Vacation – Page 4 – Life of Brian

Blue Park Ridgeway

Friday, September 29, 2017

Today was our longest drive with a total of over 300 miles covered. It was our longest in total time also because the last third of it was on the Blue Ridge Parkway where the top speed is only 45 MPH. The first third was a straight shot down I-81. The middle 1/3 was spent on lovely rural, and mostly empty, two lane VA & NC roads.

Three points in the Motoring Challenge today, 1 for Switzerland, 1 for Blue Ridge Mountains and 1 more for the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi, Mount Mitchell.

: Natures Giants 03 – Blue Ridge Mountains: Taken at one of the many scenic overlooks along the Blue Ridge Parkway. (9/29/17)

: Natures Giants 04 – Mount Mitchell: That is not it in the background. We didn’t drive to the top on this trip for two reasons, 1) we already had a 8% Grade photo and 2) the top was shrouded in clouds, so the view would have not be anything to see. (9/29/17)

Oh, yeah, today was our 41st wedding aniversary, so we had a special dinner of microwavable chimichangas and hot pockets in the hotel room.

57,000 Something or Others

Thursday, September 28, 2017

This picture was taken on US-15 outside Dillwyn, VA. In the 2014 Moss Motoring Challenge this would have been worth 2 points for Bonus #2, it wouldn’t have been worth 3 points in 2015 or 2016 as a Moss Motors Facility (there are only two official ones) and this year it might be worth one point only if I call it a “Roadside Oddity.” Not long before we took this photo the CTBNL crossed the 57,000 mile mark.

The only real points today were 1 for Stonewall Jackson in the Heroes and Villains category and 2 points for 8% (or greater) grade in the Destinations category.

: Heroes and Villains 08 – Stonewall Jackson: A hero for the Confederate Army during the Civil War and now a days probably considered a villain because of it. Jackson neither apologized for nor spoke in favor of the practice of slavery. (9/28/17)

: 8 Percent Grade or Better: We’ve driven all through western North Carolina in places we knew had steep grades with no luck. We have searched Google images for 8% Grade signs and found plenty, but they were all west of the Mississippi River. Our last hope were the roads leading up to and down from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Bingo. US-60 West coming down into Buena Vista, VA. (9/28/17)

Giant Human Creations

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

On this trip we planned to stop in Wilmington, NC so we could take a picture of the battleship U.S.S. North Carolina to use in the category of Giant Human Creations. Well if we had done a little research, we would have discovered the the ship was undergoing repairs to its hull in a dry dock right there on the Cape Fear River. Because of the work it was moved closer to the pier and inside a coffer dam making it partially hidden from view from shore. Also especially unhelpful was the half flooded parking area left over from hurricane Irma. So we missed out on the battleship.

We thought we were going to get a make-up opportunity in Newport News, VA this morning when we found a little tidbit in the throw away touristy magazine in our hotel room. An aircraft carrier was undergoing overhaul at the shipyard and is visible from Victory Landing Park. We could see part of the ship from the road in front of the shipyard, but as we got there you couldn’t see anything of the ship unless you were in the park itself. Trouble with that was the park is a walk-in place and Miatas, while probably small enough to drive on the walkways, that would probably be highly frowned on. So we missed out on the carrier.

We didn’t miss out on the supermarket right across the street from tonight’s hotel in Lexinton Park, Maryland. And while this morning’s trip down near the Newport News Shipyard didn’t net a giant human creation, it wasn’t a total loss because on display outside the yard is the very first ship they built, the tugboat Dorothy. A tugboat is worth two points in the Destinations category. We also scored 5 points for capturing a place of personal significance to us. Donna and I first met on the Patuxent River Naval Air station a little over 42 years ago. They don’t allow us mere civilians on base, so we stopped in and visited the museum just outside the gate.

: Tugboat: We had hoped to get a Giant Human Creation of a aircraft carrier in dry dock at the Newport News Shipyard, but we couldn’t get a good angle on it, but in driving around looking we stumbled on the tug boat Dorothy, the first boat produced by the yards in 1890. (9/27/17)

: Place of Personal Significance: In 1975 a very attractive E3 Airman Avionics Technician and a moderately handsome E4 Petty Officer 3rd Class Avionics Technician were assigned to fix several of the same pieces of electronics at AIMD on the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. A friendship developed. After a while their shop supervisor feared a romance was building, so he seperated them, she stayed on 1st shift and he was moved to 2nd. This ironically sparked the friendship into a romance. Forty two years later, 41 of them in marriage, the romance survives enough that the two of them still willingly cram themselves and their baggage in a small sports car and drive for days on end taking pictures of themselves, their car and random objects along the road. (9/27/17)

Washington Counties Revisited

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Back during the 2015 Motoring Challenge there was a requirement to “get” 15 counties and I decided that I would get all 15 of the same name. Washington, with 26 states having a county by that name, got the nod. If you look at the image above, Donna and I drove through a large swath of the country’s southeast and midwest missing only three states. Our home state of South Carolina doesn’t have a Washington County and neither does West Virginia. North Carolina’s was way too far east to get to on our loop.

Guess what county we drove through today? Right. Washington County North Carolina. We don’t need counties this year, but there is a category of Heroes or Villains that General George Washington fits into, so we took a photo.

Only three photos today for three points. Mr. Washington and Bill Gates for the Heroes and Villains column and Plymouth for the Around the World one.

: Heroes and Villains 06 – George Washington: During the 2015 Motoring Challenge there was a requirement to “get” 15 counties and I decided that I would get all 15 of the same name. If you start with Pennsylvania, go west to Missouri, south to Louisiana, east to Florida and north back to Pennsylvania that encompasses 18 states. South Carolina and West Virginia don’t have Washington Counties, North Carolina does, but it was too far east to get on our loop that year. This year we were that far east, so… (9/26/17)

: Heroes and Villains 07 – Bill Gates: Hero to geeks everywhere (and now the world’s poor through philanthropy) and a villain to PC users everywhere when the Blue Screen of Death appears. (9/26/17)

: Around the World 07 – Plymouth: The Pilgrim Fathers left for the New World in 1620 from the town of Plymouth, Devon County, England. They landed at a rock near what today is Plymouth, Massachusetts. This is Plymouth, North Carolina. Some pilgrims moved south after a couple of really cold winters up north and became the first snowbirds. (9/26/17)

There is Something Fishy at Fort Fisher

Monday, September 25, 2017

One of four of North Carolina’s aquariums is there, and although we weren’t really in Fort Fisher to visit it, we were there for the 3 points awarded for riding on a ferry in the Motoring Challenge, visit it we did. Today we only took three photos towards the challenge, but received almost as many points as we did for yesterday’s eight.

: Natures Giants 02 – Atlantic Ocean :The Atlantic Ocean surf is just starting to get a little rough due to Hurricane Maria here at Fort Fisher on the North Carolina coast south of Wilmington. (9/24/17)

: Favorites Revisited 04 – On a Ferry: Aboard the North Carolina River Class Ferry Neuse traveling from Fort Fisher to Southport. (9/25/17)

: Bird Sanctuary: We were excited to find this “elusive” Bird Sanctuary sign in the town of Northwest, NC. But as we continued our week long road trip the elusive became a point of humor for us because it seemed like 75% of the towns we passed through in NC, VA & MD were Bird Sanctuaries. (9/25/17)

Sunday Fun Day

Sunday, September 24, 2017

A fun day on the road today, we drove through the largest city in Tuscany, before driving south of the border into Mexico on our way further south to Bolivia to shop ironically in a Thieves Market. Along the way we took in a lecture about early guerrilla warfare from The Swamp Fox, asked for directions to the East Indies from a fellow named Christopher and we nearly robbed by a highwayman until we showed him the contents of my wallet and he let us pass.

: Around the World 04 – Florence: Not Italy, South Carolina. (9/24/17)

: Roadside Oddities 02 – South of the Border: We probably could have found 5 items here that we would need to fill the Category of Roadside Oddities, but that would be like shooting fish in a barrel, so we took one of the giant billboard to count as just one. (9/24/17)

: Around the World 05 – Mexico: Ahhh, thank you, politically incorrect South of the Border. (9/24/17)

: Around the World 06 – Bolivia: If Bolivia is the next right, this must be Brazil. (9/24/17)

: Example of Irony – Thieves Market: Is this a market for thieves to sell their stolen goods or a market where you go shopping to find a thief to steal something for you? (9/24/17)

: Heroes and Villains 04 – Francis Marion: The Swamp Fox was a Revolutionary War hero and is considered the father of modern guerrilla warfare. (9/24/17)

: Heroes and Villains 05 – Christopher Columbus: Christopher Columbus was a hero to the Catholic Monarchs of Spain in spite of never making it to the East Indies as he first proposed and it turned out he was a villain to native Americans although they didn’t really know it at the time. (9/24/17)

: Heroes and Villains 03 – Robin Hood: A hero to the poor and a villain to the Sheriff of Nottingham. (9/24/17)

I-20 Eastbound To Home

Sunday, July 9, 2017