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DAY 1 – Sunday, March 14
START: Sayreville, NJ
END: Staunton, VA
MILEAGE: 385 miles

HIGHLIGHTS: Baltimore/Washington traffic; Skyline Drive at night

After over three years of anticipation and several months of serious planning, we finally got underway… at 2:00 in the afternoon.  We had planned to get on the road by noon, but who are we kidding?  Leaving Lauren’s parents’ house is an involved process when we’re only leaving after church, nevermind leaving for an entire month.

The primary goal of today was to just get out of this area.  We didn’t need to spend time sightseeing between here and Virginia because really, that’s all in our backyard.  We can see Washington, DC or Baltimore anytime.  The only real road-trippy thing we had planned for today was to get onto Skyline Drive, which eventually becomes the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We had a motel reservation in Staunton, Virginia, about a third of the way down the state. 

Both Lauren and I were nervous but couldn’t really figure out why.  For Lauren, I suppose it was that feeling of the unknown – that and nervousness over being seven months pregnant.  And I suppose it was the same for me as well.  I wasn’t pregnant or anything, but while I considered myself to be an old hat at road trips, this one was different in that there were no firm plans.  We had points along the way that we knew we wanted to hit, but other than that, the next month was a clean slate.  We pretty much wouldn’t know where we’d be more than a day or two in advance.  Most of all, I guess I was nervous because I was finally doing it.  I was finally taking the road trip I’d always wanted to take.  I was finally taking the dream trip of a lifetime.  I was nervous that it would be a disappointment.

The trip started off with a little naiveté on our part.  How could I have been so stupid as to think we would get past D.C. before dark?  Because of work, I’d driven down this way enough to know that traffic is utterly ridiculous in this area of the country.  By the time we crossed into Virginia, daylight was gone.  What we should have done was just stayed on the interstate, cleared this area and gotten into Staunton as fast as possible then go to bed early and wake up refreshed.  Instead we made our way to Skyline Drive and began our ascent up the Appalachian Mountains. 

Skyline Drive meanders along the tops of the Virginia Appalachians, through Shenandoah National Park.  There was nobody manning the entrance station when we arrived around seven o’clock, but there was still a sign asking you to pay ten dollars for entry.  There wasn’t a gate blocking the way, just a sign saying the area was being monitored.  I doubted very much however that anybody would bust our balls for not paying.  Lauren and I looked at each other and debated, finally agreeing to pay the entrance fee anyway.  It goes to the national park service I reasoned, so really, the money wasn’t wasted.

Our time, however, was.  Skyline Drive is, I’m sure, a beautiful scenic route.  But you don’t really get much of that at night.  It was neat to look down and see the lights of little towns along the valley floor and imagine what the scenery must look like.  Of course, with the way the road bent and weaved, coupled with the fact that the deer far outnumbered people this time of night, I pretty much had to keep my eyes where the headlights were pointed.

After about two hours of very slow progress, Lauren and I both agreed that we should get off Skyline Drive and make our way back to the interstate and into Staunton.  The real trip would begin tomorrow.

ONTO DAY 2