THE BEST THING ABOUT OUR ADVANTURE IS . . . .

FLEXIBILITY!!! Today finds us heading south on I-81. You know Anthony didn't pack any long pants?? Well, when we got up this morning and started cooking our breakfast at the West Virginia rest stop, we decided we needed to go back home and get him some warm britches.

Just kidding, but there are things going on now that we decided it was best if we turn around and head back. (And it's not because we aren't getting along, because we know that's what you were thinking, ha!) 

So this adventure may continue some other time.

But here are a few things that we wanted to share before we close out this chapter.

We had a really nice sleep going on until this 18 wheeler decided to pull up right next to us at 4:00 A.M., and it sounded like he was pressure washing his truck. So Anthony got in the driver's seat and drove to the other side of the parking lot where we continued to sleep until 7:00 this morning. Very nice.

We also saw an RV in the parking lot and had to take a picture of it and send it to our neighbors, Jim and Sheila, as they will be joining the ranks of retirees within a few days. They just got a REAL RV and will be hitting the Walmart parking lots soon between here and who knows where on their journeys.

We definitely risked life and limb taking this picture. Side of the interstate. That's another benefit of taking the back roads is not feeling like you are going to get killed stopping on the side of the road.

Here is Anthony doing his stretches on top of the picnic table at the rest stop. Next time you are at a public picnic table, just picture this first.

Here is our delicious breakfast this morning, eggs and bacon. Why does it taste so much better eating outside? (Please notice what Anthony has in his hands, Cholula. His very favorite condiment)

An observation we have made on this trip is that there are lot of Dodge Grand Caravans on the road. What's up with that? Anthony said he doesn't look at them as mini vans anymore, but could we sleep in there?

An observation we made on our trip out west was that there were a lot of Prius' on the road, everywhere. We were wondering if we got a Prius for the much better gas mileage could we sleep in the back of it. Well, of course, there are videos and blogs about people doing just that. So we decided to go to the Chattanooga dealership and see if we could both fit in the back of one comfortably and if we could store all our gear in there too. Well, instead of us driving it first, we asked if we could put the seats down and lay in the back. You won't believe it, it was very roomy. I think we could do it. And the roomier Prius V was even better, but of course, not as good gas mileage, 42 mpg instead of 51 in the regular Prius. Not sure what the salesman thought about us laying in his cars, but that was the most important thing to us, as will probably be any vehicle that we purchase in the future. When we got back home and took the purchase price of the Prius and figured out the difference in mpg in the van vs. the Prius, we figured we would have to drive almost 200,000 miles in the Prius before we would break even, so we decided that we would keep driving our 1998 Toyota Sienna until it dies, which I hope won't be any time soon. But the Prius will be a nice option if we had to get rid of this van.

But if that ever happens, I am not sure I could come up with any words that rhymes with Prius??!!??

THE MAINE E'VAN'T

Friday, October 3, 2014

In the continuation of the man, van, plan saga, our adventure finds us heading north to a state I have only been to one other time, and only for a few hours, just to eat and drive up the coast a short ways about 28 years ago, and it was about dark when we got there. Anthony has never been, so this will be pretty new for both of us. This was a bit of spur of the moment as we only decided to do this last Sunday. We knew that one day we wanted to go to Maine, and it needed to be in October, so here we go. Our plan is to head up the interstate to get there, and head back down the coast. But we shall see. 

We didn't know what next year might bring us. It's funny that when you retire, people start giving you ideas for jobs that retired people have. A few suggestions have been for us to work in a national park, Dollywood, or even at Disney World. Who knows, we may give one of them a try next year. So we wanted to go ahead and hit the road before winter sets in and one of us decides to get a job.

We have been driving through rain just about all day, pretty dreary. But the traffic hasn't been too bad. I know that a cold front is supposed to be coming through, but I am hoping not too cold as Anthony didn't pack any long pants, ha!! What was he thinking??  Maine, HELLO!!

We will be interested in seeing the leaves changing colors as we are heading north, so here they are in Chattanooga:

And here they are in northern Tennessee.

Already a bit of a change.

 

We had to stop and get lunch, so we pulled out our chicken salad from our cooler and made sandwiches before we got on I-81.

Then we made it into Virginia:

And when we are this close, we always like to stop and take a picture of the Roanoke College sign as we feel like we paid for a small part of it as Hannah went to college there for a semester.

Tonight we are hoping to make it to Winchester. It looks like there is plenty of free parking/camping in each of the three Walmarts in that city. Something interesting about Winchester, VA is that during the civil war the town changed hands at least 72 times, including 13 times in a day. (The AAA book is a wealth of knowledge.) Also, as an early landlord in the Shenandoah Valley, George Washington required each tenant to plant 4 acres of apples and as a result, there are extensive apple orchards around Winchester.

We both are looking forward to this trip and seeing more of the country that we have never seen, but this time it will be all in the Eastern Time Zone.