Yes this is was what "road warriors" have to go through every day when you work in this area. It is known as one of the busiest area highway systems in the country. It is where Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. come together. Rt. 495 goes all away around Washington, D.C.
We stayed put for a while at the Rt. 270 and Rt. 495 interchange and then Ralph decided the heck with this! He took Rt. 495 east and went three quarters around the beltway of Rt. 495 to Rt. 95 adding 40 miles to our trip. It was worth it because we were at least cruising the speed limit.
Here we are heading into the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia. The HRBT goes under the Chesapeake Bay and is 3.5 miles long and was built in 1957.
Not knowing the area at all, we did not want to try and figure out how to get around the massive gridlock and back on Rt. 95 since we did how many miles of highway were shut down. By this time we had enough of being in the middle of this east coast area traffic hell so we decided just to pull into a nice convenience store for a while and maybe for the night.
Ralph fixed himself a well deserved adult beverage and we both chilled out.
We ended up walking to a small truck stop where we got a bite to eat and just relaxed. One of the waitress's told us her normally 20 minute drive to work, took her 2 hours today because of the accident.
When we got back to the convenience store, I met some workers that were filling up their Virginia state truck. I asked them about Rt. 95 and they said it was open and traffic was moving.
So we decided to hit the road and try to make it to our friends house in Powell's Point, N.C. But first we called Kevin and Laura to make sure we would not have any trouble arriving in the dark since we didn't know the roads in their neighborhood. They said we would have no problem since their home was at the end of a cul-de-sac and we could just park there for the night and back in their driveway in the morning.
Finally we arrived at 8:00 p.m. It took us 11 hours to drive 320 miles including our 2 hour lay over! We pulled our rolling home into the cul-de-sac and got to visit for a couple of hours before we all turned in for the night.
Kevin and Laura have been our wonderful friends for many years. Back in Maryland, their farm was just a few miles from our farm and Kevin was our farrier, other wise known as a horse shoer.
We had many years of fun adventures horseback riding. Our adventures included many exciting horse camping trips. We could write a book on the practical jokes we played on each other and the things that happened, but folks just would not believe it.
We had dozens of horse friends that we would get together with every month and go horse camping. One of our rules was that if anyone fell off, they would have to bring dessert to the next horse camping trip. Needless to say, we had several desserts at every camping trip.
Just a year before we sold our farm for the "full timing life", Kevin and Laura sold their farm and headed to Kill Devil Hills, N.C. They had a beautiful home on the canal.
Because of the stormy weather they dealt with over the years, they decided to sell that home and build a beautiful home more inland in the town of Powell's Point.
On Friday, October 9th, we backed into their driveway and set up our home. Laura headed off to work early, she works as an Administrator at a hospital in town. We got to visit with Kevin before he went off to shoe horses. Kevin is retired from a police department back in Maryland.
They just moved into their home the week before we arrived and still where in the process of unpacking boxes. But the most important room in the house was unpacked and that was the kitchen!
We babysat their two dogs, Ella and Gracie. Both came from a rescue and they kept us on our toes. Ella was like a mischievous child.
Gracie is a big black Newfoundland-Labrador mix.
Finally, rambunctious Ella took a nap.
We both tried our best, but we could not figure out how to use this new computerized contraption of a washing machine. We just laughed as we tried to figure it out and had to wait for Kevin to get home and show us.
We had happy hour in the afternoon and I fixed a drink for us gals called a Mudslide. It contained Vodka, Kahlua, Irish Cream and Half and Half. Of course I lined the inside of the glass with Hershey's chocolate syrup and added ice cream, whipped cream and garnished it with shaved chocolate. We were in heaven. The fellas had Royal Crown.
We just ate and drank until our hearts content all weekend and reminisce about our life with horses. We laughed and laughed and so enjoyed talking about our adventures.
Kevin has a muscle car that he restored. It is a 1966 Chevy II. The motor is 600 plus of horse power. It will lift the front end off the ground. Kevin named the car "Nasty". I wish I would have taken pictures of the outside of Nasty.
They both became 18 years old again. Boys and their toys.
Lap Dogs.
Kevin has a side business of pressure washing homes, boats, decks and etc. His commercial pressure washer and the commercial grade detergent made our RV and truck shine.
When Ralph and I wash our RV and truck, we don't get near the dirt and grime that this pressure washer and the commercial grade detergent got off. We had a lot of that Maryland Red Clay that was now like caked concrete all up inside the wheel wells and it just came off with ease.
Their home is beautiful. They will be doing the landscaping soon and still have boxes in their garage to unpack.
In a dogs mind, we are nothing but a piece of furniture for them to lay on.
On Tuesday, October 13th, Laura headed off to work. We said our goodbyes and soon hitched up for our next adventure!
The scenery was beautiful as we passed through Nags Head, N.C.
Until next time, we will see you down the road and Happy Trails to All............
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