Day 21

Hit The Road Jack

If this trip were a sporting event, today would be a transfer day.

Once again we woke up about an hour late. Life on the road is not always easy. The Amish Milk Stoudt left me feeling dehydrated so I gulped down a pint of water and stepped out into 'the furnace' for a run. The only thing that matched the number of degrees in heat was the number of bugs that flew into my head during the run. We ran a two mile loop along a path that goes behind Bri & Michele's gaff. Paulo did one loop, while I opted for two. My knees are much better but I'm still from from 100%. However, it still felt good to get some exercise and 'sweat it out'.

After Paddy Powers & breakie, we said goodbye and set off on our way to Charlotte, NC. We took Route 70 to Hagerstown and then turned on to 81S. We stopped outside Harrisonburg at a Subway for a bite to eat and were shocked by the dimness. There was a kid working there who kept getting in our way at the counter carrying boxes back and forth across the shop. Then the woman behind the counter over charged me and couldn't figure out how much change I was owed. She almost gave me an extra five bucks but in the end a sliver of light got through to her brain and she realised the mistake. We continued on, stopping again to fuel up and switch the drivers role outside Roanoke.

We passed through the Shenandoah Valley that sits between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains. This area saw a lot of action during the Civil War and is full of historic sites, none of which we stopped to see.

Having passed between the two mountain ranges, there was a long eight mile descent down to the border of North Carolina and the views of Virginia to the east were incredible.

We finally arrived at Charlotte, shattered from a long day of driving. We followed the usual routine - find a cheap hotel with a discount (this time a Ramada), check-in, go for some food and then pan out eating and watching baseball. It would have been nice to drive into Charlotte but we were both so tired and it was raining, so we stayed put and had a bit of wi-fi time.

Day 20

Ye Olde Historic Philadelphia

Although the view of the Ben Franklin bridge was amazing last night, the sound of the traffic was not.

We both woke up a bit wrecked today but after some breakie and blick coffee I was ready to take on the day and get stuck into some sightseeing. Since we were staying in a great spot, just a few blocks from 2nd Street, we started at Elfreths Avenue, which is the oldest street in the country to have continuous residents. Most of the houses standing date from between 1726 - 1836 but the street has been occupied since 1713.

Many Irish people lived here as well at the beginning of the 20th century. Paulo checks a list of residents to see if there is a mention of any Mullens.

We walked down 2nd Street and turned on to Arch Street to go to the Betsy Ross House.

There were lots of kids there and several renactments taking place. But we didn't really hang about long enough to know what they were about. We decided to make an exiteth on ye olde stage left.

This guy actually had ye olde bottle of beer in his little satchel that we spotted him taking a little nip from now and again. I suppose whatever helpeth you get through the day.

From ye olde gaff of Betsy Ross, we continued down Arch Street to the US Mint.

Across the street is the National Constitution Center.

During the stroll, Paulo took a slight offence to ye olde advertising and he leteth his feelings be known.

We continued walking down Arch Street to 5th, when Paulo decided it was time to stop for a dog.

After fueling up, we walked past the Independence Visitor Center, had a look at the Liberty Bell and went past the Independence National Historic Park.

The park contains buildings and sites where the fledging American Colonies grew into the United States. Independence Hall is where the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776 and the Constitution was drafted in 1787. The bell in the tower, which is now known as Liberty Bell, was rung on many important occasions like on July 8, 1776 when the Declaration was read in public for the first time.

Despite the heat we decided to walk down Market Street to have a look around. We past some funky shops and went all the way down to Penn Square and JFK Plaza. By now, we were both Hank so we ducked into the nearest place we could find - Quiznos Subs for a bite and a bit of respite from the heat.

We legged it back to the hotel and left Philadelphia around 3:00, going back exactly the same way we came - the PA turnpike past Lancaster. It may have been a longer way to our destination, Frederick MD but it was the only way to avoid the bitter traffic around Baltimore. We got off the turnpike in Gettysburg and headed south on 15 to Frederick to see my old college mate Brian and his family. When we arrived we sat down to a great meal prepared by Michele and then chatted over some glasses of Amish Milk Stoudt. We continued chatting for several hours and relaxed watching the film Easy Money - one of Bri's all time favourite films and a Rodney Dangerfield classic.