1118 New Jersey license plate

1122 Firehouse Subs for lunch in Charlottesville.  The car parked in front of us has an Alaska license plate!

1155 Lunch is done and we’re back on the road.  Ryan tried the Level 10 crazy hot sauce.

12:00 p.m. Waffle House.  We pass them all the time but have never been to one.  It seems like Waffle House followers are part of a cult.  What sort of initiation is required?  I’m pretty sure the first visit has to be at midnight or later.

12:02 p.m. Illinois and Georgia license plates

12:07 p.m. Arizona license plate

12:14 p.m. Passed Michie Tavern.  Another historic sight I didn’t know existed.

12:17 p.m. Monticello parking lot.  Lots of good license plates here – Alabama, Ohio, Tennessee, and Massachusetts

2:47 p.m. Leaving Monticello. Our significant items from this visit (can be a fact, a favorite part, or just anything that was memorable about the stop) are:

Ryan – the double-faced clock

Felisa – the various floor-plan pictures in the visitors’ center

Bella – the alcove beds

Sheila – that he sold his books to pay his debts and then bought more books, creating new debt

Before we leave the parking lot, we drive though, “fishing” for more license plates.  We found Utah, Connecticut, California, Indiana, South Carolina, Missouri, Florida, Wisconsin, Alberta, Delaware, Mississippi, Michigan, Texas, Maine, Colorado, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Arkansas.

3:01 p.m.  Stopped at Michie Tavern to take a picture.

3:30 p.m. Goochland County

4:00 p.m. James River

4:17 p.m. Gas, $2.45.  Current temperature is 90 degrees.

4:35 p.m. Allie’s house!

Richard made yummy baked ziti for dinner and Allie made a birthday cake for dessert.  At bedtime a big thunderstorm with hail rolled through.  I might not be allowed to come back – I seem to bring a lot of bad weather when I come!