Day 2 - Change of Plans!

Day 2 starts out at 4:30am and BOY am I tired! It seems that I didn't get hardly any sleep at all on the plane. It doesn't help that I stayed up till 11pm trying to decide if I'm going to stick to my planned Day 2 destinations or cut it short.

Here's my predicament - Day 1 wound up being about 58 miles more than I anticipated but was substantially longer time wise. Day 2 in comparison is twice as many miles and is planned (per Google) to be right at 15 hours. I can only imagine it taking MUCH more than that like Day did.
As much as I was looking forward to Skyline Dr in the Shenandoah Mountains, I decided to skip that part of the trip and take a much more direct route to my parents house in Fort Mill, SC.
Also, since I'll be going thru/around Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC during rush hour - I'll take the interstate route to cut further time down.

4:30am arrives and I get ready, pack and head on my way. I stop at a local Waffle House to find I'm the ONLY customer in the restaurant! I've eaten at Waffle House THOUSANDS of time but NEVER have I ever been the only customer at any hour. Both employees were very nice and curious about Edgar. Shortly after I head out, I fill up for the first time - was GREAT to fill up and only pump 10 gallons (The MINI has a 14.3 gallon tank and it wasn't empty)

Once one the road, I took the freeway to Baltimore. Traffic was bad like I anticipated, so lots of stop and go traffic. I used the Baltimore Tunnel to cut down some time also. In a short time, I'm heading around the East side of the Beltway around DC. once I'm on the South side of DC, I change my GPS to avoid highways and in short time, I'm surrounded by rural VA. Most of my encounters along the way are recapped in "Day 2 Weirdness" but here's a few of the towns/cities/spots in the road I went through (in no particular order):

Mineral (VA), Goochland (VA), Farmville (VA), Gretna (VA), Denton (NC), Concord (NC), Mint Hill (NC), Matthews (NC), Fort Mill (SC)

Oh, tropical storm "Fay" made her appearance in North Carolina. I had to remove the bra from Edgar as it's not good for the paint to have the protective bra on while wet and possibly holding dirt. It rained almost 100% of the time since I entered NC.

I'm at my parent's house right now, just finished eating and will be going to bed soon. Tomorrow I have an appointment at the MINI dealer in Charlotte to change Edgar's oil and pick up the Cocomats (floormats). I'll see Taylor and Julian (my niece and nephew) tomorrow evening and am looking forward to it. At this moment, the National Weather service has issued a Tornado WARNING for the area I'm in until 2am! I just hope nothing falls on Edgar outside!

I apologize for not having more pictures posted. I'm going to spend some time tomorrow getting them all uploaded to a web site and will post links.

Here's a link to a Flickr account I created a few minutes ago... a few more pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29942269@N02

Day 2 weirdness - Well, I can't decide ONLY on one... LOL

In Virgina - Big signs when you enter the state, "Radar Detectors are illegal. Speed measured by aircraft" Does anyone else see anything wrong with this? If they're measuring via the air, what good is a detector anyway?

All through back roads MD, VA, NC and SC... I've forgotten about the fine art of "sitting on the front porch, watchin and waivin at cars" I make a point of waiving at each person and 100% of the time, they readily wave back!

Goochland, VA - I used my GPS to find a place to eat in this small town. Dot's Diner was my first choice, but it's now a gas station. Next is "Critter Keepers" - NO, I'm NOT kidding. I call to see if they're open and what kind of food it is. The phone rings and rings - a young woman finally answers, I ask "Are you open?" She replies, "Yes, of course." I then ask, "What kind of food do you server? What's your specialty?" There's a LONG silence at the end of the phone. I repeat the question, "I was thinking of stopping by for lunch, what do you serve?" She replies, "That's not funny and I don't appreciate it!" and then hangs up!!! I call back to see what the problem is - but no answer. Hmmm... perhaps this was NOT a restaurant and they're accustomed to crank calls? My luck, it's probably a taxidermy outfit!

Unknown farm in VA/NC border - I see a big pasture, complete with cows PLUS a series of exercise equipment! About 10 pieces: Treadmill, exercise bike, rower, weight set, etc... At first, I thought it was a yard sale, but as I went past - either someones trying to encourage their bovine or making an artful statement?

Tight Squeeze, VA - Yea, you read right... a small town named "Tight Squeeze" Nuff said.

Gretna, VA - welcoming sign at the city (LOL) limits states, "Welcome to Gretna, Virginia! Ain't no big thing, but it's growing!"

Phenix, VA I stopped to see if they pronounce it differently - "Nope" I guess they're happy they didn't spell it "Fenix"

Saw a street sign "Mud Dusty Rd" - guess you could say the people that named the road weren't optimistic?