It wouldn't have been right if I wasn't late. And that is exactly how Michelle and my road trip started. Thankfully she saved the day by giving me a wake up call and taking it all in stride. Here I am two hours later than expected in the Rav packed with my entire life...
I wish I could show you the picture of me getting Michelle, but that was banned. :)
So as not to bore you with all details of 2 girls in a car for 14 hours, here are some highlights of noteworthy moments so you can feel like you were right there with us in all our glory.
Of course we started off in high spirits... the temp was about 38 degrees and the skies were only cloudy. We made the decision to check into Facebook every time we hit a new state, so that started in Delaware. We waived Hi to UD and quickly got to Maryland. In Maryland we hit some annoying road work and rain (that stayed with us 'til the end) which set us back a bit. Then onto Virginia, and 3 minutes later West Virginia, and 10 minutes after that, back in Virginia. We passed a bar called Granny's in the middle of nowhere that reminded me of a bar Joe took me to when I visited him at Shenandoah. Whaddya know, it was it. Also found out that I had practically passed right by his work, too. So that was neat. Then we were on 81 South which would lead us to 40 West. Here is a picture of some mountains in VA. Some of the clouds were so low that you could see the hills above them.
We continued on our lovely way down 81 and eventually saw a sign that said there was an accident 36 miles ahead and the road was closed. Since we had GPS devices, we mapped out an alternate route to avoid this closure. We took 11, which runs parallel to 81. And the sun was starting to come out. We were feeling so smart and lucky.
Until we had no choice but to get back on 81 right before the accident. So we sat there and waited with everyone else. We think this set us back an hour, but it could have been worse. We made no stops during this leg - our only focus was getting to Nashville. The car was loaded with drinks and snacks, so except to fill the gas tank 3 times and empty our own, it was onward march!
So enough with the scenery. Here are the rest of the highlights-
Games we played to pass the time:
License Plate Sightings
Call out a word that begins with the next letter of the Alphabet to a Power Hour CD
Name all the state capitals
Name the baseball team for the city that is called out
And listened to 13.5 CD's (I know, I know - who still uses CD's?)
We got to Nashville around midnight ET and checked into the Holiday Inn Express. The last 200 miles of the trip were pretty rough. Michelle was driving and I was trying to entertain her with some of the above games. The wind was whipping and Michelle kept saying "Aunty Em, Aunty Em!" which was hysterical to me since we were both delirious at this point. The rain was still coming down, but only enough to make the wipers screech every time they wiped away the drops which was driving me nuts. We passed a sign that said "Entering Central Time Zone" and a minute later the clocks on our phones gave us the gift of another hour in our lives. It was magical. This sign is in Rockwood City, TN on I-81 in case you were wondering.
I was very happy to see the hotel and be able to get out of that little box when we arrived. We quickly changed and tried to make ourselves presentable and walked to the nearest bar- Tootsies (highly recommended by Patti & Ben Gould). This was Michelle's first time in Nashville and she instantly fell in love. The bartenders were actually looking for people to serve instead of having to be flagged down. Oh, and the live music was incredible. We were both impressed.
(picture with Michelle and me will be replacing this one later)
We bar hopped to The Stage and the Buck Wild Saloon before grabbing some Pita Pit and heading back to out hotel. We were in bed by 2am CT. It was a long day and we were glad it was the first day.
Thanks for reading! Goodnight - xoxo
