First Road Trip of 2011

The first Road Trip of 2011 was to Spring Lake, North Carolina. The purpose was to look after Emily and Jeff's dogs. Emily asked me back before Christmas, if I would be free to dog sit, and since I didn't have any plans....I agreed. I asked Linda if she would like to go .....and like a true friend....she agreed.

We left Mechanicsville on Thursday, January 6th. We had the "Double L", so you know we traveled not only in style, but in comfort! First stop was in Dalghren at the WAWA. It was a gas, $$$, coffee, breakfast stop. Always a necessity when heading south!

We traveled down 95, which had very little traffic, but very many police! I think I must have entered 25 reports for the state of Virginia, to Trapster. Trapster is an App for iphone that alerts you to any sort of traffic alert possible. From speed traps to big road kill. If you go by anything worthy of letting other users know about, you simply enter it. I only starting using this service since radar detectors are illegal in VA.

Back to the trip.......The trusty Garmin routed us around Richmond, which was fine with me, as my second stop is usually exit 9A in Hopewell. You guessed it....another WAWA. You might as well get all the good coffee you can! After leaving Hopewell, we didn't stop again till we were in Halifax, NC . The Oasis, at exit 168 has a Dunkin Donuts, another good source of caffeine, and a very nice bathroom to boot! As we were leaving the Oasis, to get back on "the 95", that one's for you Greg...Remind you of So California? Anyways, we saw an advertisement on an old barn for Historic Halifax. Now I personally have seen that ad 50 times, if I have seen it once! I have thought about checking it out, but was always in too much of a hurry either going North or South to get where I was headed. Linda and I have a lot of things in common, one of them is a sense of adventure. It was kind of like a bucket list item for me, I was curious and who knows, it may be my last chance to check it out! So we both quickly agreed that we would make a quick side trip to Historic Halifax, and see what it had to brag about! It was a short drive off the 95, maybe 5 miles. We went to the Historic Visitor's Center. We were greeted by a lovely young lady who welcomed us with lots of Southern Charm. We watched a 13 minute movie about the origins of the town's early life, then took a tour through their museum. We visited several home sites and stopped and took photos at the cemetery. All in all we probably added an extra hour to our trip, but it was well worth it!

Back on the road again... We did make one more stop along the way. We went to the Nahunta Pork Shop, in Pikesville. They have some of the best sausage, which is what we got to make sausage gravy for our breakfast for the few days we would be at Em and Jeff's.

This time I followed the route that the Garmin wanted to take us. I usually turn off the volume and drive the route that I know by heart. This time it took us through Benson and then through Campbell University, Lillington, and down 210 to Bill Shaw Road. The house was so nice to get to! It was so inviting, the Christmas tree lights were on, and the house was perfect.. all except the absence of smoke detectors! It wasn't quiet though.... All nine dogs realized we were there at the same time, it was quite a chorus! After a quick roll call, we made a list and hopped back in "Double L" and went to Food Lion, yes... we are planning on eating! They didn't have "all" our favorites, but we'll make due. China Star was our choice for dinner.

Long drive, long day....Time to rest up for tomorrow!

Nite All.