Passenger Seat Stories: DAY 2: Baltimore to Tennessee

Miles driven - 500

Miles left to go - 2500

Wal Mart’s visited - 2

Lesson of the Day- when dropping something at Wal Mart, run away as quickly as possible, you feel less guilty that way.

Song of the drive: NWA’s Express Yourself

Dante the Dolphin

Today’s the day! The real adventure begins and as I write this, it’s currently 6:34 PM but outside it’s as dark as midnight. I feel like we should be in bed rather than driving and to think that people are out and about in the sunshine of California is a bizarre feeling.

Our day got started around 7:30; no need for an alarm when you have 4 dogs barking at your door telling you they want to go outside. I definitely savored the shower as I have a feeling we’re going to be a little funky for a day or two. I’m not sure how I’ll do with that aspect of traveling.

Josh and Edith

We packed our bags and took little Rosie out for a quick walk down by the woods. After we got the RV situated, we said our goodbyes to the dogs and headed out to brunch at the Severn Inn right across from the Naval Academy in Annapolis. The view was beautiful, the food even better and the bottomless mimosa’s the cherry on top to a perfect afternoon. Our visit with Oma came to an early end and we went our separate ways. Our first stop: Washington D.C. at my request. I just wanted to say to Obama and wave to the white house; clearly I’m a child still who thinks that by driving by, the President will know that I was there.

The Capitol

Washington DC is beautiful. I’ve never been so appreciative of history before but seeing the capitol and Washington monument left an impression. I hope to make it out there for another trip and actually get to enjoy the city rather than from the inside of the RV but I’m grateful I was at least able to see where US history really started.

Once we drove through the capitol, the real drive began. It’s been pitch black for hours and I’m a terrible co-pilot because the dark sky, warm air and reggae toons are a perfect cocktail for lulling me to sleep. We’ve had our first Wal Mart experience in Virginia and while I was expecting to see some interesting townsfolk, it was actually a, dare I say, classy Wal Mart? My ability to knock to things over really came through at that stop; I know I know Mami, you would have been giving me the death stare and glaring me into submission. Within the span of 5 minutes I managed to drop a bottle of Windex causing the nozzle shatter and blue liquid to run everywhere, take another person’s shopping cart and wander through an aisle, and knock over a 60” TV when returning the stolen cart. The looks I received made me painfully self-conscious and I could not have run away from the scene any faster. To say that that was a memorable Wal Mart experience is an under statement but then again, we still have 8 more states to travel through and leaves me plenty of time to top that escapade.

It’s now 9:53 PM in Virginia and we’re still going strong traveling down the I-80 deep in the Appalachian mountains. Hopefully we don’t have to make any stops at the Appalachian emergency unit… We’ve seen about 20 dead deers on the side of the road (definitely a sad sight so Luisa, sorry but your animal activist side would not enjoy this drive). I’m keeping a lookout for the town names because they are just too good to make up. So far we’ve passed: Christiansburg, Lynchburg, Hillsburg, and Blacksburg to name a few. Josh and I our hand at naming a few new cities, just add a “burgs” or “ville” to any object and you’re bound to find a town name that in the Appalachians. Oh and did I mention you take a hike over on Creeper trail? That sounds promising.

It’s getting dark and I’ve gotta save my laptop battery so that we can watch National Lampoon’s Vacation (it was on top of the $5 movie pile at Wal Mart and it was too perfect to pass by) and see what kind of shenanigans we can get ourselves into on this road trip.

Signing off,

Mariana, Josh and Dante the Dolphin RV