With that, then...
-- I wish there was a national speed limit on the interstate highways. This notion of going 60 in some places, then 65, then 70, then back down to 65, then 70 and then back down to 60 is annoying.
-- The concept of a continental breakfast offered by hotels as an enticement to book rooms there is dead. A continental breakfast is supposed to be lighter than a full breakfast, but throwing out stale cereal, fruit that's a day from being rotten and ersatz French toast that isn't remotely appealing won't cut it.
-- The state flag of North Carolina is just ugly. Sorry.
I could have come up with something better than that in kindergarten.
-- Seeing a Muslim pray openly on his prayer mat on the National Mall in Washington D.C., was revealing and jarring. First, no one approached him or ridiculed him in the slightest. I doubt a Christian praying in public in Riyadh or Tehran would be left alone similarly. But what was jarring about it to me was that the young Muslim was facing northeast off of 14th Street, directly across from the Washington Monument. I thought they were supposed to face toward Mecca, which is southeast from D.C.
-- The Pennsylvania Turnpike isn't that bad when it isn't under construction. The Ohio Turnpike, however, is not only boring but vile. Apparently, only certain gas stations and food franchises are allowed on the Ohio Turnpike, which limits choices. I'm not a fan.
-- Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is useful for one reason only: It's close to the Great Smoky Mountains. Otherwise, it's a trashy tourist trap with a decided cornpone edge.
-- I bought MegaMillions tickets for the big lottery tomorrow night in Tennessee and Kentucky. I think it we win it we have to go down there to collect the prize. O' well.
-- It should be a civic duty to visit Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 went down on September 11. It's very, very sad.
-- Being by the ocean is best in the morning. One gets to see all sorts of fauna out at that time.
-- Speaking of Gatlinburg but not mentioning the hotel chain (Days Inn), what idiot thought a great interior design choice would be to have bathtub walls decorated with what resembled smears of fecal matter in swirls? When we walked into the room, I thought I was in Bobby Sands' cell in the Maze.
-- I don't know how we did it, but not until the last day of the trip did we encounter any rain at all.
-- Watching the pure pathos at The Wall in D.C., was humbling.
-- For whatever reason, the Lincoln Memorial seemed smaller in real life than I thought it was.
-- Trust me: Having a mattress that folds up on one like a hot dog bun when one is in it isn't fun.
-- No, I didn't visit the White House. As long as Mr. Obama is the resident, it has no appeal for me.
-- Watching local newscasts is always quite interesting.
-- Listening to the fishing report on the radio in North Carolina tickled me.
-- The eastern portion of mainland North Carolina is a snoozefest.
-- Seeing the actual sites of the Gettysburg battle and the Yorktown siege was amazing.
-- So was piloting a sailboat, even if only for fifteen minutes.
-- Not knowing exactly what day it was was pleasant.
-- I've now visited twenty states.
-- Sadly, I ate an inordinate amount of junk food on this trip. But I will never forget the wonderfully simple yet tasty meals we had at the Blue Moon restaurant in Nags Head, North Carolina. I don't normally care for fish and chips, but this was the best prepared fish meal I've ever eaten.
-- As with universities, apparently T-shirt manufacturers haven't gotten the memo that just as alums get bigger as they age, so do tourists. Topping out at XXL is just stupid.
-- The trip from Pennsylvania to Virginia was so quick I didn't even realize when we entered or exited Maryland.
-- The Virginia towns around D.C. are ugly in a modular sort of way. They're clean, but they're just so built up one can hardly move. It was like a classier version of Gatlinburg.
-- Inside joke time: I wonder when Karen will want to go to another Ross store.
-- Driving to Newfound Gap Overlook and Cades Cove are two of the prettiest drives I've ever made.
-- There is no better traveling companion than my girl Karen. Unfortunately for the rest of you, she's taken.
(c) 2015 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
