The beds in Lewisberg, WV must be divine, because we all overslept. Less than a week after our earliest departure of the trip came our latest - we didn't hit the road until after 11am. Yikes!
Today is the longest day of driving that we've had in a while, with only one stop planned before we make it to Charlotte, NC for the night. Conveniently (or not, depending on how you look at it), our first stop was only a 5 minute drive from our hotel: The Lost World Caverns. These are the largest caves in South Carolina. At 52 degrees, they were a welcomed reprieve from the summer heat, and we even pulled out sweatshirts for the kids. The entrance to the caves is a long tunnel which you enter through a gift shop, and the cave itself is a long loop with lots of informative signs highlighting interesting formations in the rock. This was cool (literally), and worth the stop. All of the kids, even the cynical teenager, seemed to enjoy it (although I was not a huge fan of the tunnel back up and out)!
We hit the road headed southwest through the winding, twisting roads of West Virginia. These were tiny little 2-lane highways with speed limits set about 15mph higher than it felt safe to drive and we found ourselves pulling over more than once to let other more motivated cars pass us. We also stumbled across our first confederate flag just outside of the thriving metropolis of Organ Cave, WV. I knew we were going to see them (I even see them in Spokane sometimes for some reason?), but it's still a little jarring to see something so firmly associated with racism, segregation and slavery being proudly hung from someone's home.
We crossed into Virginia, still searching for an interstate, but there didn't seem to be any where we were. We stopped to use the bathroom at a gas station in Dublin, Virginia, because - well, because it's Dublin! I've dreamed of someday living in Dublin, Ireland since we visited there a few years ago. While this little hole-in-the-wall gas station didn't exactly evoke feelings of its namesake in Ireland, it still sparked memories of a fond time, so I appreciated it. We all piled back into the van and kept cruising south. Eventually, we found an interstate and found our way to Charlotte, NC - our 31st state!
We made it into town at about 6pm, so we swung by a (really) small park called The Green, because it has a fun little signpost listing the directions and distance to other cities in the world named Charlotte and some other fun little statues nearby. Our last stop today (other than our hotel) was at a local diner called JJ's Red Hots. I did a little research coming into this place about a fun little dinner spot and we settled on this one. It's primarily a hot dog place but they also sell chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches. My favorite thing about this place is all the toppings - almost limitless combinations! They have a few different "specialties", but you can also build your own and put anything you want on it - bacon, mushrooms, onions, pineapple, tons of sauces, etc. I got the Dog of the Week (the Big Kahuna) and the Quarter Hounder along with some onion rings. Lots of food, very tasty, and everyone was happy. We even bought a shirt! Highly recommended.
