Through North Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware to Pennsylvania

A buffet breakfast, I deserve it. Then back to the harness. I think I can make Philadelphia by night. This means no side trips. I would love to see Charleston or the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, but I suspect in this beautiful weather, they'd be crowded. That was another excuse to quit Florida before the Memorial weekend. A heat wave was predicted and I didn't feel like cooking in the heat, then fighting packed highways to get home with a sick car. At this moment, back home, I don't regret the decision to leave early.

The map shows a town called South of the Border, just south of the border between North and South Carolina in I-95. Before you get there, signs with Mexican themes keep pestering one to stop and eat or buy things. When I got there, it wasn't a real town but a collection of restaurants, shops, petrol stations, motels, etc. A made-for-commerce town.

North Carolina and Virginia flew past on I-95. Interstates are just fast roads from A to B, not much point looking for scenery. Just north of Richmond I turned east to take the bridge at Annapolis so that I could avoid Washington and Baltimore. The Annapolis crossing traverses the major arm of the Chesapeake. Ships have to go underneath the bridge to reach Baltimore.

They say Du Pont owns most of Delaware. A friend of mine vigorously denies this, but the company seemed to be everywhere. Well they might at least improve the signs on the roads. I get lost for a while on Delaware country roads, then get my bearings again. Just outside Wilmington I tried phoning Tom again. Answering machine again. Is he gone or working programmer hours? Nothing for it but to try calling at home.

Rang the doorbell. If he isn't home I will nap in the car for a couple of hours then drive back to Rochester. I don't feel like spending another night in a motel, only to face Memorial Friday holiday traffic. Tom comes to the door. He's been asleep and letting the answering machine mind the shop.