Day 7—Our Plans Changed once again
We left that horrible hotel. Our plans for the day were to head to Dover, Delaware and then to Annapolis, Maryland. We got on the Jersey Turnpike. Traffic was unreal. Was this normal? Or was it a result of Irene? Or the holiday weekend? Don’t know. But after traveling at slower than snail speed, we decided to venture in a different direction. Oh, look, there’s I-195 which will eventually take us to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Hooray!
Our initial plans were to head south to Dover and Annapolis, head west to West Virginia. Spend one to three days there and head south on I-77 heading toward North Carolina. We wanted to stop at the Latta Plantation, perhaps also visit Charotte, and go to an Eastern Star meeting in either WV or NC. And then head home.
We had seen the potential of Lee’s path the evening before. If we continued in the way we planned, we probably would be driving in the rain for at least a couple of days. We would have to watch this carefully. Lynne—first your mother-in-law, Irene messes with us; and then your Dad, Lee is making us change our plans. Should I leave you home next time!
We somehow made a wrong turn and Voile, we ended up near the Trenton, New Jersey capitol. Wow! Lost two; picked up one. (Details of the capitol in a separate posting).
Since it was Sunday, we were not sure of the specifics as to time, etc. Got to a great parking place in front. Lynne calls this “princess parking.” Sign said tours started at noon. It was ten of. Great. This is the first capitol that we not only had to go through metal detectors, but also had to show our ID’s which were recorded in a log. After we got inside, a nice young man named James was there to give tours. Since we were the only two, we had a private tour which included both the House and the Senate Chambers, the Governor’s Reception room and the rotunda. He stamped my book. As we were leaving, two young men came in who also had books to be stamped. They had started on their pilgrimage earlier this year and were already up to six. They had another trip planned in October in which they would visit four more. Ten in a year…I am so envious. It has taken lots of years to get to twenty. If they keep up this pace, they will beat me out by next year or the following. However, my true feelings are that I was pleased to see young people that wanted to see democracy at its best. Civics is just not taught these days. Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wants this changed, and I hope the legislation named for her passes in all states. Her parents brought her to all the capitols west of the Mississippi one summer. There’s a lot to see and learn at them.
We spent the night in Winchester, Virginia at a Quality Inn which turned out to be clean and quiet, shampoo and soap and no burned gunk from a microwave plate, priced reasonably. We had stopped early which was good. As we were registering, a call came in for eighteen linemen and other crew members. Irene, again! It looked as though the motels at this exit were soon to be full, but we had stopped early enough for it not to be a problem for us. This is now a week after Irene blew through, and there were still problems.
We ate once again at Cracker Barrel—three nights out of five. Steve does not seem to like it too much, and I love it. Lynne likes it too, so we were happy campers.
No comments:
Post a Comment