Road Trip Practice

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I drove 2 hours out-and-back along the route I would take to drive from my home in Maryland to Texas; the pandemic year dramatically reduced my driving as highway speeds…and I need practice before I set out on a longer drive!

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I started out around 6:50 AM…with the sunrise still a few minutes away and the clumps of daffodils set to welcome the morning light in front of our house.

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My idea was to drive to the first rest stop along the route – which is on I-66 going west from the Washington DC beltway. I was able to stay on cruise control for almost the whole hour even though the route has significant Saturday traffic. Construction stretches all along that route of I-66; it would be awful during a rush hour. I missed the exit for the westbound rest stop but needed to turn around anyway. I stopped at the east bound version after the exit and entering again going east – because I was watching very carefully for the exit.

There were cars and trucks at the stop, but I didn’t see anyone out and about. I put on my mask. There was a sign on the door to the restroom saying that a mask was required and a sign on the water fountain saying it had been turned off because of the pandemic. Part of the picnic area was roped off but the sign was unreadable; perhaps the new-looking stumps of two large trees and the muddy sidewalk might have been the reason for the closure rather than the pandemic.  I wondered if anyone stayed around long enough to sit on the Virginia benches.   

As I headed back toward home – I thought about what I’d learned from the road trip practice:

  • The I-70 to I-81 route might be better than I-95 to the Washington Beltway to I-66 to I-81 because of the miles of construction on I-66.

  • Plan to carry all the water needed for the hours on the road in the car rather than relying on opportunities to refill reusable bottles.

  • Rest stops are likely to be as well maintained as they were pre-pandemic, but I’ll still be using a lot of hand sanitizer rather than spending time washing hands and using the blower hand dryer.

  • There is more traffic than I anticipated at 7 AM on Saturday mornings on interstates – at least around Washington DC.