The Last Road Trip to Virginia

After 16 long months, the day has finally come, We Are Moving!!! This will be our 5th major move and with the last couple of moves we had to rent a van or Uhaul, drive to the old house and pack up all the plants and liquids along with the stuff we didn`t want  or they wouldn`t let on the moving van. A shout out to Capps the van rental company in Plano, TX. There are no rental companies that rent vans for small moves in the last few states we have lived in. We rented a 15 passenger van with all the seats taken out and named it the "Church Bus." Off we went for our 2 day trip from Allen, TX to Leesburg, VA. We will travel through Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia. Here are the highlights. Maybe low lights?

The very long white Church Bus.

The trip through Texas was short and sweet. It was non eventful, which is just what you want for road trip.
Cannot say the same thing for the trip through Arkansas. One of the first things we noticed, and it was very apparent in the Church Bus, was that the roads have not been paved in many, many, many years. It was the bumpiest ride for hundreds of miles.

I-30 in Arkansas looked like it had been carpet bombed.

It never fails to surprise me what people will put on top of their cars. This is your typical mattress on top of a small car driving 70 mph on the highway. At least they were not trying to hold it on with their hands. On one trip to upper Michigan we did see a deer tied to the top of the trunk of a Camaro.

Hillbilly Mover? I added the cool sunglasses to cover the plate number.

Into Tennessee we saw this building that looked like it should be in Las Vegas, and when got in front of the building, we saw it was the headquarters for the Bass Pro Shops and Ducks Unlimited. Is it just me or wouldn`t you expect the building to be outdoorsy looking instead of a Vegas hotel?

Did we take a wrong turn? Are we in Vegas?

WHAT???? No casino?

The whole time we are on the highway in Tennessee there were these overhead signs that said, "Look Before You Lock". We had no idea what that meant. Thank you smart phone, after looking it up I found it is to remind you to take you child out of the car, before you lock the door. I guess there have been a few cases of people forgetting that their child was in the car, and they locked them in the car in the blazing heat. I did not realize the problem was so bad they needed a state wide campaign to remind people that they have children. They also have the, "Click It or Ticket It" campaign to make sure you wear your seat belts, Yet, what they need is a "Take a Seat so You Don`t Fly Onto the Street" campaign. In Tennessee you can ride in the bed of a pick up, on the highway, if you are over the age of 12. Am I the only one confused?

This sign needed some explanation .  Look where, before you lock what?

These teenagers were flying along in the back of a pick up,
 but the driver and passenger had to have a seat belt on. 

We passed a highway construction crew building an interchange and it looked nothing like the High 5 in Dallas. Come on Tennessee, you can do better than that. Let the Big T state show you how it`s done.

The little T state and their little interchange.

The big T state knows how to build an interstate.

Time to stop for the night in the Home 2 Suites by Hilton. Or, as I like to call them, the Ikea Suites. All the furniture looks like it came right off the Ikea showroom floor. There are desks and cabinets along the back wall, a hospital like curtain between the living area and beds, and the smallest closet I have ever seen. Not to mention the smallest toilet that is low flow and seems to be running all the time. Then there is the picture over the couch that for some reason is not centered, and it drove me crazy every time I looked at it. But the beds were comfy and the hotel is dog friendly.

This is half of the back wall in the Ikea suite.

The hospital curtain in our Ikea suite.

Was the designer drunk when they hung this picture?

Day two! Texas is a big state and has its own kind of beauty, but there is noting more beautiful than the mountains and scenery in Tennessee and Virginia.

Beautiful!

Even more beautiful!

Kudtzu, or The Vine That Ate the South is both beautiful and destructive. This plant was introduced to the US in 1876 from Asia and it has been eating away at the South`s landscape ever since. It can devastate and destroy the surrounding plant life and it covers everything. It was used to cover a trellis over a patio or used as ground cover, and then it got way out of control. It is so very expensive and time consuming to try to stop the spread of this aggressive vine.

Kudzo is taking over the South!

As we were driving along our last hour or so we were following a Semi that was so shiny that we could see our selves in the back of it. So there we are the white Church Bus behind the shiny Semi . Don`t ask how close we had to get so I could get the picture. Maybe they need a sign for the highway for that. Maybe, "Stay Back Before You Flash" or  a sign on the truck that says "if you can see your reflection you are too close."

The Church Bus`s reflection in the shiny semi.

We pulled into the drive in Virginia and went straight to work on getting ready for the movers.
It is going to be a very long, but also long awaited week!