The Long Road To Binghamton...

Monday, December 11, 2006

Well, this was it, our final day of driving. Beyond the fact that we had five states between our starting point and final destination, the thing that made the drive even longer was that we were driving further away from 'home', further away from our fairy tale wedding, and when we finally reached Binghamton it would all 'officially' be done.

We got up and moving as quickly as we could, although none of us were moving all that well at this point. I'd be willing to bet, again, the prospect of 15 hours or so in the car didn't thrill anyone. In fact, Jill and I both said rather loudly that the next time we drove to Florida would be in a moving van about ten years from now! Breakfast was at the Waffle House around the corner from the hotel. Between our experience with the continental breakfast on the way down at the other Country Inn and Suites, and the fact that we usually don't waste an opportunity to eat at a Waffle House, this was a no brainer. Then it was back onto I-95 north.

We made sure to stop at South of the Border on our way through. Michael had never been there before, so we wanted to make sure that he was able to see one of the most iconic sites of "Roadside America" lore. We walked around a bit, bought some souvenirs, and then, yep, back in the vehicle and onto I-95 north.

Jill and I both decided that a combination lunch and dinner would be the best to optimize both eating and driving times. At around 3:30 we stopped at the Prince William Parkway exit in Virginia, the same exit we stopped at on our way down. Romano's Macaroni Grill was the eatery of choice this time, as it is yet another favorite chain of ours that does not exist in our little part of the world.

As we left linner (lunch and dinner ya know?), Jill and I both realized (with a sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs) that we were going to hit Washington, DC right at rush hour. Sure enough, we hit the outskirts of DC at 5:00, and the traffic we gladly missed on our way south we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of on our way back north. An hour plus later, we finally made our way around DC and towards Baltimore, still on 95. We made the decision to hit 695 west, then on to 83 north at Towson, and 81 north at Harrisburg at that point. This instead of taking our chances on hitting similar traffic along 95 in Baltimore and then again in Philadelphia. We finally arrived back in Binghamton around 9:30, dropping Michael off at his dad's, Joan off at her house (where we picked up a very excited Brewster), before the two travel weary newlyweds went home.

Oh, and one more thing, as tradition would have it, I swept Jill off of her feet and carried her across the threshold when we got home - the perfect ending to a perfect (fairy tale) week.

As an epilogue of sorts, this transfer that Jill made up to put on the back of the shirts we all wore to the parks on Friday pretty much says it all....

Total Mileage: 3095 Miles

Total Miles Travelled:
127,568 Miles!