Brooklyn, NY to Wrightsville Beach, NC

Well I drove 618 miles yesterday. I left home at 7:30 in the morning and some will attest to the fact that I am not a morning person. At all. I do enjoy my sleep quite a bit.

I drove across the Verazzano Bridge, through Staten Island, all the way through New Jersey with the truckers running the Northeast corridor, across the Delaware Memorial Bridge, across Key Bridge (which is my favorite way to circumvent Baltimore - I do not like the harbor tunnel). The sun finally peeked through the clouds in Baltimore. I waved at the National Monuments as I bypassed Washington DC, and drove all the way to Ashland, Virginia.

I decided to stop in Ashland on a whim for lunch. I was not really interested in eating at the rest stops along I95, that's fine for the bathroom and refilling coffee and gas but that's it. Ashland is just north of Richmond, Virginia and it is where Randolph Macon College is located. It is a cute little town, with railroad tracks that run right through it. I had yummy lunch at the Iron Horse, where a very nice waitress told me the the ice cream place across the tracks was really good but keeps weird hours. I decided to take my chances, turns out they were open. (Nicki Ouch - this is for you) I had "deertracks" flavor which was vanilla with chocolate chip and peanut butter cups. It was better than Coldstone.




What was funny to me is that the further South I got, the slower everything got. The driving on I95, the service at the Starbucks.... that is until I reached I40 - which is the SCARIEST highway (with the exception of one around Orlando where my sister and I got lost once) I have ever driven on. By the time I hit I40, which takes you east off I95 toward the Outer Banks, it was dark already.

The speed limit is 70mph, which nobody drives, and there are NO LIGHTS on the 4 lane highway. At this point I had been driving for a long time and was really tired and over caffeinated, not an ideal combination. So nothing but pick up trucks passing me at what felt like 135mph and I probably got flipped off by a number of Southerners - good thing I don't have NY plates or I might have been shot for being a slow driving yankee. Once again, my playlist saved me and on came some music to pump me up and help me drive at least 75mph for the last 50 miles. Fait Accompli by Curve, if you are tired is a good choice, take it from me.

Finally made it to my hotel a block from the beach at 9:30 at night. It was a long day - but a good one.