While I was kept awake a lot during the night by my hip, my husband K woke at his fairly usual 6 am. He has the craziest body clock.
When I got up at 7:18, he went off to Harris Teeter, a grocery store within walking distance, even though I was willing to find someplace on the road. He got back at 7:55, he had donuts, bananas, juice- and Skyr, Icelandic yogurt that I'd had every morning over there. It was a good breakfast, which cost all of $7.15.
We got our luggage organized. Once again, I prepared my smaller suitcase and my carry on so that my large suitcase didn't have to come out of the car until we get home. K had gotten the hotel bill in an email, which would save us some trouble. He called for the car and went downstairs to get a cart.
On the way out, we stopped on the second floor for the desk so that he could double check that all was okay with our checkout. I wound up having to hold the elevator for him. When a woman tried to get on, I waved her off, saying that she didn't want to get on, because we'd just gotten back from overseas. Did she not read the signs about one family only on the elevator?
Anyway, we were outside waiting at 9:15. A woman and her daughter came out and after a few minutes, asked us if we were waiting for our car. The valet guy was nowhere to be seen. After 21 minutes, it was finally brought out to us. That was just ridiculous. Obviously, no tip was given there.
At 9:39, with the odometer reading 65,154, we finally left. Theoretically, traffic wouldn't be too bad now.
Since K was driving, I could take some photos of DC sites. These are the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Air Force Memorial, the last of which we saw at 9:52. As you can see, it was a beautiful start to the day.
At 10:20 (65,183), we pulled into the Virginia rest area on 395. I was delighted to see some black-eyed Susans, Maryland's state flower.
K was good to continue driving at 10:33. Traffic was picking up now. By the time we reached Chester, Virginia, which is north of Petersburg, it was 12;10 and my car was thirsty. We found a Shell station, where diesel was $3.0499, thanks to my card. The odometer read 65,290 and the car had gone 486.3 miles on this tank. K put in 12.658 gallons, which meant that even with city driving, the car got 38.418 miles per gallon.
He was finished at 12:14 and we drove 4 minutes down the road to the McDonald's. I got the Crispy Chicken meal and K got a fish sandwich. Thanks to the app, we also got free fries. The bill came to $12. The meal was ordered on the kiosk and the staff stayed behind the plexiglass behind the counter. We found a table away from the few other diners in the building.
When we left at 1, I was behind the wheel. We crossed the North Carolina border at 1:58 (65,347). Traffic wasn't bad and I was glad to have my choice of stations with my satellite radio. At 4:30 (65,534), I pulled into the South Carolina Welcome Center, which, unfortunately, was undergoing a complete rebuild. They had fancy portable restrooms, which were nice, but my knees didn't like the climb. A double-wide had been made over into the info center. K found a booklet with discounts for hotels. He made a call to the Red Roof Inn in Santee and had no trouble getting a room.
He took over driving, when we left at 4:42. I dozed, as usual. I woke, when he took the exit for Santee. We've stayed in Red Roof Inns before. So, we know what they look like. I was also looking for the place we used to stay on our drives south from Maryland. I couldn't remember its name, but when we pulled into the hotel drive at 6:09 (65,632), not only did it not look like at Red Roof Inn, but also I realized that this one story place was the motel we used to stay at. I recognized the trees behind it.
We were given room 125, which had a musty smell, when we walked in. But, once we got the air conditioner going it was fine. We got the luggage in and I put our drink bottles in the mini fridge. It was a good thing that K took a shower this morning, because there were only enough thin towels for one.
K started looking into dinner options. He looked up the menu for Clark's Inn, which is right near the interstate. We'd never eaten there, because it was a bit fancier and too expensive with kids. K called and got a reservation and made sure that shorts were okay.
We left the hotel at 6:48 and two minutes later we were at the inn one mile away. We entered through Whimsey, the gift shop and were directed to the main hall for the check-in counter. The business dates to 1946 and the building, which was built in 1971, looks like it would fit in on a plantation.
We were shown to the lovely backroom that was open this evening. We were given a corner table and we left our masks on, until our water came.
I had already decided on the Low Country Stir Fry for $23. It seemed wrong to not have a Low Country meal, even if it was oddly made into a stir fry. K, of course, got the Calabash Seafood Platter for $26. My meal was delicious, with plenty of shrimp, chicken, kielbasa, and vegetables. K really enjoyed his flounder, scallops, and shrimp. The Parmesan grits that came with it were a real treat.
After dinner, we strolled through the shop, which covered several rooms. I found some gifts, as well as a tea towel that had been missed in quality control. The word "Christmas" was incomplete. I gave it to the woman at the counter. I overheard a customer say something about the Eastern Shore and I snapped to. I asked her if she was from Maryland. Not only were they, but they were originally from Baltimore and had lived in Fallston, Harford County, where I'd lived from ages 9-22. We had quite a nice chat. Later I realized that I should have asked her name, because a family member might have known her.
We left at 8:03. On the way back to the hotel, K noticed Smith's, which he said we'd visited back in the day and he wanted to stop now. I honestly don't remember the place. It seems to have started as a gas station with a convenience store that just got bigger. There was an ice cream shop next to it now. Inside, there was mixture of things. There was a large section of fireworks. There were gift items, clothes, preserves, nuts, fudge, candy, toiletries, and more. Basically, it is a modern day general store. We found some preserves, strawberry cider, and such to take home with us.
We got to the hotel at 8:20 (65,654). There was no point checking the phone for steps or distance walked today.
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