Today Was Smoooooth

 

First of all, a very happy birthday to my beloved Scotsman, my best friend, my partner in adventure and my husband.  We have known each other for 10 years this month.   My birthday rolls around in 10 days, so we may try to have a meal out  at some point to celebrate both events.  We usually do that.

That extra day and night at the KOA in Broadway, VA really helped.  We were on the road at about 10:30 this morning, which is very reasonable for us.  Yes, we remembered to make sandwiches for today, and our snacks hit the spot as we cruised along.  I also remembered to charge up my MP3 player and put it in the truck.  I have a playlist of “plane music” which I compiled years ago of songs which give me good vibes during our flights back to Scotland.  They are also good “road tunes,” and we both enjoyed the almost two hours of hand-picked songs.

Our route today was Interstate 81 South, Interstate 64 East, the 288 loop around Richmond, VA, and then south on Interstate 95 to the Jellystone park near Emporia, VA.  We take our time when we travel, so we arrived around 3:30 this afternoon.

Coming through the Blue Ridge Mountains was absolutely beautiful, especially that long downhill run which ended (thankfully!) at a rest stop. 

Perfect day for traveling.  View looking back from the rest stop.

There were no mishaps or stressful incidents today.  We stopped once to fuel at a Pilot and it was a positive experience.  There were hardly any big dawgs at the pumps, I’ve got the fueling procedure down to a science now and Dave didn’t really object to stopping there after yesterday’s experience at the wee convenience store fueling the truck. 

Dave had mentioned earlier that, since it is his birthday, he wouldn’t mind picking up a few beers if we had the opportunity.  He is, after all, a born and bred Scotsman.  When I went in to get our receipt for the fuel, I noticed a small cooler of . . . beer!   I was really surprised, as I had never seen beer sold at truck stops before.  When I went back out to our rig, I told him to go inside and get his beer, which he did!  Since we are not unhitching for a one-night stay, this was a nice surprise.

We have had several walks around the park here, but I forgot to take a photo of our setup.  Perhaps in the morning, although the forecast is for rain all along our route into Dillon, SC.  We’re parked in between two huge Class A rigs, but over on the other side of the park there are all sorts of rigs from Class A’s down to two tiny teardrop-type bumper pulls. 

There are quite a few dogs here, and Maggie had a nose-to-nose meet-and-greet with a wee Yorkie on one of her strolls.  She was so going crazy with all the new smells we at one point thought she would just explode and “there would be puppy everywhere.”  Ha!  She is such a good traveler!  Oh, she was disturbed when the park cat came over and sat on the picnic table bench with Dave for a while earlier on.  He sat outside with his laptop for quite a while, catching up on emails and Scottish futbol scores.

We even managed a wee dinner here at home this evening of pasta and bourbon-BBQ ham steak.  Very simple and very yummy.  Well, Dave is having a wee snack of a kolache, toast and cheese right now. 

All in all, a day on the road as I envisioned . . . beautiful weather, gorgeous scenery, upbeat tunes, snacks and easy conversation peppered with laughter between us. 

Indeed, a very smoooooth day.

Total States:  One, Virginia, from just inside the northern state line to just inside the southern state line.

Mileage:  209.6

Thanks for stopping by!