Day 1: Monday, April 26: Travel: Sparta, New Jersey to Chester, VA
Weather: Cold and rainy. There are no leaves yet on my trees and it still feels like winter.
I didnt want to be out of the office a full three weeks. So I decided to go into the office in the morning. We planned to be on the road around 3:30. We had packed over the weekend and loaded our Jeep the night before. We are taking our Grand Cherokee. I drove it to Florida last year for my nephews christening and was surprised how comfortable it was. So we decided to take it rather than renting a minivan. It has a V-8, but thankfully gas is so cheap that it really doesnt matter. Somehow, we managed to get everything in the back of the Jeep, leaving the cabin area relatively clear, which always makes me happy (did I forgot to mention that I am neurotic too).
Flying is out for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I am way to afraid of flying. Then there is the extra cost. Gas and a hotel for each travel night only run about $300 round trip. Airfare would be three times that for the four of us. Then we would have to rent a car when we got down there for two weeks, which would increase the cost further. The higher cost of flying is really an unnecessary justification, however. I am so afraid of flying that I would drive if all I had was a tricycle.
Anyway, I was shocked that we were on the road by 4:00. We hit a little traffic getting onto Route 287, which ultimately takes you to Route 95, but that was it. We stopped at a Cracker-Barrel in Maryland. We became huge Cracker-Barrel fans when we drove down to WDW in November, 2002. And we were really looking forward to them again. We hit three Cracker-Barrels on this trip (two on the way down and one on the way back). The food in all three was good, the staff was friendly and the price was right. I am going to group rate these restaurants a solid B. After dinner, we drove a few more hours and then stopped at the Fairfield Inn Richmond Center in Chester, Virginia. My sister works for Marriott and she got us the employee rate, which was $35 dollars a night. It was a nice hotel and worth a lot more than $35 a night.
It rained most of the way after dinner. No big deal. One time I drove from NC to NJ in rain with no windshield wipers and a just a potato. If you wipe a potato on you windshield, it acts like Rainex (sort of). Anyway, the rain was not that bad.
Weather: Cold and rainy. There are no leaves yet on my trees and it still feels like winter.
I didnt want to be out of the office a full three weeks. So I decided to go into the office in the morning. We planned to be on the road around 3:30. We had packed over the weekend and loaded our Jeep the night before. We are taking our Grand Cherokee. I drove it to Florida last year for my nephews christening and was surprised how comfortable it was. So we decided to take it rather than renting a minivan. It has a V-8, but thankfully gas is so cheap that it really doesnt matter. Somehow, we managed to get everything in the back of the Jeep, leaving the cabin area relatively clear, which always makes me happy (did I forgot to mention that I am neurotic too).
Flying is out for a number of reasons. First and foremost, I am way to afraid of flying. Then there is the extra cost. Gas and a hotel for each travel night only run about $300 round trip. Airfare would be three times that for the four of us. Then we would have to rent a car when we got down there for two weeks, which would increase the cost further. The higher cost of flying is really an unnecessary justification, however. I am so afraid of flying that I would drive if all I had was a tricycle.
Anyway, I was shocked that we were on the road by 4:00. We hit a little traffic getting onto Route 287, which ultimately takes you to Route 95, but that was it. We stopped at a Cracker-Barrel in Maryland. We became huge Cracker-Barrel fans when we drove down to WDW in November, 2002. And we were really looking forward to them again. We hit three Cracker-Barrels on this trip (two on the way down and one on the way back). The food in all three was good, the staff was friendly and the price was right. I am going to group rate these restaurants a solid B. After dinner, we drove a few more hours and then stopped at the Fairfield Inn Richmond Center in Chester, Virginia. My sister works for Marriott and she got us the employee rate, which was $35 dollars a night. It was a nice hotel and worth a lot more than $35 a night.
It rained most of the way after dinner. No big deal. One time I drove from NC to NJ in rain with no windshield wipers and a just a potato. If you wipe a potato on you windshield, it acts like Rainex (sort of). Anyway, the rain was not that bad.
