2023: Road trip to Virginia

 February 17 - 20, 2023

On Tuesday, the 14th, of February, Clark sat down next to me with his phone in his hand and told me that he had received notice of a play being performed in central Virginia. He told me that it was written by someone he knew in his younger days at church. It would be a one-person show performed by the playwright, and he knew the actress. Then, he said, "How would you feel about going to see the play?"

Knowing this was important to him, it took me only seconds to say, "Okay, I'm game!" Immediately, I got online to secure a rental car for pickup on Thursday. As soon as that was confirmed, he purchased tickets to the play. Most people would call this road trip insane, but we are nothing if not spontaneous and more than a bit crazy. 

On Thursday, we biked to the airport to get the car. I had moaned about biking there having to travel in the heat against the wind. We had an offer from a boater friend that they could drive us to get the car, but Clark said we needed the exercise. We had scheduled the car pickup for 4:00 to give us time to use it when we returned from our trip to hit the grocery store. I walked up to the pool to hang out for a bit to kill time in the afternoon, and around 3:00 got a call from Clark that the car rental place had called to tell him that the only car they had in the lot was the one for us and that we should come get is as soon as possible so the guy could have an easy day until closing time. 

Since the car was rented in my name, I went with Clark. I scurried back from the pool, and we jumped on our bikes to go get the car. As we started on our way, Clark saw some black clouds in the distance and wondered if we would get wet. Then, as we peddled down Route 1, it started to sprinkle.

I could barely feel the rain, and in fact, it felt good as it kept me cool as I peddled. Three times Clark tried to pull off the bike trail to find a sheltered area, and three times I just kept going figuring that he would follow me. It is just over 3 miles to the airport from the boat. I figured it best we keep moving as long as possible. Clark knew we had minimal bail out points ahead. Who would be correct?! When we reached the airport, we secured the bikes under a covered area and went in to pick up the rental car. 

While we signed the documents and got the car keys, it started to pour. Boy did we time that well. We waited a short while for the rain to stop. As we watched the rain come down, we got a text from our friends with the car saying, "Are you sure you don't need a ride to the airport? It's raining." As we were already in the airport with car keys in hand, I declined the generous offer.

On Friday, we loaded up the car with clothes and food for the four days we would be gone and started on our way. For the first day, I had sandwiches for lunch and dinner in the car, so we drove as far as a hotel in South Carolina and grabbed a room for the night. I used an app to get a room. We could not figure out why, in the middle of nowhere, many hotels were fully booked, and the one I selected only had 1 room available for the night. No worries, at least we had a room!

When possible, we pick hotels with a refrigerator and complimentary breakfast when we travel. When we got to our room, I packed the fridge full of the food we needed to keep cool. I made sandwiches in the morning for our lunch on the road. We got dinner when we arrived in Harrisonburg where the play was performed. 

Having spent 20 hours in the car, we decided to walk to Joe's Diner located a few feet from the hotel. Sadly, this was a poor choice as it was a sad excuse for a truck stop. They did not have some of the items on the menu, and the ones we ate were poor quality. As Crocodile Dundee would say, "You can eat it, but ...". 

The play, being performed at Eastern Mennonite University, started at 7:00, and Clark wanted to get to the college campus early to walk around. As it turned out, getting there early was essential as we had no idea where the theater was located. We picked a less-than-ideal parking lot that said "Permit Parking Only" located near the auditorium.

When we found the auditorium closed down tight, we decided to ask someone where we could find the theater. The campus looked deserted, but eventually we found someone to ask who had no clue where to send us. The next person we found fortunately pointed us in the right direction. 

When we arrived at the theater entrance, we found several people talking in the lobby waiting for the box office to open. As we stood behind them, Clark leaned over to me and whispered, "I know these people!" When one of them noticed Clark, he immediately recognized him. It helps that Clark looks very much the same as he did 40 years ago - just slightly older. As I talked to his friends, one of them, Patrick, walked with Clark back to our car to move it to a more appropriate parking space.

Description of the Play

The autobiographical performance lasted about 80 minutes with a chat-with-Ingrid session immediately following the show. Ingrid  teaches acting and is a very talented actress. She seamlessly changed roles as she took the part of each character. The show was well-performed and the content thought-provoking.

When all was said and done, attending the play cost us over $1200. That included the rental car, the three hotels, gas, and $34 for theater tickets. After we enjoyed the deep and interesting performance, the playwright / actress in the play invited us to attend the cast party at a person's home near the university. There Clark got to talk to his old-time friends and meet some new people as well.

The food spread at the party was amazing.

Yummy Chocolate Cake

Great food spread

Some of Clark's Friends:
Kathy (Ingrid's sister)
Katy
Ingrid (Playwright / Actress in the Play)
Debbie (Katy's sister)

The trip to Virginia gave us a chance to see some scenery without saltwater for a change.  Google Maps did us no favors for our drive. It shut down at inappropriate times and stopped navigating when we needed help the most. Given that, we got the scenic tour for our drive and managed to add extra driving time both going and coming home from the play. At least the out-of-the-way route on the return trip took us past some gorgeous scenery. Too bad the season meant there were almost no leaves on the trees.

No farms on Route 1 in Marathon!

We inadvertently found the Blue Ridge Parkway 
on our way home! We detoured slightly to get a peak 
and then got back on the "highway".

Cows!!

Rolling hills! 

History!

Amish Horse and Buggy in a No-passing zone!
That was fun.

Sunset on the Highway

By the time we entered the Keys, it was already 7:00 p.m.  Having been in the car nonstop since 9:00, I was so done with sitting in a car and desperately needed a food break. With a recommendation from a friend, we headed for a place in Key Largo to eat dinner and stretch our legs. 

As we turned onto Route 1 at the beginning of the final stretch through the Keys to Marathon, the GPS made an announcement that made us both start laughing. At that point we needed something to bring smiles to our faces. 

GPS: "On the way to Marlin Bay, traffic is light as usual. You might want to take the route via US 1 as it may be slightly faster." 

Anyone who knows the Keys knows that there is no alternative to US 1 - faster or otherwise! 

Years ago we traveled to the Miami Boat Show with friends. At that time, when we reentered the Keys, the GPS instructions said, "Drive 100 miles and make a U-turn." Everyone in the car cracked up as that meant driving to Key West through our destination of Marathon and back to Marathon going an extra 100 miles out of our way!  The GPS is a prankster.

Ev at the Lazy Lobster

After enjoying a delicious dinner at the Lazy Lobster restaurant that our friends recommended, we reluctantly climbed back into the car to continue on our way. Only one more hour to go! Arriving at the marina at nearly 10:00 at night, we dragged everything out of the car, threw it in a cart, pulled it through the marina, and chucked it on the boat. We dealt with the minimal amount required to make it through until morning, e.g. put cold food in the fridge, turn on water / hot water heater, etc. After a brief recovery period, we headed for bed.

What an amazing and unexpected weekend!