Road trip to Texas: Day 1

For those of you who bet on the car making the trip... So far so good. (Cast your vote at the top of blog's home page.) We arrived in Roanoke, Virginia, at about 8:45pm after a lazy start around 8:30 this morning, a distance of 708 miles. We were in 9 states today: MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD, WV and VA.

Highlights:

• The latte at McDonald's new McCafe is pretty good. Strong. Perfect for staying awake on the road.
• We saw a sign over a traffic light in Pennsylvania that read "Wait For Green." That seemed to us to be kind of basic when it comes to rules of the road. Do PA drivers really need to be reminded not to take off on red?
• A woman flipped us off in New Jersey, apparently because 70 mph is considered dragging tail there. She raced away after maneuvering around us; I felt like Jed Clampett being left in the dust on Hollywood at Vine.
• We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner after checking into a Holiday Inn Express. My smothered chicken was akin to something I might have made for myself when I bach'd it in college. A 2.0 on a scale to 10. Mary had the meatloaf, which she rated 6.5.
• What struck us about Roanoke is that, only 700 miles south of Massachusetts, everybody talks just like Mary here. And when they start on that southern twang, Mary joins in like she never left the chorus. Eeeee-haaaaa!!!
• Obama was in Roanoke today. Just missed it.

Here is our conversation as we drove away from the house:

Mary: Did you turn off the coffee pot?

Randy: Yes, hon.

Mary: Did you lock all the windows?

Randy: Yes, hon.

Mary: Doors?

Randy: Yes, hon.

Mary: Did you set the house alarm?

Randy: Yes, hon.

Mary: Did you forget it's our anniversary today?

Randy: Yes, hon.

Mary: [Silence]

Randy: Uhhh... What was that?

Mary: [More silence]

Randy: [Rewinding the conversation in his mind.] Of course not. Happy anniversary! Look what I got for you. A road trip to Texas.

Mary: I love you, too.

Randy: Yes, hon.