Thursday, January 10, 2013

Another Morning of Pouring over Maps




Today is warmer and I can see bare spots where the snow has melted. The sky is a beautiful winter blue, almost a pale turquoise color, but with less green. A few clouds hang over the mountains. I can hardly contain my excitement about this upcoming trip. As the time draws closer, I feel like jumping up and down and it’s all I want to talk about. I still have a little over a week before I leave. How can I contain myself?

This morning I am back at the maps. I considered making copies of pages and sections of the atlas that I can write on. (I never write in actual books.)  I pulled up Google Maps and Map Quest to see which made the better prints, but found too much advertising and wasted space on the paper. Then again, I have the atlas and don’t really need other copies. Plus, I’ll be picking up brochures from rest stops which will give me other maps and directions.

What I did do, though, was collect mileage information and times. The focus in the beginning of the journey is to get past Penn. According to Google Maps, it will take about an hour and a half to get from here to the Vermont border which is approximately 62 miles mostly along Rte. 9. That might be a good time to stop for a stretch. I can get photos of the bridge between Chesterfield and Brattleboro. 

Following Rte. 9 across VT to Troy, N.Y. is 79 miles and will take around 2 hours. Crossing the Green Mountains should give me more photo opportunities and excuses to stop. By the time I reach Rte. 87, I will have been away from home for at least three and a half hours not counting stop times. Penn. is 135 miles and over two hours. How many stops I make along the way, weather conditions, and the coming darkness of night will determine how far into that state I will go before finding lodging. 

The total time to get through Penn. to the MD border if I drive straight through is four hours. The drive from home to MD could all be done in one day, but this trip is also about spontaneity and it’s important to be open to possibilities.

From the Maryland border to Front Royal, VA is about 62 miles, one hour. Right now I am thinking that VA will definitely be the second day. The question will be what time of day. From there, who knows where I’ll exactly be on what day and time.

From here, do I go southwest or south east? Yesterday’s dilemma about going to the Biltmore in Asheville will definitely depend on access to the Skyline Drive in VA and the Blue Ridge Parkway into N.C. If those roads are closed, taking six hours and driving an extra 404 miles for one place would not be worth it. Going east on Rte. 66 and ending up in Williamsburg will be 170 miles and almost three hours.

I am eager to get to the Carolinas, especially Charleston, S.C. I don’t know what it is about that city, but I want to be there; so much so, that at the moment, the rest of the trip tends to drift towards the back of my mind. Last night on television, I saw an episode of History Detectives and one of the segments was in Charleston which makes me even more excited about visiting that city and the surrounding areas. I can’t wait to see the flora and fauna. However, that state is far away and there’s a lot to see in between.


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