While Axl is in Germany for the last two weeks of his vacation, I embark on a road trip with Bash and Jade, our trusted and over eager Pitbull terrier/staffy mix. Liebi joins us for the first, and eventually, last portion of the trip in exactly one week from now. 

From Western Carolina, we need to drive eight hours to Fairfax, VA, our first stop, where we drop off Liebi for work purposes. We take a wrong turn in Asheville, where we drive on the Interstate 40 instead of the 26, a decision that will cost us at least an hour, although our GPS doesn't seem overly concerned. If you need to take a wrong turn, let it be in Western Carolina or Eastern Tennessee. Just one visit here will convince you that you might have wasted your entire life when you could have simply settled here in a log cabin.

Only one minor drawback. We are in the middle of a torrential downpour that slows traffic considerably. Worse yet, we are almost rear-ended in the fast lane when a red pickup behind us is able to jerk the wheel to the right at the last moment. This trip could have ended early, I'm thinking. Luckily for the pickup, there were no vehicles in the slow lane when he was able to dodge our Nissan. Whew. Only less than two hours into this trip, and it already has disaster written all over it. We finally hit the 81 in Tennessee, and catch a break when the rains stop. But no worries, they return the moment we cross into Virginia near Bristol.

One route I love to drive along in the Interstate 81 in Virginia along Shenandoah. Here I keep picturing the movements of Confederate troops led by Stonewall Jackson during the Civil War. With my eyes back on the road, I need a hare, or a car going slightly faster than me to pull me along without getting pulled over, in this case by Virginia state troopers. My hare is a pickup with a Pennsylvania license plate pulling a zero-turn lawnmower on a trailer. Amazingly, the guy chugs along at about 85 for the better part of 90 minutes, we are the hound behind him, and we make up for lost time. 

For people driving from Washington or anywhere from the northeast to the south: avoid the 85 or 95. Neither interstate is worth the headache. More than not, there will be heavy congestion around DC, and not rarely in Richmond and later Raleigh. Take the 81 and enjoy the ride instead of cursing it. I've taken that route to and from DC so many times that I have completely sworn off the coastal routes.

From the 81, I hit the 66 toward DC. There is a big dark cloud over DC that looks like a spaceship ready to swallow the city whole. Instead, the skies open up, and we get hammered again. ELEVEN hours later we roll into Fairfax, a combination of bad decisions and bad weather. That same trip usually takes seven and a half hours. 

I watch a few innings of the San Diego Padres vs Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game, but go to bed early. No tourist activities today, only a long shlep of a trip that has everybody exhausted, dog included. Consider this a tune-up.