Well, I said I would have pictures up while on my trip ... I lied! This wasn't intentional; we just forgot to bring the SmartCard to upload the pics. Whoops. Rest assured I'll have an entry up soon covering the drop-dead gorgeous Hilton Head.
But while we wait, let's talk about the inevitable joy of many long summer road trips ... Traffic Jams! As the drive to Hilton Head from D.C. is well over 400 miles of I-95, a few snafus here and there are to be expected. Unfortunately, as I rode with my aunt and boyfriend, we came across two nasty accidents. One snarled traffic so badly that we went 2 miles ... in 1.5 hours! This happened near Lumberton, North Carolina. I'd like to thank my sister and brother-in-law for waiting patiently for an hour at The Cracker Barrel for us, then turning around and going back there when they learned we were free of the misery and on our way for lunch! They played checkers and repeatedly changed our reservation as we lumbered along in Lumberton ... hehehe, I couldn't resist that bad pun.
Thankfully, traffic was much lighter after my aunt treated us to our wonderful hearty meal, and we only stopped again two more times, once to get gas in the refreshingly-named town Summerton, South Carolina, where a couple sold peaches at a fruit stand in the parking lot. The second time, we pulled into a Stuckey's farther along for Dairy Queen and a look at some trashy souvenirs. We also met a mother cat and her kittens, all gray and brown tabbies, who are apparently cared for and loved by the Stuckey's owner.
And ... 13.5 hours later, we made it! I think it's worth mentioning that the trip BACK to Northern VA took only 9 hours. What are your worst traffic jam tales? And what do you like to do to pass the time in a jam? (My aunt had fun watching rock videos on her new phone :) but I saw other people getting out of the cars and just walking a few miles for some much needed exercise!)
Oh, that stretch of 95 is such a mess. I think I have a winner of a traffic jam story though:
ReplyDeleteRichmond to Rehoboth with the BF for the first time, this June. It's a 4 hour trip. There had been a fatal accident where a tractor trailer went over the Bay Bridge wall, so only 1 bridge was open for 2 -ay traffic, at the height of summer. It took us 4 hours to go 2 miles on Rt 50 to even get near the bridge. The trip overall took nearly 12 hours. I took it as a good sign that the bf and I didn't kill each other from our first long car trip. We listened to his "learn spanish" podcast where I laughed heartily at his butchering of the language. I also had to run across traffic and climb some fences to get to a roadside hotel to pee while the traffic was stopped.
I have a new blog: http://choosetoshine.blogspot.com
Excellent description of our trip down to Hilton Head! I will definitely be heading for the exit at the first sign of trouble on my next trip! And, looking for a hotel by 5:00.
ReplyDeleteAunt Vinson