Our plan was to drive to Philly and go to Pat's and Geno's to see who had the best cheesteak. Then drive to Dunn, NC. If all went well we should be there by 10 pm. From Dunn we were going to drive to Savannah then onto Disney. We hoped to be there by 9pm.
Now to really set this up we extended an invitation to an adorable 8 yr old whose mom is undergoing Chemo. So instead of 4 of us it is now 5.
Friday I picked up the rental van from Almao at MHT. 1st they tried to upgrade me to a suburban...ummm. No thanks. I paid and headed to the garage. No mini vans. After 15 minutes and another offer to upgrade me they finally took my suggestion and grabbed a van from National. A nice toyota.
Headed to the house and we loaded the van. Went to download a new map to my GPS and it crapped out. Luckily I had downloaded Navigon to my Iphone so we had a backup GPS. Loaded in the address for Pat's into it (Now when I loaded the address into the gps it said the closest parking garage was .4 from where we wanted to go)
and went to bed.
Now on Saturday April 16th I wanted to be on the road by 4am. Well I over slept and we did not get on the road till 7. Really no big deal. I figured the extra sleep would do me good. How right I was!
1st stop was Mcdonald's for some egg mcmuffins and off we went. On our way to Philly....Whoo Hooo...I can taste the cheese steaks already. The drive to Philly was pretty uneventful. A little rain but nothing major like I was expecting from looking a different weather maps. Stopped for gas once and the bathroom once. Didn't really need gas but I figured it would be cheaper then Philly.
We got off the exit and was following directions when at an intersection where we had a green light a white van decided to blow off his red light and almost took off the front of the van. I locked uo the brakes and watched him miss me by an inch. I wasn't happy...lol. Anyways I followed the gps directions and loked up Pat's and Geno's were right in front of us with a parking space right there...WHOOO HOOOO. We arrived arounf the 2pm mark.
A view from our parking space
We ordered a whiz with and a whiz without at each place
Let me tell you they were both good but I think Geno's was better and my wife though Pat's was better. I can see now why people are split on which one is better :ms: To me pat's was like one you would get up here and Geno's is more of a shved steak instead of a chopped up one. After eating them I went back to Geno's and got 1 for the road....welll not really ....My oldest DD and I ate it before we left the parking spot:ms:
Ok my belly is full and off to Dunn,NC. It is around 3-330 when we head out.
Maryland had a ton of traffic. Stop and go almost the whole State(which I think really helped us).
DC wasn't to bad. Phone rang to let us know about tornado warnings in NC
Fredericksburg VA stop and go traffic. Stopped and filled up and we ate at Hardees. Food wasn't to bad. Bordered on good. It is around 8pm.
Hit NC and still had tornado warnings. We pushed on anyways. 33 miles from Dunn NC traffic is at a complete stop. When it wasn't stopped it was at a 2 mile crawl.
It is 1154 and I am tired. 25 miles to Dunn,NC we find out why traffic was at a crawl. A tornado had crossed the highway. Left hand side houses are demolished. The guard rail looks like a Tractor Trailer had been slammed into it. Right hand side houses destroyed. It is now 1am. Once we were through that spot we hit the Hotel at 130am. The hotel's power was restored and hour before. They were without power for 8 hours. Went to bed around 2am.
To sum up the ride
The kids were great. I had loaded the Itouches an Iphone with movies games and music. They never once asked are we there yet and there was no arguing. 21 hour rd trip to Dunn NC....Darn long day.
Now to really set this up we extended an invitation to an adorable 8 yr old whose mom is undergoing Chemo. So instead of 4 of us it is now 5.
Friday I picked up the rental van from Almao at MHT. 1st they tried to upgrade me to a suburban...ummm. No thanks. I paid and headed to the garage. No mini vans. After 15 minutes and another offer to upgrade me they finally took my suggestion and grabbed a van from National. A nice toyota.
Headed to the house and we loaded the van. Went to download a new map to my GPS and it crapped out. Luckily I had downloaded Navigon to my Iphone so we had a backup GPS. Loaded in the address for Pat's into it (Now when I loaded the address into the gps it said the closest parking garage was .4 from where we wanted to go)
and went to bed.
Now on Saturday April 16th I wanted to be on the road by 4am. Well I over slept and we did not get on the road till 7. Really no big deal. I figured the extra sleep would do me good. How right I was!
1st stop was Mcdonald's for some egg mcmuffins and off we went. On our way to Philly....Whoo Hooo...I can taste the cheese steaks already. The drive to Philly was pretty uneventful. A little rain but nothing major like I was expecting from looking a different weather maps. Stopped for gas once and the bathroom once. Didn't really need gas but I figured it would be cheaper then Philly.
We got off the exit and was following directions when at an intersection where we had a green light a white van decided to blow off his red light and almost took off the front of the van. I locked uo the brakes and watched him miss me by an inch. I wasn't happy...lol. Anyways I followed the gps directions and loked up Pat's and Geno's were right in front of us with a parking space right there...WHOOO HOOOO. We arrived arounf the 2pm mark.
A view from our parking space
We ordered a whiz with and a whiz without at each place
Let me tell you they were both good but I think Geno's was better and my wife though Pat's was better. I can see now why people are split on which one is better :ms: To me pat's was like one you would get up here and Geno's is more of a shved steak instead of a chopped up one. After eating them I went back to Geno's and got 1 for the road....welll not really ....My oldest DD and I ate it before we left the parking spot:ms:
Ok my belly is full and off to Dunn,NC. It is around 3-330 when we head out.
Maryland had a ton of traffic. Stop and go almost the whole State(which I think really helped us).
DC wasn't to bad. Phone rang to let us know about tornado warnings in NC
Fredericksburg VA stop and go traffic. Stopped and filled up and we ate at Hardees. Food wasn't to bad. Bordered on good. It is around 8pm.
Hit NC and still had tornado warnings. We pushed on anyways. 33 miles from Dunn NC traffic is at a complete stop. When it wasn't stopped it was at a 2 mile crawl.
It is 1154 and I am tired. 25 miles to Dunn,NC we find out why traffic was at a crawl. A tornado had crossed the highway. Left hand side houses are demolished. The guard rail looks like a Tractor Trailer had been slammed into it. Right hand side houses destroyed. It is now 1am. Once we were through that spot we hit the Hotel at 130am. The hotel's power was restored and hour before. They were without power for 8 hours. Went to bed around 2am.
To sum up the ride
The kids were great. I had loaded the Itouches an Iphone with movies games and music. They never once asked are we there yet and there was no arguing. 21 hour rd trip to Dunn NC....Darn long day.
