Maryland

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Good Ole I-95

I’m at a Starbucks in Stafford, VA, about 30 miles south of Washington D.C.

It was cold in St Clair overnight, but nothing like it was in Saratoga. I left the furnace on super low and it only kicked on once, at 4AM. I was very comfortable and slept like the proverbial log.

When I got up at 7AM, the morning sun had already warmed the rig five degrees and was melting the rime of frost off my vehicles. I went for a walk and discovered I did not need my winter coat. The air was a little chilly, but the sun was very warm, promising a lovely day.

I took it easy pulling out of St Clair, gently easing up the big hill and navigating my way around the construction at the top. I drove steadily, but paused at each rest area. I breathed a sigh of relief when I hit Maryland since PA roads are just like Quebec roads: in crap condition and under construction. 🙂

With the Maryland state line came the crossing of the Mason-Dixon line just moments after. And, like magic, autumn fell back several weeks, with the trees having brightly coloured leaves again.

Lunch was had at the West Virginia welcome center and shortly thereafter, I exited the state safely and made it to Virginia! By this point, I had to drop a layer as the weather was positively balmy!

The last part of the day was difficult as I was on secondary roads and battling increasing traffic. It was really hard to manage the high speed limits, frequent traffic light, and idiots who would dart in front of my rig as I was trying to slow down, cutting my stopping distance to a barely sufficient length.

Stafford is a little farther north than I would have liked to be tonight, but my ETA onto I-95 was about 3:00, not leaving me much time to find an alternative overnighting spot if the first one didn’t pan out. I called the Walmart here and the ones in Fredericksburg and no one would give me the okay over the phone. They all said, “Pull in and come and ask in person.” So I decided to start with this one and then move on to the ones in Fredericksburg if I wasn’t given permission. Thankfully, I was.

It’ll be a short drive to my friend’s place tomorrow. I should arrive in early afternoon.

I am officially declaring that my batteries need a funeral service, hence why I am at a crazy overcrowded Starbucks desperately trying to get as much charge out of my computer and iPad as possible.

With everything off, I’m getting the same voltage across the board, about 13, at the batteries themselves, the big fuse and shunt, the inverter, the battery monitor, and the solar monitor. Inside, the voltage is a couple of points off in the battery bay, but still above 13.

As soon as I turn anything on, voltage drops to 10.5 volts. I can’t even turn on an inverter, not my new big 1,000W model, not my newer 300W one either. The fridge runs, but barely, occasionally giving me the ‘low voltage’ error message. My battery monitor agrees that my batteries are at a full charge, but that voltage is 10.5. I have a hard time believing the issue is my wiring as I am overgauged at every step of my electrical setup.

Moreover, I’ve been having to add water like crazy to my batteries the last few months. Yesterday, I thought that would help and when I added it, the water sizzled! I’ve never heard that before! I really do think that the last year or so of the rig being plugged in almost constantly boiled my batteries dry. Needless to say, my new bank is going to get a watering system!

Lack of computer charging power not withstanding, it’s been another great day on the road!

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Petersburg VA to St Clair PA

Miranda was packed by 8:00 this morning. I handed the key to the lady in the office in case the mechanic was ready to work on her before I got back from returning the rental car. I got to Enterprise at about 8:20 at the same time as the guy who was going to drive me back to WS Campbell. Everything was fine with the rental and the insurance is picking up the full tab! I got back to the shop at 8:30 and Miranda was still outside. I took back the key and got her into the garage then went to the office to settle up the bill.

My adjuster at Aviva continues to impress me. She told me that the axle repairs alone would be $5,600. Um, no. That was for everything. The axle repairs came in at just under $3,000, so with the towing bill the invoice was $3202 and change, which was actually less than they would have thought because they didn’t need to replace all the parts they thought they needed to replace. I signed off on the repairs and faxed the invoice and credit card receipt to Aviva.

There was a truck blocking the pull-thru exit of the garage, so I had to back out. I always take it as a compliment when I am left to my own devices to do such manoeuvring. 🙂 It was an easy out, though, as I had a big empty space to back into and get pointed in the correct direction.

Before we leave WS Campbell, here’s the view I had from my desk the last two weeks:

It’s 5KM to the I-95/South Crater Road junction and there is a Shell just before the turnoff. It would have been a bit tight with the toad, but it was easy access with just Miranda. I had a quarter tank of gas and I was staring at the cheapest fuel prices on this trip ($3.49/gallon), so I had the pump pre-authorized for $125 and that filled the tank to the brim.

Now, I’m going to give more detail about my route than I usually do because there has been some discussion about it in the comments.

Just a few miles north of where I got on I-95, at 9:20, I took I-295 to by-pass Richmond and got back on I-95 north of the city. I grinned as I passed Ashland, awed that the last time I took this route, I drove straight from there to Gatineau in a day!

Traffic got thicker and thicker the further north I drove. I was happy to exit to route 17N just past Fredericksburg. I knew that the next bit wasn’t going to be easy as I would have to drive through a shopping district with lots of traffic lights, but it was better than going through DC. I followed the signs for route 17N to I-66 west.

My GPS continues to make me wonder who programs routes for it. I was heading for a destination just off of I-81 and right up to the I-81/I-66 junction, it was adamant that I drive through downtown Washington to get there! Whomever comes up with a GPS that automatically routes around cities is going to get my business for life.

I’d been too nervous to have breakfast before leaving (but not so nervous that I didn’t take the time to have coffee!) and the knots in my stomach had gotten pretty tight along route 17. But I began to feel better when I hit I-66 and I planned a lunch stop just before I-81, where there is a Walmart and a bunch of restaurants, so it was pretty convenient in an RV. I think it would a been a bit tougher of a parking lot with the toad, but with Miranda alone it was fine. I went to Applebee’s, of course. 🙂

It was almost 1:30 when I was done with lunch and I had three more hours of driving to do. I was getting tired and starting to jump every time a vehicle passed me, causing Miranda to shift in the lane. Had I left a couple of hours later, I would have stopped for the night in Chambersburg, but that option was a Cracker Barrel and 3:00 was way too early to stop there. I decided that I could handle another couple of hours and made a point to stop at the two rest areas I passed.

The day’s calamity struck at the first one: I could not get my key into the lock for the house door! So I need to troubleshoot the deadbolt when I get to MTL. *sighs with tongue firmly in cheek* It is a huge hassle to get into the house from the cab. I can get the door unlocked from inside, but cannot relock it from outside.

It was going on 5:00 when I got to the exit for St. Clair. The Walmart is about 6 miles from I-81, further than I usually like to go from my route, but I was hoping to get a few things that were on my shopping list for this trip and which I held off getting until I knew how things would end up with the insurance claims.

The last bit of the driving day was brutal as the 6 miles turned out to be straight down a twisty 6% grade. I was really glad to find a scenic Walmart that was happy to have me overnight.

Today’s drive took me from Virginia, back to West Virginia, up through Maryland:

and into Pennsylvania:

At Walmart, I picked up a frozen pizza for dinner and a bunch of bags of shredded cheese in anticipation of returning to a country where cheese is a luxury (snark, snark). I also got a slow cooker! I’ve been wanting one for ages and did some online shopping looking at reviews for little ones. The Rival brand didn’t look like much on the shelf, but I’d read reviews that said they make decent appliances. So when I found a four-quart model for less than $10, I snapped it up! Right next to it was an adorable six-cup rice cooker for $13. My beloved rice cooker is much too big for my needs and sticks badly. I can store both my new appliances in the space the old rice cooker took.

The next part of the day wasn’t much fun and I was pretty cranky by the end of it. I had a bag of used cat litter by the front door waiting for me to find a garbage can and a certain black cat decided to do her claws on it! I spent what felt like ages sweeping the mess and then disinfecting the floor. But my day wasn’t over.

I’m out of propane on the on board tank and haven’t had any luck finding some today. My fridge and freezer are full, so I had to haul the auxiliary tank outside, find my pigtail, and get everything hooked up so I can keep the fridge on tonight. Someone needs to create a propane fill directory! The two places I found today only deal in bottles; they don’t fill truck/RV tanks.

For tomorrow, I’m listening to everyone who told me to avoid the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre uphill climb at all cost. So I’m taking I-80 to I-87 and am going to research the toll to see if I need to have cash (I’m completely out but there’s an ATM in the Walmart). The only remotely decent place to overnight between here and my mother’s is the casino in Saratoga Springs. From there, it’ll be about three hours, plus the border crossing, to arrive for lunchtimeish on Thursday.

 

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Day Two

Sunday morning started out a tad creepily. As I began to load up the car, a guy pulled up and started to chat me up. I ignored him as best as I could until he began to really speak to me, asking me my name and where I was going. I told him flat out to leave me alone and he finally left. My radar was screaming by this point and I rather regret not mentioning the incident to a police officer parked at the Dunkin’ Donuts down the hill.

I had breakfast at the Dunkin’ Donuts (AWFUL coffee; Americans need Tim Horton’s and/or more Starbucks!!!), then I tanked up. I was on the road much earlier than planned Sunday morning.

My friend values her privacy, so I won’t go into details as to exactly where I was heading in Virginia, but I will say that a good part of the easy drive to her area was on a fairly rural route. I arrived much earlier than planned, at noon. The motel offered free wi-fi, so I decided to play a joke on her and email to announce my arrival instead of calling as planned. It worked; soon as she saw my ‘guess what?’ subject line, she assumed that I wasn’t going to make it. This was a valid assumption. I’d had to bail out of visiting her at least three times before. Last time was Katrina’s fault.

But, I was there! At last! She didn’t waste anytime getting to the motel.

Even though we had been friends a long, long time (five years at least, isn’t it?) we had never actually met in person or spoken to each other! So I was a bit nervous about our first face to face meeting. I didn’t need to be. We had a most splendid afternoon and evening. We gabbed and gabbed and gabbed some more, she introduced me to Cracker Barrel restaurants (which caused an instant addiction to their mac ‘n cheese and hush puppies), and we exchanged presents. The day was exactly what I’d hoped it would be and I’m so pleased that, this time, our plan to meet came to fruition. I know you’re reading this, so let me say that I adore you even more now than I did a week ago, not something I thought could be possible!

I had a very good night at that motel; it was very quiet.

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Day One

I left home on Saturday March 29th. I aimed to drive 800 of the 1,200 kilometres that separated me from a good friend in Virginia with whom I would spend the better part of Sunday. My initial plan was to stop somewhere in the vicinity of York, PA, then I was advised to go around DC by taking I-81 to I-66, then route 17 to connect with I-95 just past Fredericksburg. All well and good… except that I forgot about my new plan, or, rather, didn’t register that York was no longer on my itinerary.

Let’s start at the beginning.

I woke up around 6:30 that morning and had every intention of getting another hour of shut eye, but my excitement had other plans for me. Within minutes, I was up and at ’em. It took about an hour and a half to get out the door. It was bitterly cold out, but already the sun was shining bright.

I made a quick stop at a Tim Horton’s for breakfast, and then came the border, about an hour away. I decided to cross at Ogsdenburg instead of Watertown, even if this meant I would have a good stretch on a slower road on the New York side to get to I-81, instead of speeding along on the 401 on the Ontario side. I guessed, correctly, that this small crossing would mean a short delay.

Customs came after a toll bridge. The officer was kind, but wanted the full story of how and why my car was damaged. I started with the Reader’s Digest (TM) version, but finally gave him all the gory details. Nosy sonofagun!

Locals on that quiet New York road must have hated me, but I stuck to the speed limit and ambled my way down to I-81. From there, Syracuse, and lunch time, loomed up. Using advice I’d gotten from tripadvisor.com, I took exit 30 to get to a Wegman’s grocery store.

Wegman’s is a luxury food store in the style of Loblaws, with lots of pre-made food and gourmet deli offerings. I sampled a delicious Irish bleu at the cheese counter and bought a hunk for lunch. In the car, I assembled bleu cheese and apple slices on French buns for a most satisfactory lunch!

Then, I drove.

Shortly before the Pennsylvania border, I realised that there was no more snow on the ground and that the temperature was definitely inching its way up to ‘springy’ levels.

Around 5PM I found myself in York, PA, on I-83 with no inkling yet that I was in the wrong place. Accomodation had been plentiful before York in the vicinity of Harrisburg, so when I didn’t find anything suitable in York, I figured I’d be okay to push on for a bit. However, the scenery became rural very quickly, and then I passed into Maryland. As Baltimore loomed closer, I began to realise that I’d goofed.

There was no convenient place to pull over and check the map, so I pushed on on I-83.

Unfortunately, I-83 ends right in downtown Baltimore.

As a Homicide: Life on the Streets fan, I know that Baltimore is the murder capital of the United States. Soon as I found myself on a busy main street in that city, my heart started to race.

I’d survived being lost in Chicago’s South Side and visiting New York City’s Washington Park at midnight, so I kept my wits about me, figuring that my best bet was to get onto the opposite side of the street and come back the way I came. This took a few intersections and a couple of scary left turns (driving in Chicago at rush hour in construction was less terrifying). Sure enough, I saw signs for the I-83 and made my way back to it. I took the time spent sitting at red lights to pray and look at the map. So, once I made it back onto the relative safety of the interstate, I knew that I needed to take the 695 south and that, sum total, I was only about a half hour out of my way. That said, I had no plans to spend the night in Maryland, didn’t have a motel guide, and was nervous about circling DC. This little unplanned excursion into Baltimore was already making me laugh, but it was time to stop for the night.

Soon as I was on the 695, I kept my eyes peeled for motels, and pulled off somewhere in west Baltimore at an exit that promised beds, gas, and food. I took the name of the exit, Security Boulevard, as an omen.

My first choice was a Days Inn that was outrageously priced at 99$ per night (plus tax!). So, I settled on an okayish Motel 6. It was an interesting place to stay. Built on a hill, the motel had three separate buildings, one for the 100s, then one for the 200s a bit further up, and, finally, at the top of the hill one for the 300s, where I was staying. It was blessedly quiet up there, but a bit isolated.

For dinner, I decided to try an American chain called Applebee’s. Above my table, there was a sign that made me burst out laughing right there in public: “He who hesitates is not only lost, but miles from the nearest exit.” Another omen that this was where I was meant to be that night. Dinner was excellent; I’d go to Applebee’s again.

On the way back to the motel I saw a third sign that everything was fine–a car which had been purchased in the city that was Sunday’s destination, but which sported Maryland plates. Very odd.

My night at Motel 6 wasn’t very good. I was woken up by the phone two or three times. According to the operator, there was a problem with the switchboard and my room kept on showing up. Whatever. I told management that I was very unimpressed and displeased, not that that did anything. Anyway, I did manage to get about 6 hours of good, deep sleep, which is satisfactory for a first night on the road.

Even though I wasn’t where I was supposed to be that night, I’d done close to 1,000km and would have only a short haul on Sunday. It was a good day.