Part 1 – Southbound, To Richmond VA
Salem to Richmond, VA
Uncle Hal moved back to Florida in December of 2015, and is living with an old buddy of his, and buddy’s aged Mother, outside of Ocala. June used to spin and weave, and since Melissa does that now, June, whilst in a fit of cleaning out and rummage-excavating, offered to give Melissa some spinning wheels, a couple of hogs-heads worth of fleece and fur, and miscellaneous other knick-knacks. Hal and I bartered back and forth a bit, and settled on meeting half-way to exchange the goods. I wanted to do this all in one weekend, so I decided to head south one Saturday in May. The plan was to meet at the South-of-The-Border tourist mecca just straddling the North Carolina/South Carolina border. Hal would rent a U-haul trailer, toss all the stuff in it, and we’d unhook and re-hitch at SOB, whereupon we’d each make a U-turn and head home. Hal swore he could make it all the way back home in one pass, but I figured I’d need to stop for the night somewhere in Virginia, since I’d now be hauling a trailer and thus not able to maintain his supersonic speeds.
Of course, the morning I left it was raining. There are few pleasures in life more fun than driving through Baltimore and Washington DC on a weekend in the rain. I crossed the DMB and headed south on I-95 through northern Delaware and then crossed into Maryland around 8:30 AM. Traffic wasn’t too bad, and the sprinkles were on and off. The bridge over the Susquehanna was windy, as usual, but not as treacherous as I’ve seen in the past.
No major downpours, luckily. Around White Marsh, where I-695 branched off to the northwest to circle around Baltimore, I aimed for the express lanes directly south, which were uncharacteristically empty. It was an hour or so from Wilmington to Baltimore, and I made good time.
In Baltimore, I took the Ft McHenry tunnel under the harbor, and came out dry and refreshed on the other side. I stayed in the relatively new express lanes headed for Washington, DC. These new lanes have just been finished and opened up in the last year or so, and actually make the drive through the Baltimore/Washington megalopolis a lot easier than it used to be. All the natives and short-haul visitors take the regular lanes, which have all the entrances and exits – the express lanes don’t have nearly as many access points, so if you just want to get to the other side of the Potomac as rapidly as possible, the express lanes are the shizzle!
I could see a fair bit of congestion on them as I traveled south The rain picked up about halfway between Balto and DC, and I had to be careful of the usual gang of idiots on the roads down there.
I-495 took me southeast around northern DC, and you cross over the Potomac to the Alexandria area over one of several bridges. There’s actually more congestion south of DC sometimes, and I noticed as I motored south on the express lanes, that there was a lot more traffic heading north into DC (on a rainy Saturday morning?) than there was southbound. But then a big back-up was evident on the local lanes to my right around Fredericksburg, about 20 or so miles south of DC. The express lanes, and I kept heading south towards Richmond. Apart from one few-minute slowdown for unfathomable reasons, I made good time, and hit Richmond around 11:30 pm.
Part 2 – Richmond to South-of-the-Border
Richmond to Lumberton
Approaching Richmond, you can take one of two routes – a big round-a-bout bypass to the east of town that adds about half an hour and 25 miles to the route, or a fairly quick 4-mile run straight through town. We’ve done this route so many times, and I’ve never had any real difficulty getting through Richmond. So I went straight through, as usual. The road dips down and then rises up past the old Railroad station and a new parking garage and crosses over the James River, which was a little bit swollen with rain.
I-95 through this part of southern Virginia is pretty simple, mostly straight and level, with not too much excitement. You pass Petersburg and then it gets pretty rural. The northbound and southbound lanes are almost always separated by a wide, treed median area. Every now and again the road crosses over a small creek feeding into the larger rivers or swamps. About 90 minutes down, we get to Emporia. Just north of the border with North Carolina, Emporia is the crossroads for US 58 which runs east-west across the bottom of Virginia, and brings travelers over to I-95 who’ve come down the Eastern Shore routes and crossed the Chesapeake into Norfolk and the Virginia Beach area. There are several large truck stops and gas stations, so I stopped here for a fill-up.
Once gassed up, you leave Emporia and head into North Carolina. Skippers, Roanoke Rapids, Rocky Mount, Benson, all the exits are familiar to anyone who’s done this route so many times. I-95 through North Carolina is almost exactly 180 miles, so barring any major mishaps, you can always budget just about an even three hours for the trip, if you average 60 mph, not at all difficult. About half way in, there’s Kenly and Benson and a big outlet center and the famous J-R’s cigarette and cigar outlet. Always a fun stop for a few minutes. I buzzed right by this time, though. A little farther in and you cross the intersection with Interstate 40, which runs from Wilmington NC on the coast, all the way west to Barstow, California in the desert outside of LA. I’ve been on much of it, but not for several years. The first billboards for the famous South Of The Border place start appearing as well. Pedro is everywhere…
Next up, Fayetteville and the Fort Bragg military area, and then a bit more to Lumberton, the last “big” city before Pedro and South Of The Border. The last couple of miles are almost pre-orgasmic..
We rolled in to SOB around 4:00 pm, and Hal was already there and waiting. It didn’t take us too long to transfer the trailer to my hitch. I took a couple of pics and turned North…
For the Northbound Leg, Click HERE…