Friday, 20 Jan 2012 - Radford, Virginia

Wayne and I both slept in this morning. I'm not sure if it was simply that we were relaxed and in comfortable beds or that the Nyquil Sinus horse pills we each took are really heavy-duty sleeping medication in disguise. I suspect the latter! Sleeping past 8 am is not all that unusual for me but for him, sleeping past 5 am is radical. He did get up before me though and went down for his big breakfast before coming back to wake me up.

Actually, it was the ray of sunshine peaking through the curtains...right into my eyes...that woke me up. It was a gorgeous day, still chilly but sneaking up into the 50's so I expect we will be shedding at least one layer by tomorrow. We need to look at the map tomorrow as we know we are going to swing onto I40 West and into the centre of Tennessee, which is a new route for us.

As we were driving along today, and my head was swinging around so I wouldn't miss anything (I saw a huge flock of wild turkeys and at least 15 beautiful hawks sitting in trees) I wondered why I love being in the car so much. I believe it's because I'm of the generation that did 'Sunday Drives' with my parents. Nearly every Sunday, my Mother would announce that it was time to pile in the whatever old car we owned at the time because, "we're going for a drive". We never asked 'where' or 'why' and I think it's because we learned that Sunday Drive also meant 'snack'. If the Sunday fell right after payday, the snack could be as good as a coke and an order of fries or if it was just before payday, the snack was a small ice cream cone. Either way, it was junk food and we loved it. I have no idea who picked the route we travelled; I suspect Dad got to be the boss of that one and only decision in our household but we'd miander around back roads for a couple of hours until we'd pull into the driveway. It's a nice memory. After Wayne and I got married, we'd still do Sunday drives, even when we lived in Germany. The only problem was that it was much harder, at that time, to find a place to stop and get Lynne a snack and Wayne would often make a sandwich or something to bring out when I got hungry. Another nice memory. Anyway, it seems as though being in the car has always been something I really enjoy so these long trips are always another adventure for me...and yes, I still love to snack.

This corridor South is a major trucking route and the 18-wheelers were out in full force today. When there are 8 or 10 of them in a row and they all start pulling out to pass one another in succession, the cars start backing up behind them for a long way. It's one of the main reasons we don't drive past 5 pm--there's just too many trucks and it's worse at night. All in all, it was a good driving day. There is no snow anywhere here, not even in the wooded areas. We normally see lots of it in the Pocono Mts but nothing at all this year.

Hope all is well at home. Until next time, love and hugs to all. xx Bob--the 100 calorie snacks were awesome. The 500 calorie Turtles were better. xx