To the NORTH

During our many road trips around the UK, Jessica and I thoroughly enjoyed many road signs.  It was the road signs on the main motorways that often made us laugh, well, shout actually.  Used to signs in our own country that give directions like north and south, we loved the road signs on the M1 that said "the NORTH."  It was as if north was a destination rather than a direction and since it was all caps, it meant to be shouted.  So, many times on our journey today, when changing interstates, but continuing to head north, we shouted "to the NORTH" in unison.


Jessica and I debated a little on which vehicle we would be taking on this journey, but the discussion didn't last long.  Sure, her 4-wheel-drive jeep would have come in handy at some points along the journey, but when you have access to a minivan, why wouldn't you take this "cool" vehicle.  Trust me, I know how jealous you all are of us cruising the country in a gold minivan.  Sure, the sweet ride may not seem like the most flattering vehicle to drive thousands of miles, but have you seen how much it holds?

Yes, last summer, Jessica and I were able to carry all of our luggage for six weeks in Asia on our backs, but when you don't have to do that, why should you?  We will be gone for many weeks, visiting museums, hiking, camping, and encountering some cooler weather as we travel north, so naturally, it takes an entire minivan of stuff to support our travels.

Our goal today was to drive.  We wanted to make big headway today, and we did.  I know that we missed lots of incredible sites along the way, but our goal for this trip is to visit the Northeast, so we needed to get north!  We missed America's largest underground lake and Dolly Parton's hometown along with miles of gorgeous hiking trails, but alas, we cannot see it all (despite our strongest efforts).  Despite these losses, we did make time when a giant billboard simply said "CHEESE," because well, who can pass that up?  A cheese factory in Tennessee was a perfect short detour that resulted in cheese curds, and well, I'd drive well out of the way for those.  (Public service announcement: did you know you can put cheese curds on the stove top for a few minutes so they come off tasting like a mini-delicious-grilled cheese?)

So, 600 miles in the car today?  What did we do?  Well, very important things.  First up was naming the minivan.  A tricky task as we needed a name that reflected how amazing she is.  As she is golden, we began thinking of the famed Golden Girls, and decided Betty was the perfect name for our faithful friend.  We also had lots of harmonizing to do with the casts of Pitch Perfect and Wicked.  There was also the license plate game (we saw 37 today!).  And as with any good road trip, we are playing a game as we travel: the cow game.  Each time we pass a heard of cows on our particular side of the car, that person gets a point.  However, if you pass a graveyard on that side, you loose all of your points.  It is amazing how entertaining some things are when in the car for hours at a time.

We're spending the night in Lexington, Virginia, just north of Roanoke, an adorable little mountain town where we enjoyed a delightful dinner before calling quits on our journey to the NORTH.  Well, for today at least.