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…