Routes
GTW Hop 8: Hillsville, VA, to Heiskell, TN
225 miles via VA 100, I-81, I-40 and I-75. Cumulative distance: 1,303 miles. It just keeps getting worse. Another day, another blowout. This one occurred at 60 mph in the middle lane of a very busy I-81 on a downhill curve near Wytheville, VA, less than 30 miles into our 225-mile journey. It was the … Continue reading
GTW Hop 7: Luray, VA, to Hillsville, VA
207 miles via US 340, I-81 and VA 100. Cumulative distance: 1,078 miles. We traveled to Hillsville for one reason and one reason only: it was just over 200 miles from Luray. We have determined that we don’t want to travel more than 230 miles in a day, that being the comfortable limit of a … Continue reading
Amish furniture
We love Amish furniture. Part of it is that we love furniture made from solid wood. Another part is that we appreciated craftsmanship. The third part is that we like a bargain. Which is why I drove for 8 hours on Saturday to pick up two oak swivel gliders to replace the very uncomfortable loveseat … Continue reading
GTW Hop 6: Lorton, VA, to Luray, VA
96 miles via I-95, VA 234, I-66 and US 340. Cumulative distance: 871 miles. Our first non-ding hop! OK, it was just 94 miles, mostly over interstate, but we have done short-and-easy before and still managed to collect a ding. Let me feel good about this. The route was pleasant enough, with rolling hills lining … Continue reading
GTW Hop 5: Gettysburg, PA, to Lorton, VA
101 miles via PA 116, US 15, I-270, I-495, I-95 and VA 600 and 242. Cumulative distance: 775 miles. A ding-a-day. It is the theme of this trip. It would be more accurate to say “ding a hop” but that doesn’t have quite the same ring. So a ding-a-day it is. The Hop 5 ding … Continue reading
GTW Hop 4: Gordonville, PA, to Gettysburg, PA
68 miles via US 30 and PA 116. Cumulative distance: 674 miles This “easy” hop took over 2 hours to complete. US 30 was bumper-to-bumper for about half the distance we traveled on it. Not fun. Because I was concentrating so hard on not running into the guy in front of me, I didn’t get … Continue reading
GTW Hop 3: Milford, NY, to Gordonville, PA
282 miles via NY 28, I-88, I-81, I-476, US 22, 222 and 30. Cumulative distance: 606 miles The “B” on the map is our refueling stop, this being the first hop (of very few, I hope) that we could not complete on a single tank of fuel. We can’t assume that any service station will … Continue reading
GTW Hop 2: Warwick, MA, to Milford, NY
219 miles via MA 2, I-91, I-90, I-87, I-88 and NY 28. Cumulative distance: 324 miles. This hop was mostly on interstate highways and was (thank God!) uneventful. The day was sunny, the sky was dotted with happy puffy clouds and birds were singing. All was well with the world. But that would be too … Continue reading
GTW Hop 1: Northwood, NH, to Warwick, MA
105 miles via US 202, NH 9, 10 and 78 and MA 78. Cumulative distance: 105 miles. FYI: “GTW” stands for Great Trip West. This was a nice trip, right up until we got to the Wagon Wheel campground. The problem? We didn’t know that we had arrived. We were relying on the GPS and … Continue reading