Day 1

Start: Columbia, MD
Finish: Atlanta, GA
Daily mileage: 695 (1118km)
Driving time: 10:00 hrs



After sleeping for the last time in our empty flat in sleeping bags, we hit the road at 6:oo am. Already by that time D.C's Beltway was showing its bad tooth, but luckily we were on the breakes only for a short while. Instead of using so familiar I-95, we took I-81 which runs on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains all to way to North Carolina. Despite the on-off rain and fog, the scenery was nice and winding road kept us alert.

In Virginia, we did to short stops. First, Foamhenge in Buena Vista. Everyman's (if you own lots of foam) replica of the original Stonehenge in England.

Second, we wanted to see Virginia's pride, the Natural Bridge. Local creatonists insists that a big stone bridge was made by the hand of the Almighty. Don't know about that, but however, it seemed like business had taken over the whole place. We thought that 18$/person was too high price to see a natural landmark.

Otherwise we just drove, drove and drove. So nothing special took place. One thing we had learned from our Monday's dress rehearsal, was the dietary intake. No hunger, no frowning. Usually, I'm the one who gets easily drowsy while driving. Therefore, Dan Brown's newest book "Lost Symbol" kept us some company once in a while. Still, P claims that this was way better.

It was also surprising how much truck traffic was on the roads. They seem to keep America rolling. Unfortunately, one of the many drivers had fallen asleep and his truck was upside down on the other side of the Interstate. Truckers' presence was easy to feel at almost every stop we made. In addition, the local accents provide yet another interesting change on the road.

Now it's time for some serious science. The Gerontological Society of America's annual meeting keeps me busy and gives P some freedom to do his own things and the last revision of his article. Maybe that compensates his disappointment caused by missing Marathon gas station - twice.

Here our "new" series: View from Pontiac at 10:00 AM.

Pre road trip - a delayed success

Yesterday we did our pre road trip to Bayonne, NJ and back. Only seven hours, but still an experience. The goal - leaving the black car for shipping - was achieved, but mentally the experience was a mess. Car including half of our current possessions was left to a guy who only could say "Okay, good bye" with a similar villain English that you hear in movies when something more or less criminal is going to happen. Honestly it was pretty disturbing, since in addition, we didn't get any receipt or anything else related to that action. Luckily, we got the papers by email today.

There it goes...

Since the gas tank has to be almost empty when the car is shipped, I tried to optimize the consumption. However, I seem to suck in any kind of optimization...

In all, everything is ready for tomorrow's inital start. It will be about 11 hrs drive which also means no running tomorrow...

Training run

This is our first post on this blog. The blog is opened for covering our coast to coast journey from MD to OR. It will be our last sneak preview of this huge continent. We are eagerly looking forward to see different places. This far all our visits in places, like Vermont, Flagstaff AZ, Grand Canyon or New Orleans, have been broadening experiences. In addition to some random observations, we will also post pictures of different views on the road. So welcome!

Before the final voyage we will make a training run to New Jersey. This is because the black car (VW) will be shipped to Finland from NJ. In order to get to NJ you have to drive I-95N which we are already pretty familiar with due our several visits in Philly. It's a short one compared to the estimated 15hrs drive through Texas, but I'm sure that Pontiac does not mind that.

Only thing of which I'm personally worried about is running. Surely there will be so many great places, trails, hills and flat grounds on which we'd like to run. So which one is the right...? Honestly, there are only a few wrong places to run so maybe it's better avoid them and concentrate on something else. Our time is limited, so we have to make the best out of it.