On the Road: Vermont to Florida
We were sorry to leave our friends’ wonderful house in Vermont, just as the fall colors were starting to appear. But it was time to return to our home state of Florida, to check in on our parents and get some routine medical and dental care.
It would be a long drive - at least 1,500 miles. I knew from experience that 20+ hours of driving on Interstate 95 would be, by turns, boring and stressful. I decided I wanted our last drive to be interesting and enjoyable. So I planned a different route, and Steve took an extra day off so we could “take the long way home.”
We left Vermont and drove south through eastern New York State. It was a pretty drive, first through the Green Mountains, and then along the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and the Taconic Range - all of these part of the northern Appalachian Mountains. As we drove through northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, the mountains gave way to rolling hills and green farmland.
After a quick overnight in Frederick, Maryland, we spent a morning exploring Harpers Ferry National Park. Then we drove into Virginia, to the northern entrance to Shenandoah National Park, and traveled the full length of Skyline Drive. The scenic byway ran along the top ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was definitely more scenic and relaxing than driving on the interstate.
At the southern end of Skyline Drive, we drove short way to the town of Staunton for a quick overnight. We had dinner at a historic restaurant owned by our friends Victor and Nathalie. Unfortunately our friends were not there (they live in London), but we enjoyed a delicious meal.
The rest of our trip to Florida was uneventful. We drove alongside the Blue Ridge Mountains through the rest of southern Virginia. Then we left the mountains and drove south through the Piedmont Region in North Carolina. After a quick overnight in Florence, South Carolina, we hopped onto Interstate 95. We stopped in Jacksonville for a couple of days to visit Maria’s mom, and then continued on to Tampa, our final destination for this “repositioning” drive. Final tally: 1,600+ miles, with about 27 hours of driving over four travel days.
This would be the last segment of Epic Road Trip 2024: the plan is to sell our car in Florida and continue our nomadic lifestyle using other means of transportation. I have so many thoughts about that! But I’ll save them for another post.
