Monday September 2nd 2024

After my weekend road trip the blog returns to daily form. I traveled 1438 miles from Friday morning to Sunday night. It was for a gathering in North Caroline on Saturday. A drive up Intestate 95 is the easiest way to get there when you consider waiting time at airports and the distance my destination is from the nearest significant airport in Raleigh. I also tried to manage the holiday weekend travel by traveling early on Friday and on Sunday rather than Monday.

The worst part of the drive was in the state of Florida. On the way north I had commuter traffic in the cities of Orlando, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville. The return trip was fine until I got to Florida. The afternoon and evening thunderstorms greeted me. Heavy thunderstorms started as I was leaving Jacksonville. When combined with the heavy traffic it was a very stress filled time. After a brief letup the storms returned in the Daytona Beach area. This one resulted in an accident that backed up traffic for several miles. The next downpour happened as I followed the GPS directions on Interstate 4 through downtown Orlando. I probably should have taken the toll road around the city to the west. Still, I returned to sunny weather once I got closer to home.

Travel on Interstate 95 through Georgia is a breeze. There is a little congestion as the road passes west of Savannah, but the rest is three or more lanes of easy driving. Traffic is not a problem in South Carolina, but the road in the southern half of the state is a problem. It is a combination of concrete and asphalt that is very rough and really needs repair. The northern part of the state has been updated. North Carolina is similarly divided except Interstate 95 in the southern part of the state is under reconstruction. Thankfully, the construction areas were not active on the holiday weekend.

I spent two nights in different hotel rooms. The rooms were nice and the breakfasts were filling, but I don’t sleep well in hotel rooms the first night. Once I got home on Sunday night I slept well and spent a relaxing day today.