Day Two - Wednesday, December 27

Correction:  Our editor has noticed that the picture titled "Before" in yesterday's post was actually taken hours after, and two states past, the snow.  We apologize for any inconvenience this "fake news" may have caused.

Today's Quiz:  Which of the vehicles shown in the following picture drove through Pennsylvania yesterday?

By the way, Erie has had over 5 feet of snow in the last week and it's still falling!

In our plans, we had decided that today would take its course, i.e. no plans.  We had a leisurely breakfast at the Drury Inn and hit the road at 10 a.m.  Headed south on I-77 to Columbia, South Carolina where we switched to I-26 East.  About 10 miles from I-95 we hit the annual Snowbird parking lot and overhead signs said that the traffic snarl would persist through South Carolina.   The problem is that I-95 and I-26 each have two lanes full of Snowbirds merging into the two lanes of I-95.  The problem isn't resolved until you get to Georgia, where I-95 broadens to 3 lanes, and even then the traffic is problematic.

So, we exited the Interstate and headed through the South Carolina backwoods, through towns such as Bowman, Branchville, Smoaks and Ruffin.  Exciting places!

Eventually, the road wound its way back to I-95 and, looking down the ramp, the highway appeared to be moving well, so we took it.  Big mistake!!!  A mile down the road we hit the parking lot wall.  And, for the rest of South Carolina we probably averaged about 5 kilometres an hour.  Total time lost, about 2 hours.  Last time we take this route to Florida during the Snowbird migration!

As we extricated ourselves from this disaster, it started raining and this continued until we decided to stop for the night at Brunswick, Georgia.

There are only two good takeaways from this narrative:

1. We didn't have to drive through, or shovel, snow.
2. We got a free night at the Comfort Suites with our Choice Hotels points.

There was a steak house just a par 3 away from the hotel (that's walking distance folks).  Drinks were just $2.97 each (sounds good, but brother Roger can buy a whole bottle of "pink shit" wine from Walmarts for the same price).

Roger has commented "Look forward to the blog to help me escape the winter doldrums."  So the following picture is for him (he always includes food in his blog and facebook posts).

And, the following picture is for my friends Sven and Helga (a.k.a. Gary and Jill Parker - it's a "23 and me" thing folks).  Norwegian Salmon Salad!

A third good thing happened today.  The rain washed away Pennsylvania from the van!

Tomorrow, Daytona Beach.