2013 Road Trip Day 11: Take The Long Way Home

We knew this would be the longest day trek on our trip. Today began in Staunton VA, with scheduled stops in Charlottesville VA and Charlotte NC, before ending the day crashing at a friend's pad in Johns Creek GA.

We left the hotel at 8:45 AM and ultimately arrived at our destination at 7:35 PM to get within striking distance of the finish line. If it sounds like a long day, it was. But it was made even longer by unplanned traffic snafus.

Three different times on a 110-mile stretch on I-85 between Spartanburg SC and Commerce GA, we were faced with at least a 15-minute standstill. There were torrential rains which undoubtedly played a leading role in this drama.

First, your run-of-the-mill three-car pileup. Then, there was a scary scene as a tractor-trailer had gone off-road, tore up the cabling in the median, and needed to be towed out of the mud. And on the third one I don't know what happened, but as you can see above a Georgia State Trooper and his vehicle made us all take an impromptu detour off the interstate, where we wouldn't return until about 7 miles down the road.

The kids were troopers themselves and they were rewarded with good food and friends upon our arrival.

2013 Road Trip Day 10: North And South

As the clan headed back south today, we crossed the Mason-Dixon Line most literally. We took I-81 for a long stretch, but there was a 35-minute sliver that covered four states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. Theoretically in that short stretch we moved from "The North" to "The South."

I can't tell you where the exact line is, and I'm not talking about the big red one on the map. Pennsylvania is a "northern" state, but as the saying goes: between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh it's Alabama.

And in our 23 miles in West Virginia, we experienced a power-shower, the only rain on our trip. Not surprising since West Virginia is thought to be cursed ground, the only tract of land that Native Americans ceded without a fight. Hope Falls, WV is the hometown depicted in Batboy: The Musical.

So while I'm not sure exactly where we crossed over, the irony is clear that our day started at Grant's Tomb on Riverside Drive in Manhattan.

And it ended at The Stonewall Jackson Hotel in Staunton VA.

The North may have won the war, but the South has better weather. So there's that.

And Staunton doesn't seem like a southern redneck town. Maybe it's because it's the birthplace and home of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library.

Maybe it's because there are four prestigious universities within 45 minutes: UVA (Charlottesville), James Madison (Harrisonburg), Washington & Lee (Lexington), and VMI (Lexington). Looks like a good place to hit a bunch of college visits with one stone...wall.