To Georgia- Friday, June 24, 2016

So, we've got the big trip to China coming later this summer, but as the end of the school year was approaching, Julie really wanted to get away somewhere sooner. She decided that she wanted to visit her family in Atlanta. She had been stressed out in planning the graduation as one of the Senior class advisors. That was finally over last night. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul showed up for the keynote address as scheduled, and Julie breathed a huge sigh of relief when the night and school year were done.

We got an early start in the morning, and got on the road to Atlanta shortly before 7:00 AM. The GPS took us through Pennsylvania and West Virginia. We didn't see much rain all day, but in West Virginia, we saw where a major storm had just blown through. We saw some flooded out houses by the roadside and several National Guard convoys going to aid them. (We learned some of the extent of the storm when we were eating dinner, much later, and saw the convoys on TV. As of Saturday morning, we've heard the flooding caused 24 deaths and lots of homes destroyed.) At about 2:30, We crossed the bridge over the New River Gorge, the highest arched bridge of the Western Hemisphere, but with construction happening, the view from the bridge itself wasn't that remarkable, and we didn't want to stop too long with all the driving we have today. We drove through the East River Mountain tunnel into Virginia shortly before 4:00.

We ate in North Carolina. Shortly after we drove into South Carolina, we saw a giant peach. Anna said it looked like a butt emoji. We crossed the Georgia line just before 10:00 PM, and decided it was time to call it a night. We had planned on staying with Julie's cousin Corey, but for various reasons, we thought it best to stop here for the night. Julie drove the whole way so far and needed a rest.