Julie I still didn't get too far! lol
I didn't sleep too well last night. I was too busy trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself and where I was going next. The DC thing didn't work out, which i'm a little bit sad about but not too much. I've gotten rather spoiled with having everything I own in my car with me, and actually packing a bag for multiple days away from my car seemed like a whole lot of work! (Sad, I know!)
Breakfast/brunch at Waffle House was everything I had hoped for. It's not that the food is all that good (though it isn't bad), but there's just such a great atmosphere there! Great people watching! It might just be that we spent so much time at Waffle Houses when I lived in the deep south that makes me like them, but there's always interesting personalities and conversations going on.
Anyway, I got out of town and quickly realized that lack of sleep and interstate do not mix well. I wasn't falling asleep or anything but I just couldn't focus on driving at all and was totally miserable. So I decided to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway. I had kind of wanted to anyway, since I hiked in the Blue Ridge Parkway area during Outward Bound. It's pretty cool. I learned today that it's the longest stretch of road that's been planned entirely at once. It was built by the CCC during the depression to create jobs. There's lots of cool history along it. It's also an absolutely beautiful drive! Very slow going, but lots of great views and driving exciting enough to keep me focused and interested in my tired state. It's funny...I remember the times we reached the Parkway during Outward Bound. It was so strange to see cars and people after being in the backcountry for so long. Especially when we got to Mt. Mitchell after a week of hiking, and arrived at a parking lot where a bunch of older couples had driven in. I think we scared them off a bit with our filth and our stench! So today I was the one in the car seeing all the backpackers coming out of the woods.
Of course I never made it this far north during Outward Bound. We were only in North Carolina. I'm debating going back and checking out some of the places we went to during OB tomorrow....though I really should try to make some distance. If I keep following the Parkway and go hiking I'm not going to get far at all. Today I made it a little over 100 miles and then pulled off in Roanoke to go to a AAA for new maps. After that I started looking at where I was going to stay and realized that yet again I was stuck in a place where I could either stop then or drive a long ways to the next stopping place I could afford. So I stayed here, since I do need the sleep.
I had a really nice evening. There's a big park across the street from the hotel and I went for a walk out there. There were tons of kids' football and soccer games going on....like 7 or 8 different games all at once, of all ages, so it was a lot of fun to wander around. Seemed strange for a night in the middle of the week, but I had so much fun watching the itty bittys play. Even the football was surprisingly adorable!
So now I'm heading to bed....super early compared to my schedule lately. I've discovered that driving west into the sunset is really really not fun. So i'm going to be waking up super early so that I can be done driving early as well. We'll see how that goes. For now I'm too tired to keep my eyes open any longer, though it's only 9:00 and I feel like I've barely done anything today. Why is it that the faster I try to go the more I slow down? lol
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It's too bad that D.C. didn't work out. But I guess that means you'll just have to plan another trip some time, right?'
ReplyDeleteI love finding places for people watching. But then, if I can't actually hear them, I like to make up little stories about who they are, what they're doing, and where they're going. Usually really silly stories, too! :)
I'm glad you decided not to drive too far on the interstate; it gets mesmerizing enough as it is, without being tired on top of it as well. But how incredibly cool that you found the same area you hiked during OB! I think that, if it had been me, I'd have hung around there a long time, tried to measure how far I'd hiked, etc. Not that I would have actually hiked. LOL.
Yeah, these days, all those kids' sports are during the week. It really seems kind of odd to me. But they are fun to watch. If you ever see really little kids (like the 4-6yo set) playing soccer or anything, it's a riot. They all run back and forth, sometimes with the ball in mind, but sometimes just to run. You should definitely make a point of stopping to watch!
(I once had a poster that said "The faster I go, the behinder I get." Sounds kind of like where you're at.)