Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01458

On our second day of road tripping back from Florida we got up and on the road around 6am. We were going to go to Richmond and have breakfast with one of Allison’s friends but she wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be getting up early enough to meet us. So, we went to Richmond and turned left across the state of Virginia toward Route 81 in Pennsylvania. We did have some time in the morning for a few shenanigans with the broken pullout couch.

I discovered a missing spring and nearly fell through the thing while I was putting on my shoes. Andy went fully through it because he’s Andy.

We were trying to make it to another Cracker Barrel close to 81 but nature called sooner than that so we pulled off and went to an IHOP about 30 minutes from the Cracker Barrel. The kids had never been to an IHOP before and they enjoyed the various syrups that they could have on their pancakes.

We went 81 to cut out route 95 in Washington and Maryland. It added more time to our trip but we made the most of it by making a few stops along the way. Our first stop after breakfast was to Route 11 Potato Chips. There we taste tested several of their chips and decided to buy a couple of bags, a sticker and some jewelry made form potato chip bags.

After our stop at the Potato Chip factory we got back on the road and headed to Hershey, PA to stop by Chocolate World. Wow, it was much bigger than I remember it from stopping there when I used to drive with Allison down to her college. As we made our way there we passed by the town where her good friend from college lives. Later we found out that they were also at Hershey that day. It would have been crazy had we run into them.

We picked up a few things while at Hersey and split an enormous pretzel. It came with three dipping sauces, cheese, chocolate ganache and a honey mustard made with heath bar. Each dip was very good. I liked the heath bar honey mustard the most.

We got on the road for the last leg home. I drove until we got to 95 in Connecticut so that we could stop at one of the rest stations there. The kids were fading and they each took little rests during this leg of the trip. I was wide awake through the whole days drive which surprised me a bit.

Getting close to 7pm my dad called and asked where we were and I said just getting into New York and he said that we’d be going over the Tappan Zee Bridge soon. I hadn’t realized that we were going over any bridges through New York but sure enough once we got off the phone we went over the bridge.

We made it to the first rest stop on 95 in Connecticut and got dinner. We also picked up some lottery tickets for the state of Connecticut. We were in the home stretch now.

I drove on until we got to the T.F. Greene airport. There I got out and got Allison’s care out of the garage and drove that home. I had no desire to wait and do that the next day since the side trip was a stop along our way.

Allison got home before me and when I arrived I brought everything into the house that was still in the car. The kids got ready and went right to bed. I finished up a few things and right before getting to bed I used the upstairs bathroom. when I flushed the toilet water sprayed out between the tank and the bowl. I hurried for towels to clean everything up. Wasn’t the greatest welcome home but we were home none the less.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01457

Because our flight was cancelled by SouthWest and our rescheduled flight would have been 5 days after the original one we decided to drive home from Florida. We were luckier than most people in our situation. We had a place to stay for free. We weren’t at the airport wondering how we would get home and we were able to get a free car to use to drive home. No rentals needed.

We packed up all of our stuff and got the kids situated in the back seat with all the drinks and snacks. Eva had her giant blanket with her to cover up and Andy had plenty of entertainment on his Switch and iPad to keep him occupied. We left the house about 6am and got right on the road.

We drove for a few hours and stopped to fill up the tank. We tried not to stop too often but had to stop a few times for bathroom breaks and to stretch our legs. We were trying to get to the Buc-ees for lunch. ?We had heard a lot of things about it but once we got there it was entirely too overwhelming for us to handle. We were road weary and there were far too many people and so much chaos going on. We grabbed some Beaver Pellets and got out of there quick. We went over to a Wendy’s and had lunch. This was in South Carolina. However, before we got there we made a stop in Georgia at Georgia Peach World. Andy and Allison got some peach ice cream and Allison got some pecan pie. We also stopped for a Flat Stanley photo. We drove until about 6pm when we arrived at our hotel in Roanoke Rapids North Carolina. We got everyone settled into the hotel and I went and got us a pizza, filled up the car and picked up lottery tickets. We picked up a powerball and mega millions at each state that we could.

I returned with the pizza and we enjoyed dinner. I even found Allison a single serving of wine to enjoy with dinner. She got a kick out of this and enjoyed the wine, too.

We got to bed so that we could head out early in the morning tomorrow.