Road Trip 2018 Day 2

Day 2 started out so foggy and ethereal. 

Somewhere out there are the beautiful mountains and valleys of West Virginia.

At the first rest stop in West Virginia, the outside vending machines were all caged up!

It was so peaceful and scenic.  Me and the moms stood looking at the big map trying to figure out which rest stop we were at because there was no "You Are Here" arrow. A nice young bearded man with a smooth southern voice started pointing out where we were. I wish we could have stayed and talked longer. Or, rather, stayed and listened to him talk. And later we'd find out that perhaps Cheryl should have stopped to talk with him too!

We had passed this combo earlier. The back of the trailer was held together with a thin rope, and the Cherokee was so sacked out I'm surprised the hitch wasn't bottoming out. 

The fog stayed with us most of the day.  Little did we know, because Cheryl wasn't with us when the nice local was giving us a map tour, that we had actually missed the turn off. I didn't know we were going to be leaving the Interstate for a state road to see a fabulous gorge. We probably wouldn't have had much of a view, and the route we took was quite a bit longer (think: we would have taken the hypotenuse to go see the gorge, but the way we went was the A and B sides of the triangle).

Instead, we were taking a longer route, and going through the capitol, Charleston, W. Va is not at all the same as the other Charleston. Rather dingy, the fog made it surreal and the capitol dome was the only bit of colour. 

 This rest stop was awesome. The sink units had soap, water, and a hand dryer which doubled as a shelf!! They were so cool and the only place we saw them. The rest stops are not at all like the OnRoute stops in Ontario.

We wished the rest stops/welcome centres had plant plaques. 

 Going into the first of two tunnels!

I think this was near where I77 crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway

The sun was trying to peek through as we crested the hills and crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway. I would love to do the BRP from one end to the other some day. 

Earlier in the day we had seen a billboard for a "Beef Jerky Outlet" and thought, That's interesting, wonder what it is.

Well, what it is is a chain of 100+ stores that specialize in beef and other jerkies. We stopped at the next one in Lewisburg, WV. The ladies were SOOO nice. If you do this trip, stop in! Samples, and information, and lots and lots to  choose from. Even though we paid separately, they gave us the multi-item discount! I bought Cherry Maple Beef. So yummy! 

Then we went across the road to try Bojangles. We each got something different to try. I liked the spicier chicken, but there wasn't' enough in the salad. Cheryl had the spicier tenders as her meal and liked them but said later she had heartburn and tummy issues. The sausage on a biscuit was good. Everyone liked the biscuit. The seasoned fries were good, but overall, everything seemed a little salty. A couple fries were okay, but by the end, we were salted out.

A lovely welcome center as you enter North Carolina. Beautiful gardens. 

A beautiful rainbow appeared with this American flag

The South Carolina welcome center was large and nice...but closed. The washrooms were open and the wifi was on.

Our must-reach destination was Columbia. They had warned us at the North Carolina welcome centre that Charlotte could be slow because it is a "big city" of 850. "850 Thousand?" I asked. Yes. Okay, we're used to dealing with Toronto with 3+ MILLION and no good bypass. This would be a piece of cake. It ended up that a combination of rain, Friday rush hour and construction made it quite a slow trip through the city (the GPS told us to stay on the interstate through the city, not the loop highway around it). We really needed to get to Columbia, South Carolina. We hadn't wanted to drive much, if at all, after dark so we wouldn't miss anything. However, days are short in December and really, by this point, we were out of the mountains. We picked the Best Western Plus on Two Notch Road. Not the best location...

Girls Road Trip 2018

In 1980 my parents took my brother and I to Florida and for a week we stayed at a condo across the road from Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom. At the time, they were still building Epcot Centre. There was not much else here. They went to the "come and chat with us and get a free dinner out" meal, and next thing they knew, they were the proud owners of a week at Vistana Resort.
Fast forward over the years. They barely got to use it. The area grew, the resort grew. Rob and I came here on our honeymoon in 1997 but that was the last time I was here. My younger brother and his partner Cheryl have been twice, 2008 and 2016.

Cheryl planned to come back this year and bring her mom. Then she invited my mom, who is good friends with her mom (Nicki). Then I sort of invited myself because she forgot to LOL.

I had a Christmas concert on Dec 1 with my community band, so I considered flying down on the 2nd (check in was on the 1st). I watched the prices as during the summer I have no job and I hadn't found out if I actually got the supply teaching job. Eventually I got my acceptance but the flight had increased so eventually I decided to come on the roadtrip with them.

I spent Wednesday night with the ladies at Cheryl's house, so we could leave at 4:30am. Well....Cheryl was sound asleep with ear plugs in and didn't wake up till almost 5. Then there was a conflict with her downstairs neighbour. We finally left at 5:50am.

This is what I intended to take, plus my "in car" bag:

This is what I actually took:

I did manage to fit the polka dot bag into the GoodLife bag, and I sat on my seat cushion. However, I had a few more bags for the trip home LOL.

We hit the road, and stopped just before the Fort Erie border. Then again at the Duty Free, where I got some lesser strength reading glasses to wear with my contacts. Then we crossed over and not long after stopped again.

This is the rest stop south west of Buffalo. You park over at the right side and walk across an enclosed pedestrian bridge to the rest stop in the middle of the Interstate. The bridge was cold. 

So much snow through New York and Pennsylvania. Apparently they just had a big snow storm.

We made it to Weston, West Virginia, which was about an hour further than our "must reach" point. We were on the highway and the view was not great

Wal-mart, a Sheriff, and fun traffic to watch. We went to Wal-Mart for some shopping and people watching LOL. Our moms were quite fascinated by the local "culture". They were amazed at how different Americans seemed to be, especially in such a small town. Our towns of similar size (4100 people) do not have Wal-Marts. And while we don't have free dental care here, since health care is covered, perhaps we just place greater emphasis on general well being, including dental care. Just speculating. I can see that if you are making minimum wage, affording any type of health care would be a challenge so taking care of your teeth is probably not a priority.  As always, the locals were friendly, funny and helpful. I love West Virginia and really want to come back for another holiday here. Rob and I spent a few days here in 1995 and I've wanted to come see more ever since!