You may have picked up in the title of tonight's post... "a four-bagger". Two reasons for that... 1.) we hit four states today. Aside from a few spots (like New England, or the four corners of Utah/Colorado/New Mexico/Arizpna) that's hard to do in a day given how we like to travel. I first opened my eyes this morning around 4:00 to the sound of rain on the trailer roof and the roof vents closing (which they do by motors which are activated automatically by the rain sensors in the vents). More on the impact that had in a bit. The other meaning of that title is 2.) a "four-bagger" is baseball slang for a home run which is precisely what we decided to make once we realized that our old nemesis for this trip -- "Mr. Rain" -- had found us again in Virginia.
I've made the trip from suburban Washington to Vero Beach in a day many times... so many times in the years before we retired that I used to have nightmares about my life on I-95. Those trips frequently included a trailer but never one the size and weight of the Airstream which places a load on both truck and driver. Although a one-day run was out of the question from near Charlottesville, a two-day run was not. We considered several spots to end day one of the dash and finally picked the one that we had planned to hit on Sunday night anyway. That is here at George L. Smith. Just to give a sense about the drive and driving in rain on any day, think back to yesterday's posts and the beautiful overlooks and Monticello in the sunshine. Now here's what today's views were on the highway in the Shenandoah Valley (add 2000' of elevation into the clouds to imagine what Skyline Drive would have been):
If you recall yesterday's post (which was posted just before I started writing this one since we had zero internet last night) I talked about the tedium of driving Skyline Drive. I'm sure the continuation of our trip along the ridge would have delivered many wonderful surprises on a good day, today was not that. The prospect of climbing back up the mountain then driving 35 MPH in rain and fog past overlooks that offered no look worth fussing over was not drawing either Mrs. C' nor I. Instead of driving in the thick of the clouds, our route included I-81 past Mrs. C's ancestral family home in Staunton, Virginia and later Blacksburg where her ancestor's grandsons (all of whom carried the family name "Black") on another branch of the family donated the land to form the town and the university which is now Virginia Tech. Of course we waved as we past. Then to I-77 through Charlotte, North Carolina; I-20 through Columbia, South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia (home of the Master's golf tournament). The we slipped onto state roads and eventually county routes and slipped into our camp site just after 5:00. That's 8+ driving hours at speed limits. A bit longer for us. 515 miles closer to home with 417 still to go tomorrow. Here's what today's jaunt looks like as Google sees it:
So, I'm sure you are asking your computer screen "Silver Cliche', tell us what wondrous sites of America you saw and what things you did in your travels today!". Well, Campers, when you drive over 500 miles with a big trailer behind, in the rain, for over 8 moving hours you do and see almost nothing. I think at one point I caught Mrs. C' counting the posts on the guardrails to see if the State of North Carolina or South Carolina puts more posts per mile. That's bored. What we did was drove, ate (while driving... thanks to the rolling snack bar we pull behind the truck) and pumped over $100 of 87 octane into the trusty Tundra (thank goodness she drinks the cheap stuff... because she drinks a lot!). One thing that we did see was unique in all of our highway driving both before and with the Airstream. Hidden right behind that alternate route marker on the map above and right about where the "2" is the "8 h 26 min" sign is where I-77 exits Virginia. The last town in Virginia is Fancy Gap. This is where the mountains end and the coastal plain begins which means there is a big elevation drop. Well, big by eastern state standards. In this transition zone along I-77 there is no fixed speed limit. Signs warn you that this is a "variable speed limit" zone. The current speed limits are posted on a series of signs that are basically large flat screen TVs (or maybe small scoreboards from NFL stadiums... or maybe it's stadia... whatever... I'm not doing that research right now). Today we were zooming along at the posted speed of 65 MPH aided by the grade which was 4 or 5% (not enough that I needed to help the 8 brakes on the rig by downshifting). The speed limit dropped by the mile from 65 to 55 then 45 and eventually 30 MPH. Yes, 30 MPH on a perfectly good interstate with gravity working in your favor. You don't believe me? Here's a pic Mrs. C' took at that spot:
So that's it. One more night and one more driving day left in our trip. If you have been with us for the whole ride, you may recall that I called this the "places revisited" trip. We visited lots of folks, all for at least the second time and tonight marks the last place revisited since we came back here to reprise our visit from the fall of 2015. On that trip we didn't know that the attraction here is the massive cypress swamp (which starts about 25' from where I am sitting at this moment in the trailer). I'll close with the pic I took on our earlier visit and with the hope that tomorrow morning brings this type of sunshine so I can try to better this shot:
I may write an epilog to this trip, but it won't be tomorrow night. If I get home and find there is no muse there then this might be it until we hit the road again. I'm not sure when that might be, but we'll let you know whenever it is.
Thanks for following along and sharing our adventures with us!
Later...
SC'
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