And May the Road Rise Up to Meet You!

The journey of...137K?!

How fast time passes! I have merely turned around and found myself facing the end of the year with its busyness. In the last 4 months, I have moved twice, started a new job, and put a few more thousand miles on Mr. Darcy. I now find myself settled into a comfortable apartment and sitting back to reflect on this one night of the entire month which I have free.

FIVE YEARS!

It has been a whole five years to the day since I first purchased my awesome Honda Fit, so-named Mr. Darcy because that happens to be one of my favorite literary characters.

It's been a crazy five years, in retrospect. And in that time, I have put over 137,000 miles on my vehicle...and spent several hundreds (if not thousands) of hours traversing here and there and a bit of everywhere in between.

I have also managed to put over 60 (yes, sixty) bumper stickers on his windows, making him the most tastefully sticker'd vehicle that ever roamed the highways and byways (and, if I may be so bold to say, one of the most photographed vehicles in the Upstate of South Carolina...not a week goes by that I don't catch some other driver or passenger or pedestrian stopping to snap a picture of my photogenic little vehicle).

Truly, I am very thankful for the Lord's provision in a reliable vehicle that is also fun to drive and a willing partner in my adventures (though, it is fortunate that he cannot tell of ALL the places we have been together as that might raise some alarm).

So, here's to an amazing five years with the coolest vehicle in town...and to another five should the Lord allow!

At Long Last

After taking a sabbatical from blogging for sundry reasons (grad school, et al.), I am back!

Temporarily.

For a couple weeks out of the year, after midterms and mid-semester projects have been turned in, it is time to enjoy those rare road trip opportunities that I seldom have time for any more. But then, of course, reality comes back, and classes commence.

And I am ready to get away from this cyclical and crazy cold weather we have had this winter!

However, as you may or may not know, grad school is just about two months away from completion...and then: the adventures begin anew!

New job, new faces, new schedule, new adventures.

So. Let us see if I can remember how this works.

Destination: Florida (and sun. and warmth.)
Total Miles: TBA (at the end of the trip)
Total Cost: TBA (probably one of my more expensive weekend trips)

What has prompted this road trip, you ask?

Rivertree Singers!

Our choir auditioned to sing at the American Choral Directors Association Southern Division. We were one of 77 choirs from across the Southern USA to audition. One of 17 chosen. One of only two from South Carolina.

And the ONLY community choir that made the cut.

We are singing a 25 minute concert in Jacksonville, FL with repertoire including works by Tomas Luis Victoria, Eric Whitacre, Dan Forrest, Moses Hogan, and two of my friends: Peter Anglea and John Hudson. And call time is in approximately two hours!

So, yesterday afternoon after a long day of classes, discussions,
projects, and 2.5 hours of sleep, I met up with my friends and coconspirators (fellow Alto II, Heidi Moore, and Tenor II, Will Robinson). While we were driving in two separate vehicles, we followed each other down to Jacksonville. We stopped at Denny's for dinner and got into Jacksonville around 10:30pm.

The hotel we are staying at is fairly snazzy...the Hyatt Regency, and it is a walk away from where we will be singing. It is also on the waterfront and provides some lovely views of which we took advantage of last night after checking into our rooms.

I'm very excited about singing...and about the remainder of the trip.

Did you honestly think I would come all the way to Florida and NOT go other places, see other people, and try some new things?!

:)

Apparently, I'm an enlightened traveler!

Home Afar

Destination: Spring Break
Total Miles: 2,114
Total Cost: $330



Ok...ok. So you are all wondering a few things:

The light at the end of the tunnel

1. Spring Break? A "destination?"  Yes. It was shorter to put than "anywhere within a couple hours of the Eastern Shore of Maryland" or "anywhere but here" (both of which sounded awkward).
2. Total Miles...the totals from the other posts do NOT add up to 2114. Let me be clear in stating that the "Total Miles" from each day's trip were added using Google Maps and thus not a complete representation of exactly where I drove. And did not fully account for the occasional got-turned-around-in-traffic moments (Philly and Norfolk, I'm looking at you!!!). This "Total Miles" is Mr. Darcy's summation and an accurate count of the mileage covered.

3. Total Cost. I will be the first to admit that this does NOT include the cost of gifts that I bought. That total would be closer to $700. I like to buy things for other people. Do not judge. :) The total cost also does not include every meal I ate or lodging...HUGE shout-out to my relatives and friends.

Highlights from the trip would include visiting with friends and family, walking around Philadelphia while reminiscing about the history of my country, seeing an Amish horse and buggy, eating delicious foods, Noah from Sight and Sound Theater (probably one my favorite parts of the trip), discovering the Longwood Gardens, riding the Cape Mays-Lewes Ferry with Mr. Darcy, and just driving around (crossing over 90,000 miles!!!) and meeting new people. And of course, one of my favorite parts about traveling: coming home.

Which reminds me of one of the verses from The Road Goes Ever Ever On:

The Road goes ever ever on,
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wondering have gone
Turn at last to home afar...

All the same, I am working very hard to not go through Travel Withdrawal. The past week was exactly what I needed: a break. Sleeping an average of 7-8 hours a night for the first time in...months...I've already had people commenting on how rested and refreshed I look now. But now it is time to buckle back down for the remainder of the semester.

And it's time to start planning my next big trip: Colorado!

So. The conclusion of my Spring Break? yes.

The conclusion of my travels? Not a chance!!!

Saturday Email 3/23/13

Independence Hall

Mr. Darcy at 2nd 

Sight and Sound Theater

The Eastern Shore of Maryland

By Land or By Sea?

Destination: Cape Mays, NJ (and back again)
Total Miles: around 250
Total Cost: roughly $60

I contemplated another title for this post: Mr. Darcy Rides the Ferry.

Which he did!

But we spent more time driving around (somewhat aimlessly) than we did riding the ferry from Cape Mays, NJ to Lewes, DE.

So...what happened today? Good thing you asked! I drove through Glasgow, Petersburg, and Dover...make it quite the international day!

Now for the real story:

I had no clue what exactly I was going to do when I woke up this morning to my alarm at 6:40 am. It wasn't snowing even though all the weather apps said it should be. So, I decided that a drive would be very nice.

Darcy and I headed off (honestly not sure what time...9 am?) and opted to drive up to Wilmington, Delaware. I looked up a couple sites to see, and we went exploring armed with nothing but the Dove promise of last night: Do something spontaneous. (The other applicable one says: Go where your heart takes you...but this seems contradictory to the first, and besides that, I have no clue where my heart would take me.)

Wilmington was a bust.

Wilmington, Delaware

I drove around and around trying to find this "interesting" ship...when I finally made it through the sketchy neighborhoods and creepy waterfront 'roads,' not only was the museum area locked up but also                         there was not a soul in sight. I kid                          you not.
There was the ship. The building. Me. Mr. Darcy. And another Honda Fit Sport that looked exactly like Mr. Darcy. After snapping a couple pictures (from the locked safety of my vehicle!!!), I scooted out of                              Wilmington.

I headed towards New Jersey...and found SNOW! Little flurries floating down slowly on a bleary, blustery morning. It made for a lovely drive across the state.

By now, I had a plan forming in my head. I would drive down to Cape May and take the ferry back to Delaware. On the way down, I would drive along the coast and stop for some yummy food.

Things I did NOT add to my formulating plan:
1. Hurricane Sandy left-overs.
2. Off-season closures...of everything.
3. Inability to hop on to the Parkway once I passed the initial entrance.

I did find some lovely lighthouses, and an excellent hot chocolate from a place called Red White and Brew.

By the time I reached Cape May, it was closing in on 3 pm. Which gave me two hours to find sustenance, see anything I wanted to see in Cape May, and get back to the ferry terminal.

No offense to the people from New Jersey...but the locals that I tried getting directions from were difficult to understand. Odd accents...

With hypoglycemia starting to play with my brain, I found a yarn shop. No. I didn't eat there! The last yarn shop I visited is located in Concord, New Hampshire (visited on my Boston trip with Kara and Amy). The lady (still difficult to understand), gave me walking directions to a restaurant called "The Pilot House." I think. Whatever it was, I ordered a lovely meal of blackened salmon topped with a mango-orange-pineapple salsa served with a side of seafood chowder.

I was so hungry, I inhaled the meal in under 15 minutes. Flat.

It was amazing!

The ferry ride back was fun! I've riden ferries before, but I have never had to drive my car on to the boat! And when the ride was over, I went to unlock Darcy...and couldn't find my key! A sweet lady helped me look around, and we found it on a seat where I had almost fallen asleep. She graciously took a picture of Mr. Darcy and I before we disembarked.

Tomorrow is going to be just as busy and fun...so for now, I will put some random moments from today at the bottom.

:)

Random Moments:
1. Signs in NJ: "Please use your seatbelts." (well...if I had more than one, I would...)
"Deaf Child Neighborhood" (ummm...this may or may not be slightly discriminatory...just tell me to watch for children, like normal)
"Drive Slow and Arrive Alive." (good thing EVERY car from NJ was passing me while I was going the speed limit.)
2. WaWa is both a gas station and a market. Sometimes both. Not always.
3. Full-Service gas station: never been to one before!
Questions re: why do they call it "Full Service" when they won't even look under my hood?! and do I or do I now tip them? Hope not...
4. The off-season may be the best time to drive around if you want limited traffic...but be prepared for almost nothing being open.
5. Since normal people go the beach for Spring Break, I decided for my first official Spring Break to do likewise. My beach just happened to be 34º F.

Step onto the Road

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

Destination: Norfolk, Virginia
Total Miles: 430ish
Total Cost: (starting cost for yesterday) $40

It's that time of year again...spring is in the air. The threat of snow has subsided. The sun shines a little brighter. And the roads stretch with seemingly endless miles ahead of me.

Spring Break.


Having been sufficiently grounded to the Upstate of South Carolina for months, I have broken the chains of labor forged by school, work, and clinicals! It's time to travel, see new sights, visit relatives and friends, spend hours in one of my favorite places: Mr. Darcy. (Who, I am pleased to report, is clean and celebrating with me, today, 39 months of being my car.)


And in the wee hours of the morning on our drive, we crossed over to 88,888 miles!!!

This trip finds me headed back up north to fulfill a promise I made at the end of last summer when the LPs and I visited DC and Philly (the links are all to different posts for that trip). The promise: visit Philadelphia again and learn more about our nation's first capital.

Yesterday's drive began after classes and midterms finished. The first leg of the trip involved visiting a baby at Greenville Memorial. Not my typical start to trips, but one I deemed necessary. After insuring he would behave while I was gone (and maybe come back to SRHS), I hit the road. And rush hour traffic.

Armed with pretzels and hummus, I staved off hunger and drove until I had no gas...which was somewhere near Oxford, NC off I-85. Horatio joined me in partaking of the hummus.

The trip was fairly uneventful. I was reminded of last year's March trip and the long drive in the dark. Rather like something out of a zombie trailer. Hardly any traffic out, especially once I was past Greensboro, NC. And by the time I hit the really-long-and-boring-road-that-cuts-across-Virginia (aka US 58), traffic was at a bare minimum.

Fifteen.

The number of vehicles I passed or passed me from the time I pulled on to 58 to the time I reached Norfolk. Yes, it was that boring.

Good thing I love to drive!

But no worries! Today, I am spending time with friends. And who knows what tomorrow holds?!

Stay tuned. :)