275 miles via I-78, Garden State Parkway, US 1, I-95, US 1 again, local streets to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, I-95 again, DE 896, US 301, US 50, I-495 (around Washington DC), I-95 again, VA 234 and local streets. Miles since the end of Hop 1: 329. Cumulative route miles: 477. Total TS9 miles: 531. The extra miles were due to our trips to Liberty State Park (to get the ferry), to Staten Island (to get the ferry) and some short shopping trips.
We had a lunch break in Morrisville PA, an interim stop at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, a refueling stop south of Philadelphia and a bio break when we entered MD on US 301. With all these stops and with much of the route being on back roads in DE, this was 8 hours from start to finish.
The lunch stop was interesting. We stopped initially at an Italian restaurant but Marlene really wanted breakfast rather than spaghetti so we moved down two blocks to the Bird’s Nest where breaksfast is served all day. It didn’t look like much (it is, in fact, a converted bar) but the food – scrambled eggs and bacon for me and an omelet for Marlene – was terrific. The staff and patrons were friendly. A very fine lunch/breakfast stop.
Independence Hall, on the other hand, was a disappointment. Tickets were needed to tour the hall and none were available. Viewing the Liberty Bell was free, but the line was over 30 minutes long. The hall where Congress met until the capitol building in Washington was finished was also free but the line there was also too long (I had limited our stay to 30 minutes because the parking was very expensive – $12 per hour – and we wanted to reach VA before dinner). So we just walked the grounds and looked at a few of the exhibits in the Visitors Center. Perhaps the most interesting thing we saw was the excavation of the slave quarters where George Washington housed his 9 slaves while he was President. I was not aware that our first president had slaves while in office.
To make the visit just a bit more miserable, I lost my parking ticket. I had to go to the parking office and plead my case to pay just $12 instead of the $27 lost ticket charge.
The refueling stop was also a bit unpleasant as I paid $3.95/gallon – the highest price I have encountered on either the TN9 or TS9. I got just 5 gallons. It was particularly painful as I had seen gas selling for under $3.40 in NJ.
When we finally arrived at our destination – Jett’s son and daughter-on-law, Devin and Mary, we went out to dinner at El Paso Mexican Grill in Dumfries VA. Very good and the custom artwork was very interesting.
A full day.
Our home for 3 nights in NJ was the Howard Johnson Hotel at the Newark Airport. This is a relatively inexpensive hotel for the area. And it is right on the flight path for a very busy airport. But we heard no noise and the room was recently renovated and very nice. Much better than expected. And it had a small restaurant that served up very good, reasonably priced breakfasts. It was also convenient to both the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island. This was a very good choice for our stay in New Jersey.