jay | down the piedmont... and together

Or coastal plains, etc. Leaving Washington, DC yesterday in late morning -- we stopped briefly by

geekchick's house, she had burned a DVD of

patgreene's Jeopardy appearance last October. Then headed southward on I-95, which was a mistake. Mapquest had routed us to Charlotte via I-66/81/77 as being shorter and less congested. But I wanted to have lunch with the kids at a Civil War battlefield (Petersburg), and try to see

archway_portico in rural NC. So I routed us much further east on I-95, and it wasn't good. It was stop-and-go for 30 miles... which took us 2 hours... just south of the Beltway.

Then after lunch, we agreed on a rendezvous spot with

archway_portico... but we were early, and she got lost (and was followed, and then nearly run off of the road by some strange guys). Finally, after an hour of subduing restless kids at a rest area, we had to go on without meeting her. She had driven around for nothing... and we were two hours behind (wait plus the additional 80 miles to get back on track). P

patgreene was fuming at me, the kids were cranky, I was going to be keeping my aunt and uncle waiting until 10pm to feed us dinner, and poor Archway had run a wild-goose-chase for over an hour. I felt... like a screw-up, a poor planner.

My aunt and uncle were glad to see us, fed us, and we enjoyed our stay. They have a huge house south of Charlotte.

We left around noon, arrived in Atlanta at my parents' around 5pm, and met my siblings and their families there for dinner. And am now... relaxing, a bit.

3150 miles, six days of driving... with three kids in the backseat.

At Petersburg National Battlefield Park, near the Crater... we also had a picnic lunch at tables nearby.