(Highway traffic image by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash)
“Road trips aren’t measured by mile markers, but by moments.”
– Unknown
Interstate 95, one of the oldest routes of the Interstate Highway System, stretches over 1,900 miles along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, and we travel over 1,500 miles of it twice a year between our homes in Florida and Maine. We drive up in June and down in September, and the differences are often due to weather.
This past June we had sunny days and warm nights, conducive to leisurely stops at outdoor picnic areas for lunches and picturesque coastal places to stay. In the spirit of the upcoming 250th birthday of our country, one Florida highway sign sent us north with the message: “Revere rode fast. You don’t have to.”
Our first overnight was in the lovely town of Savannah, Georgia. We enjoyed strolling along the riverfront after dinner, followed by drinks on our hotel rooftop. The warm breezes and the spectacular view of the city lights reflecting in the water made for a most pleasant evening.
Another waterfront overnight was in the Chesapeake Bay area at a hotel facing the Chester River on Kent Island, Maryland. A short distance across the Narrows brought us to a seafood restaurant facing Prospect Bay where we had an open-air dinner as we watched boats go by.
After a stop with family in New York and lunch with a friend in Massachusetts, our last overnight on the road was in the coastal town of York, Maine.
Our return trip in September was entirely different because it rained most of the time. We stopped for lunch in Freeport then walked through the chilly, rainy streets to check out the recent changes at L.L. Bean’s shopping complex. The main one seemed to be that one of the parking lots was converted to a pedestrian zone dotted with benches, a nice place to relax—on a dry day.
Our first overnight was at a hotel at Thompson’s Point in Portland, Maine. We had a view of the Fore River that leads to Casco Bay through the raindrops on our window. It was a raw night, but we steeled ourselves to head out for a clam dinner. The closest place had mostly outdoor picnic tables, but we found dry seats inside their small building. The air was damp and chilly, but the food was good.
We had a short respite from the rain in Connecticut and New York but it returned in force as we reached southern New Jersey. The wet pavement meant that the many semis on the road left a trail of foggy vapor and huge splashes hindering visibility, creating a scenario that led to many accidents. We witnessed one car ahead of us sideswipe a police car stopped in the righthand breakdown lane then careen across several lanes and crash backwards into the barrier on the left. We had the good fortune to be far enough away not to be affected, but it rattled us.
Flood warnings prompted us to avoid the scenic Delaware and Maryland coastal route that avoids the D.C. Beltway. So, we drove through our nation’s rainy capital then stopped for hot chocolate in Virginia. By the time we crossed into North Carolina, where it was still raining, we stopped at a hotel near the highway and ordered takeout.
South Carolina was also rainy, and somewhere around the Charleston exit, traffic slowed to a crawl. Our GPS soon notified us that a major crash had closed down 95 for several miles and we were re-routed. The detour took us through the small town of Midway and we lost almost an hour. When we stopped at a hotel near the highway in Brunswick, Georgia, the news reported the details of the accident. A middle-aged woman from Midway, South Carolina had crashed her auto into the back of a semi stopped in a breakdown lane. We may have lost time but the poor woman lost her life.
The final leg of our journey through Florida started out rainy, but further south it stopped and our arrival back home was sunny. We felt lucky to have made it safe and sound.