June Roadtrip Days 21-26, The Rest of the Journey

Day 21

Monday, June 21

     I rolled out of Trenton around 8A, headed south to Mom’s house in Maryland.  But first, I had two stops to make.  For the first, I let the GPS do the heavy lifting.  It took me south on I-295 towards Delaware.  Since I was headed to a spot in the northern part the state, it took me over the Commodore Barry Bridge, or as the GPS called it The Commodore Barry Branch.  It’s never a good sign when traffic grinds to a halt even before the toll plaza.  

     There was no visible construction vehicles or workers.  However, three lanes were squeezed down to one.  

     Eventually, I made it into Delaware and Ebright Street.  All in all, it’s a pretty typical suburban residential road.  At the crest of the hill, hidden under some tree branches, you’ll find the marker for Ebright Azimuth.  Clocking in at four hundred and forty-seven feet, it’s the highest point in the state of Delaware, and the second lowest high point.  For those of you keeping score, this makes highpoint #26.

     What a view...

      There was one more stop in Delaware to make and this one would turn out to be a trial of patience.  It seemed like a simple thing to find the corner of Park Street and West North Street in downtown Wilmington.  Of course there was construction and plenty of it. 

     Then I got caught in a narrow side road waiting for these guys to work their way up the street. 

      Toss in a series of one way streets that always seemed to be headed in the wrong direction and an easy task took much longer.

     Eventually, I did work my way down to Park Street.  Yes, I did find the memorial.  I saw it as I was frantically being waved through the intersection by a guy in a hard hat.

     So, what brought me to this intersection?  The year was 1862.   The place was the Antietam battlefield, one hundred and forty miles away.  A young commissary officer and future president William McKinley is said to have raised the morale of the front line Union troops by bringing them hot coffee under fire.  The story took on a life of its own during his political campaigns.  This memorial commemorates it.  

     I drove out of Wilmington and headed south.  One construction delay after another and I was ready for a break.  How bad was it?  I started studying the perfect arc the leather strap had formed on the back of this guy's truck.

     At a gas stop, I did my favorite google search and found a brewery just north of Baltimore that was actually open on Mondays.  A quick pint at Oliver Brewing and I was back on my way.

Day 22-25

      Just chillin' with Mom.  While it's always good to spend quality time with Mom, I did take my phone out in the evenings to shoot sunsets.

     Making a new friend...

Day 26

Saturday, June 26

      When I drove home from Mom’s the last time, there was the usual slowdown in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  No seriously, it happens there every time.  Otherwise, it was speed limit conditions the entire way.

      For whatever reason, I didn’t bother to check the current conditions before leaving Mom’s this time.  If I had, the day would have been very different.

      It started with traffic grinding to a crawl on the Capital Beltway.  A tractor trailer was disabled in the center lane.  Once past, traffic picked up.  Then I hit I-95 South.

      If I had checked ahead of time, I would have seen backups from DC all the way to Richmond and beyond.  Instead, I was in the thick of it, even resorting to spending a few bucks to drive the express lanes for a few miles.   Once past the first blockage, I got back on I-95.  

      Things went from bad to worse.  Imagine if you can, three travel lanes barely moving.  The express lanes coming to and end and all those cars are trying to feed into the left lane.  Off to the right is an on ramp, also clogged with cars.  They're all trying to feed into the right hand lane.  

      Up ahead, a sign declaring another sixty miles to Richmond.  I can usually make Richmond in a little over two and a half hours.  It had already been close to three.  With no end in sign, the voice in my head said something akin to "oh hell no."  

      I had no idea what I was getting myself in for, but I bailed out, taking the next exit.  With no clue where I was headed, I kept turning randomly so the car was headed vaguely south west.  At least I was moving.

      After doing this for a while, I came to Hwy 17 and a conveniently placed Walmart parking lot.  A quick look at the Virginia map and I had a few choices to make.  If I turned right, it would take me back to I-95 perhaps a mile away.  Sitting there I could see traffic lights cycle but almost no movement in the right lanes.  If I turned left and drove thirty miles north on Hwy 17 to the town of Opal,  I could pick up Hwy 29 south through the middle of Virginia.  Two hundred and forty miles later, I'd be on I-85 in Greensboro, North Carolina.    

      Feeling fried and frustrated, I did my favorite google search for “brewery near me.”  Just a few miles south of Opal sits the town of Brandy Station, About a mile and a half off the road you’ll find the Old Trade Brewery.  I decompressed over a pint, chatting with the regulars.  But, I still had a long way to go. 

   

    Seen in the parking lot...

      Fortunately, Hwy 29 wasn't very busy and traffic flowed nicely.  Late in the afternoon, I finally started seeing I-85 signs.  At a rest stop, I pulled out the phone and started looking for dinner options.  Concord, NC was another twenty minutes ahead.  How could I pass up a place called Buzzed Viking Brewery.

      Good food and a nice Irish Red Ale to chill for a bit.  Up front, a guy playing country songs.  He was pretty good, too.  Add to that, they're dog friendly, even inside.

      Ordinarily, I would have simply driven back out to the interstate.  But, with a sky like this, that could wait.

     The plan from here was simply to grind out the miles and at least get past Charlotte.  But, there comes that point in the drive when you really want nothing more than to be done.  In the end, I had made the right decision to press on and keep going.  

     The first thirty miles of South Carolina was a construction zone.  The two southbound lanes were split.  One had access to the exits.  The other peeled off.  Imagine thirty miles of interstate, one lane with concrete barriers on both sides.  Now imagine the barriers making that lane feel a bit narrow.  I could only imagine what this would be like with the day traffic.  

     In the end, a trip that usually takes twelve hours took seventeen.  You can imagine my relief when I finally pulled into the garage at 2A.  

     Once home, I did take a look at what's in that swath of Virginia.  Perhaps next time I'll take an extra day and explore a bit.  

David

7/2021

PS:  I have nothing booked and am still trying to get vacation time approved for September.  If I get all the time I put in for, it's long past time for a revisit to New England.  There are people I haven't seen in a long time.  

June Roadtrip, Day 20...One Day in Trenton

Day 20

Sunday, June 20

     With all the years I spent living in New Jersey, and all the times I’ve been back, one place that had eluded me was my own state capital.  That’s right, I had never actually been to Trenton.  That’s the reason I stayed in Bordertown for two nights.

     I knew I had to hit the state capital and some of the bigger monuments.  From there, the rest of the day was simply for discovery.  

     The state capital has daily tours, just not on Sundays.  Even the adjacent parking garage was closed. I tried parking on State Street, but all the parking meters had No Parking signs.  The reason quickly became clear.  Within seconds of having pulled off to the side of the road, a street sweep appeared in my rear view window.  I wound up parking a few blocks away, in front of a Starbucks.  Fortunately, the one hour parking restriction wasn't enforced on Sundays.

     Somehow it just seemed appropriate the state capital building would be getting some work done.

     Across State Street is the state's World War II memorial.

     I never knew such a place existed...

     The Old Barracks Museum was closed on Sundays, but I did het a kick out of this sign...

    The state War Memorial, also closed on Sundays...

     

       

         One classy looking Subway...

      Just a few blocks away, food trucks were setting up.  Curious, I walked up to Mill Hill Park to check it out.  The city's first grist mill was built here alongside Assunpink Creek in 1679, thus the name.

     Soundchecks were still being performed on the stage and tents were still being set up..

       This was a celebration of our newest national holiday, signed into law just days earlier, Juneteenth.  It's a celebration that began in Texas as Jubilee Day in 1865.  The Civil War was over, and slavery legally abolished.  Slaveowners in Texas simply didn't tell their slaves.  Word didn't get out until General George Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas in the spring of 1865.  In a speech he announced, "The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free."  

      In 1979, Texas made Juneteenth a state holiday.

      Murals alongside the park...

     This guy saw me lining up a shot and told me I needed to take his picture, so I did.  The guys at the neighboring food truck found it humorous.

At the far end of the park is where you'll find the Mill Hill Playhouse, home of the 

Passage Theater Company.  I just like the vines growing outside...                                       

                                  

      The food trucks weren't ready to serve anyone yet, so I walked back to the car.  I was having that weird roadtrip craving for pizza.  So, I did did a search for "voted best pizza" and every site mentioned a place called Covellas.  Google even said they were open, but alas...

      So, I wound up at Jerry's Pizza, the second on the list of local favorites.  Good food, and great staff!

     Random Big Chicken...

   Site of the old Kudra Furs store...

      My next stop of the day was Joe Roebling Park.  Roebling was a German immigrant who moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1837.  His attempt at farming had been a failure, so he turned to engineering.  He was hired by the state as a surveyor.  In 1843 he patented his design for wire rope.  His idea was a vast improvement to the current wire cabling and made larger bridges possible.  In 1867, he was hired as chief engineer on the project that would become the Brooklyn Bridge.  

     Within the park you'll find the Abbot Marshlands, named after Charles Abbot who discovered Native American ruins within the swamp, later unearthing thousands of relics.  There's a loop trail that's just under a mile through the marsh.  It was such a nice day, I did the loop twice.

      The parking lot is on the site of the former White City Amusement Park.  In its heyday, the park boasted a carousel, rides, a theater and dance hall.  The city trolley line was even expanded to reach the park.  All that's left are the stairs to the old trolley station.

          In a parking lot along the Delaware River, I came across this memorial...

       

       John Fitch settled in Trenton in 1769, setting up his own brass and silversmith shop.  He spent the Revolutionary War repairing weapons for the army.  After the war, he spent a few years surveying land as far west as the Oregon Territory.  

      Through it all, he kept working on the idea of a steam powered wagon.  That didn't work out, and he switched to the possibility of a steam powered boat.  Getting a steam powered engine was the problem.  Britain had banned their export.  So, he had to build one from scratch.  

     In August of 1787, Fitch gave his first demonstration on the Delaware River.   A year later, he had built a larger boat and offered ferry service to as many as thirty people at a time.  

      This is as far as I felt safe walking upriver on the Jersey side. Heavy traffic and a blind curve didn't seem like a smart place for a pedestrian.

     

     So, I crossed the river on Hwy 1 and the Lower Trenton Bridge...eventually...

        Take the first left across the river and there's plenty of parking by the bridge.  But, be careful and choose your approach wisely.  

      I didn't and wound up in thick, slippery river mud, almost landing on my butt twice.  It was worth it though.

The text on the bridge reads, "Trenton Makes, the World Takes."                     

       I texted one of these photos to a friend who informed me I just HAD to come back at night when the bridge is lit.  Now that I knew where the slick spots were, I seriously contemplated it.

      With a little time to kill, I left Trenton and took a short drive to Burlington.

      I wound up walking into the Third State Brewing Company as they were announcing last call.   A pint of their house stout and I was good to go.

     With the day waning, I drove back into Trenton and crossed the river into Morrisville, Pennsylvania.  Originally set up as a trading post for the Dutch East India Company in 1624, the town was officially establishes in 1804 and named after Robert Morris, one of the town's founders.  

     Tonight, all the activity seemed to be at the local Dairy Queen.

       

     Back at the motel, there were a few benches by the parking lot.  I would up having a lengthy conversation with a guy who was waiting on a call about a freelance gig.  This was for a theater in Philly that was about to reopen.  He said the pay was really good, but these sort of jobs basically meant carrying stuff.  One of the things he does is remove and replace seats.  Some venues remove floor seats for some shows and put them back for others.  This means hauling them out of storage and bolting them down.