Trip Reports - Road Trip! OKC-WAS (or 2 Swedes and a Yankee)

Hello all! Tomorrow I set off on the road trip of a lifetime. Having my final exam today at 2pm, I will move back to DC tomorrow morning. By car. I was originally going to go it alone, but upon mentioning it to two of my friends, Eva and Linus (exchange students from Sweden), they asked if they could come too!

We set off tomorrow under cover of darkness. We'll take I-40 to I-81, with nights in Nashville and Roanoke. Although that gives you our rough itinerary, we plan on spending lots of time exploring back roads that roughly parallel the interstates. I'll also be taking them on a winding tour of Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway as it is much nicer than the view of Macks and Freightliners one gets on that stretch of I-81 (Roanoke-Winchester).

So sit back, grab a drink, and watch for updates as two Swedes and a Yankee hit the road!

The Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway, while spectacular, can get tedious. Anywhere north of Roanoke, take U.S. 11 North. It parallels I-81 all the way, and is rarely more than a mile or so from the interstate with easy return access. In many places I-81 is in view.

Lots of little towns to poke around in: Buchanan, New Market, Woodstock, etc. as well as some larger burgs like Staunton and Lexington.

Friday, December 15th 2006. Somewhere in Norman, OK:

4:30AM (all times Central): dcstudent's alarm goes off
4:30:30: dcstudent[B] gropes for alarm before realizing it is on the opposite side of the room so he can't just turn it off
4:31 [B]dcstudent forces himself to get up and turn off the alarm
4:35 The second alarm that was set goes off on the other side of the room and scares the bejeezus out of dcstudent
4:40 dcstudent eats and shaves (not at the same time, but that would be a cool skill to have)
4:45-5:00 dcstudent packs the car, sends e-mail and due to some weird compulsion reads flyertalk. :D
5:00-5:15 dcstudent practices his Swedish before realizing he doesn't know any Swedish and is really just mumbling to himself
5:20: dcstudent realizes he needs to sign off flyertalk (gasp....NOOO!!! :D ) and finish final preparations for the trip
5:21: dcstudent prepares himself mentally for the challenges yet to come
5:22: dcstudent starts singing Christmas carols for no apparent reason
5:23: dcstudent really does sign off of flyertalk and leaves to pick up the Swedes. The journey begins!

We have reached Nashville. Unfortunately, the Swedes have started speaking Swedish. I know they are talking about me, I just know it!

But anywho...the trip.

Departure was uneventful at 6:20am from Norman, OK. The only hiccup was that one of the Swedes (who will remain unnamed) packed more stuff than the guy (me) who was moving home! After some creative car packing we hit the road.

Our route today took us from I-35N to I-240E to I40E to Nashville. In general traffic was pretty light the entire trip until we got close to Nashville. I am glad we were traveling East though as on Westbound I-40 (outside of Nashville) there was a 10 mile backup due to an overturned Tractor Trailer.

Ranking of driving skills:
Oklahoma Drivers :td:
Arkansas Drivers :td:
Tennessee Drivers ^

Juicy Details

After first picking up my traveling companions we enjoyed some light and lively banter about law school and our winter break plans. Sadly, by 7:20am my female companion had fallen asleep. This was so even though she was the only one who had had any appreciable sleep the night before!

At 8:15am we stopped for gas in Checotaw, Oklahoma. There's nothing like a Flyer J when one is running on empty.

By 9:30am we had entered Arkansas...and the Swedes were both asleep. I was staying strong and forged on. Of course, now having no one to converse with, I had to talk to myself. :D

By 12noon we were singing Christmas Carols and were just outside of Little Rock! After little Rock we dropped down to Rt. 70 and drove all the way to some town with a B before heading back on I-40. We really enjoyed 70 and stopped at a fish hatchery which is the largest state-run hatchery in the country. We were the only guests, the museum had not been updated since the 1970's (and was not staffed), and when we climbed the observation tower it seemed a bit rickety. But we also seemed to have the hatchery to ourselves. Sadly...no one thought to bring bait and tackle!

The small towns we went through all had standard small-town character. THis of course means many abandoned old buildings, which is too bad as they were generally quite attractive!

After we got back on I-40 we went to a Love's Truck Stop near Palestine, Arkansas and had lunch courtesy of the Subway and the A&W in the building. Afterwards we sped on until we crossed the Mississippi and moved into Tennessee. It was at this point that we started singing along to country music.

We drove straight through to Nashville and checked in at our hotel. Tonight we will head out in search of bbq and country music. Stay tuned!

Today's Discussion Topics:
How Eva and Linus know more about American Pop Culture than Aaron
Aaron learned the Swedish words to "This Land is Our Land"
Linus asked whether the Dayton Accords were reached in Dayton, TN
Linus asked if there was a certain Southern State that got badly burned by a Northern General (in the CIvil War) and if you got stopped by the police in that state if it would be ok to make a joke about it.
Eva asked if we were there yet.

Last Night:

We're in Nashville. But first we must eat! We head out in search of B-B-Cutie. But it is closed. So we hit Danfors instead. It was good. dcstudent had a rack of ribs, Linus had the same, and Eva had Steak Oscar. It was good stuff.Also, the waiter was very kinds and was more than willing to take pictures of us (and of course he got a high tip)!

After eating we went back to the hotel to relax and recharge. Eva, Linus, and myself wanted to primp in order to look our best for going out. And go out we did! We drove downtown, parked and then headed to Tootsies.

Tootsies is not a gentleman's club, but rather a country bar with two floors of live music. We were not huge fans of the lower floor, but enjoyed the band on the higher floor. We sang and danced until we had to leave.

By 12:30am we had crashed. Good thing too....At 6:30am our alarm went off. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to see what breakfast is here at the SpringHill Suites! ^

We headed out of the hotel in Nashville by 8am full of vip, vim, and vinegar (or at least I think that is the saying.) But, we only stayed on I-40 for an hour. It was our goal to see as much of the country as possible, and due to some creative route planning and alot of spontanaiety (sp) we did it! :cool:

First we took off on Route 111 North to Livingston (I presume). Livingston was a very neat small town and we stopped in the town square for pictures. We then headed East (I'll edit to post the exact route when I have my map nearby) through many picturesque small towns and through some of the most wonderful scenery! The entire way we alternated through country music and Christmas carols.

We only got lost once, and that was due to my navigator (Eva) sending me in the wrong direction at a crossroads (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!). We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Middleboro, KY, and then headed back into TN for about a mile before turning east and venturing into VA. The drive was gorgeous, although short on restrooms.

We made an unexpected stop at Natural Tunnel State Park which was not only gorgeous, but had been decorated with Christmas displays and had a wood burning fire going. After enjoying the park we took the chairlift out of the canyon, and headed into Bristol, VA where we picked I-81 back up and headed to Salem, VA.

Once in Salem, we had dinner at Mac and Bob's which was one of my favorite haunts when I went to college there. We ate well and checked in at the Holiday Inn at exit 137. This is a relatively new hotel and was very nice. We then went to check out the Star on top of Mill Mountain and continued on by going bowling for a couple hours before returning to the hotel and collapsing.

The time now is 8:42 am and we're just reawakening. Today is the last day of our journey. Thanks for coming along, and I'll try to update this tonight!

Ok...so sorry for the long wait on a reply. Yesterday...ahem...now where was I. Yes....

It was a dark and stormy night....

Anywho, I was ready to leave in about 10 minutes, but Linus and Eva were having problems waking up. This was no problem as I had a solution: Starbucks and Shmonsters! Yes...that is right...I went out to Starbucks and Sheetz and bought breakfast. The smell of fast food and overpriced coffee woke them up very quickly and we were out of the hotel by 10am.

Our route took us up I-81N to I-64E to skyline drive. As everyone was properly pepped up due to the coffee we were singing Christmas carols along with the radio. It did not take us long at all to reach the entrance to Skyline drive...but sadly it was closed!

Again, Captain dcstudent to the rescue! Calling the NPS Skyline Drive number I found out that Skyline drive was open from milepost 1-50. So out comes the Rand McNally National Road Atlas and in 2 seconds we were headed back west on 64 and North on 340 until we reached Luray. At Luray we stopped for a brief lunch at the "King" :cool: and then headed into the park.

We were greatly surprised by the lack of people in the park as the weather was quite good with sun and temps in the 60's. We first went straight to where the road was closed and then figured we'd track back to Milepost 1. Our first stop was Dark Hollow Falls. Dark Hollow Falls is a gorgeous hike along a creek (crik for those of you out in the midwest) and after .6 miles you reach a really nice waterfall. Except for one person that passed us, we had the trail to ourselves and took copious pictures. I was tempted to push Linus into the water, but held off!

After Dark Hollow we headed back up the drive, stopping at most every vista. We left the park at milepost 1, and got back on 340 passing through VA, WV, and into Marylan before arriving the Holiday Inn Ft. Detrick at about 6pm.

After quickly dropping Eva and Linus' stuff we headed straight into the city. I WAS BACK!!!!!!!!! Although many would not be excited about the idea of city driving...I was ready to have a go at it again! :D

Our first stop was Listranis, a restauarant I frequent that is located in the Palisades neighborhood of NW D.C. The decor is quaint, complete with red and white checked tablecloths! We ate and then headed downtown where I easily found parking at E and 18th street.

Our first stop was the National Christmas tree (and its smaller siblings from each state and territory). It was amazingly gorgeous and it was hard to keep from lingering. Our next stop was the WWII memorial which is also stunning in its own right at night. We followed it up with the Jefferson, George Mason, and FDR memorials. Finally, we hit up the Lincoln, Korea, and Vietnam War memorial before walking back to the car and heading back to Frederick. I dropped Eva and Linus off and then headed home for what turned out to be 4 hours of sleep.

This morning I took Eva and Linus to Great Falls, and the Monocacy Acqueduct before taking linus to the Metro so he could head on his way. Eva and I continued onto my house where we visited with my mother and my dog, Charley (and my sister's dog too), before heading off to IAD to drop Eva off.

Tonight...I sleep!

Thanks for following along!

Captain DCStudent....great report. I miss the road trips that I used to go on. One was when I was living in Germany and some buddies and I went to the Italian Riviera over a weekend.

Loved your trip report! I enjoyed following you along the way. It really does sound like it was an amazing journey y'all had. Can't wait to see the pics from DC!