ROAD  TRIP TIME!

Bill and I are real lovers of the road trip and we missed being able to make our annual trek to visit friends and relatives in sunny Florida last year due to a kitchen remodel and a wedding in the works.  So when planning for this year's trip began we decided to add an extra leg to it and visit New Orleans!  Plans were made, the car was packed, and after 3 snows of significance and just before the 4th one hit we were on the road!  The essentials were packed.

Fully packed car (notice snow shovel included)

Including the back seat...

Including our license plate game - ready for another challenge to find as many as we could!

As we headed out it started raining, and we had a forecast that included incoming snow the next day.  We quickly drove out of the rain thankfully because it created quite a fog! 

That's the James River out there!

Our first stop was in Durham, NC.  We visited with our nephew Kevin and his lovely wife Cissy and their downright adorable puppy Roxy.  I'm so sorry I forgot to grab a pic of Kev and Cissy... 

but I DID get a good pic of Roxy.

For dinner we met friends of ours - Judy and Paul - at a local restaurant, Melo Trattoria.  It was wonderful and we always enjoy catching up with them. 

Bill's head is cleary OPEN!

This morning we hit the road early after having breakfast with the kids.   It was raining, but it didn't take long for us to drive out of the rain.  Our GPS took us back roads until we got right to the South Carolina state line, so we got a nice break from the monotony of 95.  We whizzed past the welcome to Florida sign, as Bill was lazer focused on his free cup of OJ at the welcome center! 

So we got a couple of other pics there instead.  

As we were hearing from friends and family that the snow was piling up back in Virginia and Maryland... this is what we saw where we were!  We arrived at our first night's destination - Jacksonville Florida thankful to put our feet up after a long but fun day on the road.  Tomorrow - on to Jupiter!