Days 14 and 15 – The longest mile

Hitting the road we headed for Ocean City and the coast. The roads were flat but pretty slow going. It took until lunchtime before we actually got to see the Atlantic. It took a while to find some free parking but it was worth eat. Eating our subs on the beach listening to the sound of the angry waves crashing took me back to when I live near the coast. The beach was endless either was you looked and seagulls hovered in the wind.

On our way through Ocean City we spotted a plethora of mini golf attractions, or put puts as there called over here. We drove down the street checking them out as each one out did is neighbour in size and features. Eventually we found one matching our specific criteria of big, brash and with slopes and moving things – the Pirate Island. It was a superb little course and after a close game I won by two shots. Tom’s declared his intent for a rematch in Vegas.

Looking at our route options on the map we found a Michelin rated scenic route that followed the coast south along Delaware’s southern peninsula. The going was slow due to stop lights and low speed limits. It took until late after noon to reach the Chesapeake bay crossing; a 21, yes 21, mile long set of bridges and tunnels that cross the bay. I thought that the bay bridge was spectacular but the size of this structure was mind blowing.

By the time we crossed the to the Chesapeake Bridge and Tunnel we realised that it was taking longer to cover the miles than we’d anticipated. We calculated that we had at least 600 miles to get back to Atlanta. Out of necessity we chose to cut the route short. An upshot of this was that we noticed we were close to the Wright brother’s memorial. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was nearly dark and the museum had closed. Not letting that deter us the car was parked up and we made our was in on foot.

The memorial is on top of Kill Devil Hill, a mound that rises out of the flats, and pierces a steady wind. We reached the top just as last rays of light left the sky, leaving the memorial lit up by flood lights. It was a beautiful place to be and a perfect place to end the day. Unfortunately we still had the little problem of returning the car hundreds of miles away in Atlanta he next day.

Around 9pm we refuelled ourselves with steak and coffee before hitting the road again. Turning west onto route 64 we headed inland. Agreeing that this was going to be a late night Tom rested as I drove into the night. It was quite eerie driving on pitch black roads without seeing a car for miles and miles. Around 11 we swapped over the driving and I took a nap. We agreed that to get the distance done we were going to have to keep going for as long as possible and rest where we could. By 2am we’d reached Durham; finding a rest stop we chose to get a few hours sleep in the car.

The next morning I awoke slightly chilly and achy but had managed to get a few hours sleep. Time to hit the road again! We stopped for breakfast and a lunchtime break at a mall but other than that we just kept going.

Around 2pm we started getting nervous as we had a long way to go, not much time left and fuel was questionable. We also had the small issue of trying to meet up with tom’s uncle, Richard, who’d kindly offered to out us up until Monday. As the miles went on it got tighter and tighter on time. I had to push the speed a little and used trucks as markers against police (apparently they know where they are and radio it around). It felt a little like being in Smokey and the Bandit but it helped get the miles down.

Nearing the outskirts of Atlanta it became touch and go on fuel and time. We had arranged to meet Richard on an off ramp but had to fit in a very quick fuel stop. Arriving behind time we met up and floored it back to the airport. We dropped off the car with minutes to spare and let out a big sigh of relief. In the end we covered 1900 miles in the week, 900 of those being in two days.

Richard took us back to his house, where we met up with Tom’s Nan and Richard’s wife Cathy, before going out for a Steak meal.