I-95... #Forgetaboutit

They warned us! The weather was going to be bad and the traffic would be even worse. I'm starting to see a trend here. The two times we traveled the I-95 corridor between Boston and Virginia things did not go well.

After leaving South Carolina we made a short drive into Jacksonville, FL where we stored the camper for a few weeks as we made our way back to New England to spend the holidays with Family. We know a storm was coming so we left a day earlier to compensate for the extra traffic; and extra traffic we got.

I-95 is the most heavily traveled interstate in the country during the holidays. Add in a nasty winter rain storm and it is a traffic apocalypse from Washington, D.C. to Boston, MA. We drove from Jacksonville to Lillington, NC on Monday which was the possibly the best 400 miles I have driven. We then left first thing Tuesday morning to drive 750 miles to Cape Cod. What should have taken about 12 hours ended up taking just over 18 hours.

At one point we were on the New Jersey Turnpike and we moved 65 miles during a four hour period. Between the weather, holiday and rush hour traffic it was the traffic trifecta of the ages. I weaved in and out of back roads and even at one point finding myself driving right through the campus of Princeton University. At every turn we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic not moving more than 2 or 3 miles an hour.

After a long day, 750 miles, 45 gallons of fuel and 18 hours we arrived at our final destination of Cape Cod, MA.

This was what I-95 looked like for 500 miles. This is a view going over the Tappanzee Bridge from NJ into NY.

"Life is a highway, I (don't) want to ride it all night long"

-Tom Cochrane

South Carolina

South Carolina was one of the bigger surprises we had on the trip. We loved the people, beaches and the history that we experienced in South Carolina. We visited Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head during our three weeks in the state, with a small detour to Georgia. I have always heard great things about Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head and this was my first visit to the area and the accolades I heard regarding these destinations certainly did them justice.

The biggest surprise for me was Charleston. The connection to history that we felt walking down the cobblestone streets was amazing. While walking down the cobblestone streets you could easily envision what it felt like for our forefathers to walk down the same streets 300 years ago. Additionally, the public trolley's in Charleston were all free and made a great way to easily get around the city on the cheap.

While visiting Hilton Head we stayed in a RV Park 15 miles to the south of the island and 15 miles north of Savannah Georgia so we made a trip to Savannah and visited Tybee Island/Beach which is a short drive outside of Savannah. The kids had a great time playing in the surf and Tristan and I spent some quality time fishing off the pier. My only reservation to the kids playing in the surf were the signs posted on the fishing pier notifying us that "All Sharks are catch and release". I didn't have a lot of comfort letting the kids swim in water where the local ordinance requires catch and release of All sharks!

Here are some of the pictures of our visit to South Carolina.

We walked the 1.5 miles to the top of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge which leads into Charleston.

Just another night at the RV park. Tristan is playing chess with a new friend while I'm cooking dinner on the grill.

At the Pineapple Fountain in Charleston.

The Rainbow Row is one of the most photographed parts of Charleston. It consists of 13 colorful historic houses.

 

The kids and I at Angel Oak...a 300 year old tree located in Charleston.

At the base of Angel Oak.

 

 

Folly Beach just outside of Charleston.

Pretty sure this was a mandated hug for not getting along...these two are like oil and water.

 

 

Tristan fishing at Folly Beach with his stuffed animal "Yoti" in his side pocket.

The girls ready to hit the surf at Tybee Beach.

 

 

Sidney working on some dance moves at the beach.



That face is how I know the water is too cold for me!

  

Yeah, that's about how big it was. For real, the pole you see to the right of me belonged to an old man who asked me to watch his line while he went to the bathroom. A few minutes after he walked away there was a tug on the line. I grabbed the pole and there was something pretty big at the other end. It fought for about 1 minute and then the line broke so we'll never know...but it was 20 lb line so it must have been something pretty big!

Fun at the beach!

In Georgia - Where the trees are crossed, and they're covered in moss.