Monday, January 4, 2010

Cross country, 6th day... Virginia at last...


Monday January 4, 2010

We got up early only to find it still dark, had breakfast, packed up then went to the car just before 8:00… it was snowing… just light flurries, but it was snow… It was cold… 18 degrees…

The snow was a concern, but the road was dry, and traffic was moving fast… as went north the flurries got heavier… snow started to accumulate along the shoulder. Wisps of snow blew across the road… but the road remained dry. The temperature varied from 17 to 22 degrees…

We crossed the border into Virginia about 9:20…

9:30 found us in Bristol Virginia, in need of gas… and they have a Starbucks… the roads away from the interstate were snow covered, icy and difficult… having found gas and boutique coffees we got back on the road pointed northeast.

A few miles beyond we left Interstate 40 for Interstate 81, and continued up the Blue Ridge.

We reached Roanoke Virginia at 11:40… They have a transportation museum… Roanoke is a railroad town so trains dominated the museum. I liked the museum… but we were walking around in snow freezing our b%#$s off… There is a second museum in town dedicated to the photography of O Wilson Link… I walked the 4 blocks to the Link museum while Steph drove… they have a dedicated trail… well done… The photography was great… the museum well organized… we could have spent much more time, but the road called…

Back on I-81, we continued north another 60 miles or so before leaving I-80 and heading west towards Charlottesville Virginia. We climbed again before dropping down, out of the Blue Ridge proper, in to the rolling hills of the coast… Charlottesville was home to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello… we visited on a cold afternoon… It is a special place, he a special man… even with the underlying issues of declaring “all men created equal” yet owning slaves, and possibly bearing children with one of them. We spent more time than expected… we met a brick layer restoring a chimney and talked for some time… then down the hill to the parking lot on the last shuttle and heading north the last 75 miles or so to Lorton Virginia, and my nieces’ home to end the road trip…

A few miles from our destination the temperature finally reached 32 degrees, the first time it had been above freezing in the last 48 hours. It’s still way too cold…

We arrived at 7:08, greeted by grand nieces, had dinner and talked with family. Tomorrow I will pack, we will do something in nearby Washington DC before Stephanie drops me at the airport for a evening flight… I should be home before midnight… Virgin says I get free wi-fi on the plane, so the nest post is likely to be from something like 35,000 feet.

Totals for today, 473.8 miles in 11 hours and 39 minutes of driving

3048.8 miles for the trip

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