VT Trip - 2023

 My last drive to Vermont was in September of 2019. This time, being about four years older, I decided to give it another try. My goal was to make it to Virginia in the first day and then to Middlebury on the second. But between weather, traffic and construction, the goal can not always be met. My destination:

I left Melbourne at 7:15 am on August 2 and I pulled in to the Holiday Inn Express in Roanoke Rapids North Carolina at 7:15 pm. It was about 682 miles in 12 total hours and I was only 9 miles from Virginia. There was a rainstorm in Georgia and lots of construction in North Carolina on I-95 that slowed me down.

I left Roanoke Rapids at 7:17 am after having the complimentary breakfast at the Inn. Here is a picture of the Inn I stayed at, I actually have been to this one in a previous trip.

As I said, I entered Virginia after gassing up in Weldon NC. The Welcome Center is right on the state line so my car was parked next to this sign...

From that same spot I could also see the Welcome to North Carolina for the southbound traffic on I-95.

The Interstate was really crowded so I got off onto US-301 for a while. This use to be the route we used when we were kids on trips where Dad drove. Back then I-95 was being built. I made it into Maryland and stopped at the Crain Memorial welcome center where I enjoyed chatting with two ladies who worked there. I will admit, they were very welcoming. They were working on jigsaw puzzles and told me horror stories of kids knocking them onto the floor.

I decided to head back to I-95 and joined I-695 near Baltimore. I crossed the Francis Scott Key Bridge which had a toll. I had my new EPASS that covers all the Eastern states but there is no feed back of it working. I checked my account when I got home and it worked great, I was charged for all the tolls.

There was also a toll for the JFK Memorial Highway where I stopped at the Maryland House.

From here I hit the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. I finally made it through New Jersey and entered the New York Thruway (aka I-87). I hit  rain near the Plattekill Travel Plaza. I texted Tom that if it continued to rain, I may just stop. He said it was starting to rain in Middlebury.

I made it to Vermont at 8:30pm on US-4 near Fair Haven. Tom said it was raining extremely hard in Middlebury and sent me a photo of the underpass on Seymour street that had more than 10 feet of water in it. I said the weather was fine and drove up 22A, then 74 and then onto 30 in Cornwall. I stopped and the lightning show near Middlebury was incredible. I had never seen it so severe in Vermont; it reminded me of the storms we get in Florida.

I arrived in Middlebury about 9:20 pm, the rain had lessened but Weybridge street was full of gravel from everyone's driveways. It looked like it had been a river. Tom said he had 6 inches of rain in just a few hours. What a night to arrive, after driving for 1369.8 miles.

The next morning, August 4, was rainy all day and I was tired from the trip so I vegged at Tom's house.

When the rain finally cleared I took a walk and my Vermont vacation officially started. Tom had done a load of laundry that he hung out, making for a colorful photo op. As I was taking the picture some Language school students, speaking French, stopped and admired my shot. Here it is.

Further down Weybridge Street where Tom lives, was this driveway that was completely destroyed by the heavy rains. It was next to Dr. Wissler's house, my refence point from when I would walk by his house on the way to school. He was a Professor at Middlebury College.

There will be more posts about my adventures in Middlebury and other Vermont areas. I spent my Birthday in Middlebury, August 16.

I stayed in Vermont until August 17 when I left to drive back to Florida. I decided I was not going to hit the New Jersey traffic again and turned off on I-287 to I-78 which crosses Pennsylvania to Harrisburg where I caught I-81 south. At the suggestion of Tom, I stopped at the Cabela's located in Hamburg PA.

I stopped for gas at Carlisle PA and took this picture of a weird bug sitting on the gas pump.

This time my goal was to make it to Roanoke Rapids NC but I stopped at Petersburg VA where I stayed again at a Holiday Inn Express. I left I-81 and caught I-66 over to US-17 down to Fredericksburg where I returned to I-95. I hit a heavy thunderstorm just North of Richmond. That slowed everyone down to 35 mph for a while.

I left Petersburg VA at 7:05 am on August 18, after eating another complimentary breakfast at this Inn.

I arrived in Melbourne at 7:55 pm and it was great to be home. I traveled a total of 3287.4 miles on this trip. My newer car, a Honda Accord Sport, got just over 38 mpg for the whole trip including mountain driving in Vermont. The best leg was 41 mpg, when I was averaging about 60 mph due to construction in PA. I guess the 75 mph is not as efficient, but 38 mpg is not bad.

As I said, I plan to do a few posts on different events from my trip.