Early in 2018 I had booked a trip to just the greater D.C. area which included northern Virginia and over to Annapolis and Dover. But after being included in the 1,000 or so cut loose from my company after it was bought by a competitor, I had extra "vacation" time. So I decided to combine the Blue Ridge Parkway trip I had planned for 2019.

This trip gave me the opportunity to complete the 2016 trip cut short by a tropical storm. It will also be a third attempt to photograph the Maryland State Capitol building. First time it was raining hard and the photo was less than ideal looking. The second time, in 2016, it was raining so hard as I passed by the turn to Annapolis that I knew photographing it then would be even worse than the first one taken.

It seems that whenever I visit the Mid-Atlantic states it is rainy or at least total overcast. The last time I was out this way, a tropical storm was off the coast and dumped (and I mean DUMPED) rain for three straight days. This time, Hurricane Florence headed this way during the middle of my trip. The day I arrived it was raining hard everywhere in northern Virginia. Only one day, Wednesday, September 12, was rain-free.

VIRGINIA: I covered most of the state in this trip
NORTH CAROLINA: I covered much of the state in this trip. Missed getting to Wilmington (which I visited many years ago and recall liking that town).
TENNESSEE: I was only in the extreme northeastern portion of the state, a place where I had really not visited before
KENTUCKY: I was only in the extreme southeastern portion of the state. This is where the Cumberland Gap National Park is located.
SOUTH CAROLINA: I was only able to get to Rock Hill which is just south of Charlotte. All of the coastal towns I planned to visit were "closed".
MARYLAND: I was in much of Maryland in May. This trip covered the rest of the state I missed in May. That was mainly the Delaware Peninsula portion and the part bordering D.C.
DELAWARE: Only needed to go to Dover. Third time to that city but this time it was to photograph the signs on the campus of Delaware State University.

MISSED VISITING:
--South Carolina: Orangeburg, Conagree National Park, Charleston, Myrtle Beach. All due to Hurricane Florence.
--North Carolina: Wilmington, Nags Head, Fort Raleigh, Elizabethan Gardens. All due to Hurricane Florence.
--Virginia: Jamestown (closed due to high waters), Yorktown (national park facilities closed for hurricane threat)

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

• Many Virginia drivers use the left-turn traffic signal as a means for doing a U-turn, seemingly moreso than I have seen elsewhere. Must be a byproduct of the way their streets are designed.
• I have rarely been to the extreme northeast corner of Tennessee. This time I covered a good chunk of it. The combination of the town of Elizabethton and neighboring unincorporated Hampton seemed HUGE. It went on for many miles and had THREE Dollar General Stores that I saw as I passed through town. I was stunned to later learn that Elizabethton has less than 14,000 people. I would have guessed at least double that!
• As I drove through the mountains where the states of NC, TN, KY and VA all meet, I was surprised to see how many mountain sides were covered in what looked like a well-manicured grass lawn or large ivy. Along my route there was a special brush crew with a special machine designed to trim the ivy back from the highway.
• With a highway sign, Virginia defines driving in excess of 80 MPH (speed limit is 70 MPH) as wreckless driving. Presumably higher fines and/or penalties for that.
• Power and Light company trucks were everywhere I looked. Driving on the highways. Parked in bunches along highways. And in the parking lots of the hotels where I stayed. This is their normal operation when a big storm/hurricane threatens a large area with power outages. Good try but some people still end up being without power for a week or two.
• While driving in the mountains to Boone NC from Greensboro NC, I encountered one of the thickest fogs I have ever driven in. It went on for maybe five miles. The only other one I recall just as thick was the day my sister got married in 1978.
• The highways leading north into Rocky Mount NC (spent the night there) and then on to Petersburg VA the next morning were mostly empty. Just me and a few vehicles. Weird.
• I had looked up several restaurants in Virginia Beach to maybe try during my two days in town. The first two I went to had signs up saying "Closed due to hurricane'. The beach was pretty empty too. The weather was a bit windy near the ocean but partly sunny and muggy. The hotels along the beach seemed pretty empty too based on the lack of traffic on the main streets.
• I sent a photo from my phone camera of the view of the ocean from my 8th floor room to about 15 people. Many were stunned that I was even near a beach with Hurricane Florence just south of here. But this area was expected to be skipped by all the mess -- a neat little pocket of calmer weather.
• Early in the morning of September 15, when I looked out my hotel window at the ocean, about a mile off shore was what appeared to be a line of maybe 15 ships (probably more but that was all tha twas in my line of sight) very slowly moving south. All I could see were lights and each ship was a different length.
• Near the Booker T. Washington National MOnument were small towns and streets named Burnt Chimney, Lost Mountain and Turtle Hill
• I learned that I would not want to live by an ocean. Everything feels damp all the time. The interior walls of my hotel room were moist to the touch.
• The Virginian Eastern Shore (as they call it) towns of Exmore and Onley near the southern end of the Delaware Peninsula were impressive and had quite a bit of shopping, and hotels. The rest of the southern half of the Peninsula were unimpressive.
• There is an abundance of gas stations along the main highway running north-south on the Delaware Peninsula. Few grocery stores, especially in the Cape Charles area,
• The town of Goldsboro MD has streets named: Grape Fox Rd, Knife Box Rd and Moot Point
• The Black Walnut Point Inn is within a bird sanctuary. Wild turkies were around along with the sounds of other birds unfamiliar to me.
• The Black Walnut Point Inn iiself reminded me of my grandmother's old house -- things built in unusual ways and shapes, two steps to get from one room to the next, short places when walking that require ducking, creaky floors, etc.
• Many cities/towns have roundabouts. However, DC is the only I have seen that also have stop lights on roundabouts

The Bests:

1. After the first day out here being hard rain the entire day and the second day being 100% cloud with light rain the second day, when I got to Radford I finally saw some sunshine!
2. Wednesday was partly sunny all day in my travels through western North Carolina and the eastern parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. For the first time on this trip, I had to clean bugs from the car windshield.
3. The beauty of the mountain areas. Especially good at the point where the four states of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky all meet.
4. Chesapeake Bay Bridge, an 18-mile stretch over the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, was way cool to drive. This was my first time going on it. Two tunnels were included.
5. Being in the small towns along the Chesapeake. Quiet with only nature's sounds. Calm. Totally dark at night. Peaceful.
6. Getting to see my Virginia cousins is always a great treat!

The Worsts:

1. The rain and Hurricane Florence striking the coast of the Carolinas and Virginia and messing up my plans. A tropical storm did the same out here two years ago
2. The feeling of dampness on everythig when staying next to an ocean. Perhaps it was because of the recent passage of Hurricane Florence kicking up extra winds. I felt the same dampness at Black Walnut Point Inn at the southern tip of Tilghman Island in eastern Maryland, across the bay from Annapolis.
3. The way that the U.S. has designed its highway system -- incredibly inefficient. Increases travel times by 20%.
4. Worst US highways to drive: city=Seattle, state=New Jersey, streets=DC and Philadelphia
5. Four times now going to the Mid-Atlantic states have I been interrupted by hurricanes or tropical storms. Hurricane Bob in August 1991, Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, Tropical Storm in September 2016, Hurricane Florence in September 2018
6. Because of the altered route due to the hurricane, about every other day I was having to re-drive some highway that I had already driven.

The Totals:

• Miles Driven: 2844
• Driving: 56 hours in 11 days
• States: 7 -- Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Delaware
• Major Universities: 37 (and 6 missed due to Hurricane Florence) plus two repeats
• Pictures Taken: 640 (and deleted 80 of them)
• National Parks: 4 new ones (to make 169 visited): George washington Birthplace, Appamattox Court House (repeat), President Wilson Museum, Booker T Washington Historical Site, Cumberland Gap (plus three missed due to Hurricane Florence: Congaree, Ft. Sumter and Ft. Raleigh)