Roadside Rest Stops

There are easier and faster ways to get from Ohio to North Carolina, but Gary insisted on taking me through as many different states as possible on this trip. That's why we had headed east out of Ohio. Gary wanted to clip the corner of Pennsylvania along the way. We limped into Washington, Pennsylvania, and caught I-79 south there. I can't even remember how many times we stopped, but the shoulders of the interstate were beginning to feel like home. Big-rigs blew by us at high speeds, and I was more than a little scared at how close they got to us during our roadside stops. At one point, a deer ran out in front of us, and Gary narrowly missed hitting him. Gary was stressing out. This part of our fun vacation wasn't fun at all. He thought it would be best if we got off the interstate and onto smaller roads. We did that for awhile, but eventually we made our way to I-77. Gary had grown tired of all the stops and starts on the small roads, so I-77 would give us a chance to make up some time. We had spent HOURS along the sides of the road. We would still need to make frequent stops on I-77, but at least there were more convenient rest stops. By now, it was deep into the night. We were tired and frazzled, but we kept going. The goal of reaching North Carolina was still possible. It would happen early on Monday instead of on Sunday night like Gary had planned. We finally reached the rest stop at the North Carolina border around 5:30AM. We needed some sleep, and that was as far as we were going to go for several hours. We had missed getting my souveneir license plate and state line picture in Virginia since we were there in the middle of the night and couldn't easily find a Wal-Mart. So, we went back and got both after we woke up from our much-needed sleep. The North Carolina state line sign was right there at the rest stop, so Gary took my photo before we headed back to Virginia. Monday would be another stressful day, but at least we didn't have to go through 5 states to reach our destination. Help was waiting for us in Monroe.