So after all of the initial drama with my poor old Saturn, and another 2200 miles of driving, I made it safe and sound to Falls Church, VA, my new home for the foreseeable future. Along the way, I stopped in a smallish town in CO to see my old friend, the dog trainer, where we had a wonderfully greasy lunch at 5 Guys Burgers. The detour to do this extra jaunt generated Rule #2 of Road Trips:
When road tripping, and you have a little extra time, it is ALWAYS appropriate to detour to see an old friend.
From there I continued on my merry way and headed for what I thought was going to be Nebraska. I didn't end up there. I ended up in Kansas. Let me explain. When you have been reading maps on your iPhone you tend to just look at little colored lines and not pay really close attention to the bigger details. Like what state you are going towards. Soooo, I ended up driving across Kansas and I am here to tell you that I have never seen a place so utterly devoid of geographic landmarks. Frightening! Now, it is possible that eastern KS has terrain, but it was very dark when I zoomed through that part of the state so I can't say for sure. I spent the night in KC after deciding that 1150 miles of driving in one day was enough, then a short drive the next morning to see the in-laws.
The next morning I was off again with the target of Louisville, KY to see the Preacher and her family. That was a wonderful reunion with two of my best friends in the world and the next day the Preacher and I went off to tour some distilleries! That's right, the Preacher likes her some Kentucky sipping bourbon, and we were not disappointed. We went to Woodford Reserve and Four Roses that day, then headed back to get the kiddies off the bus and go to wine and cheese night at the Seminary. Boy, those Presbyterians can pour it back!
Saturday dawned rather dreary as I packed up and started the last leg of my trans-continental adventure. From KY I went into West Virginia and all started off pretty well. The roads were nice, there were lots of trees, and I didn't have to stop for awhile. But when you follow Google Maps, you sometimes go some interesting places. What that link does NOT tell you, is that you end up on a lot of 2 lane highways going down some scary-steep hills (10%) that wind every which way, then suddenly burst into a gorgeous valley that lasts a few miles, then back up the hills you go. This went on for about 150 miles or so, and some of the towns looked rather nice and well cared for, and others made me hear banjos.
Eventually I made it back onto the Interstate, and rolled into VA on-time as planned. In another post I will describe my marvelous living quarters and my first days as a Foreign Service Officer.
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