The Setup
Spring Break 2023, Julia & Zac are high school juniors and things are warming up in terms of college and the next steps of life. We’re taking a 4 day trip that includes 25 total hours of driving and hits these 3 schools:
University of Tennessee
University of South Carolina
James Madison University
This is just Julia & myself for this one. Zac is in Florida while D & Simon eat sushi at home.
The Plan
Today is about driving, and will be the single longest drive of the trip. We’ll drive more Friday, but it will be in 2 distinct segments, before then after the tour. Today is all about putting as much distance from home as we can. Not a lot of highlights in this one.
Driving
Kicking off the first 2 hours of the drive was Julia taking the wheel. This is a pretty big leap, allowing her to do 2 hours on 78 all the way to 81. She even managed to navigate the endless construction on 78 where the trucks have to be on the left because of the wall on the right. It was a bit nerve-racking at times, but she made it.
After 2 hours we swapped and I did the 3 hours to Harrisonburg.
Harrisonburg
Julia randomly picked a place for dinner and it turned out to be a place D & I had eaten with Alex & Mark way back when we first came here. The food was still excellent and they even had my N/A beer.
Over dinner we decide that we will go 2 more hours and make it to the Lynchburg area. I book a hotel while we wait for our food.
Settling In
We stop at a Holiday Inn Express in Christiansburg, right off 81. This is the least distance from the main highway that we can find. Easy in, easy out. And in talking to Steve later, I find out there’s a solid coffee shop that has a pour over just 9 minutes away. Will try that in the morning.
Driving Totals
Expected trip driving: 25 hours
Completed: 7 hours
Norm: 5 hours
Julia: 2 hours
Traveling Normandy 