Sunday, April 10, 2022 to South Carolina via Delaware and Petersburg

     After we woke up and got around, we thanked Scott and Dawn for their gracious hospitality, said goodbye to them and Tricia, and headed on the road south. 

     We passed through Philadelphia without any problems since it is Sunday and there wasn’t any traffic.  We soon entered Delaware, which was a new state for Abby and only the second time for us.  There was a little construction in Wilmington that confused us but not for long.  We had a nice rest break at the impressive Biden Welcome Center and got a picture by the sign that says that Delaware is the home of Joseph R. Biden. 

     As we were driving through Maryland, Julie mentioned that it would be fun to have lunch in Petersburg, our old stomping ground.   We started to see more traffic between Baltimore and Washington, but Abby liked going through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel.   By the time we were able to see the Washington Monument in the distance, traffic had gotten thick and slow, and it continued that way through Northern Virginia, almost to Richmond.  Julie said she does not want to drive home through this same way because of it.

     We got to Petersburg shortly after 2:00.  Our first stop was Blandford Church, where Scott used to work.   When we were here last year, he had gotten the first four annual Christmas ornaments of the church’s Tiffany windows and wanted to pick up the 2021 edition- an ornament of St. Mark in the “South Carolina” window.   Scott got to talking to the guy working there and he told Scott that King’s Barbecue closes early on Sunday.  We zipped out of the cemetery and around some construction on Crater Road, but we had plenty of time because they were open until 4:00.  We got our pulled pork sandwiches and bought four extra bottles of the barbecue sauce to take home with us.  We then went to Walnut Hill Elementary school, not far from our old apartment, and gave Abby a well-deserved chance to play and stretch her legs.

     By 4:00, we were headed south again.  We drove through North Carolina and into South Carolina, two more new states for Abby, making a total of three new states for her today.   While we were driving in North Carolina, we made reservations for a hotel in Florence SC, and we arrived there about 8:00.  It has an indoor pool that we stuck our feet in, but it seemed pretty cold (and had one very loud cicada was sounding his alarm).  We ordered some Pappa Johns to finish the day.  We figure we still have six or seven hours of driving tomorrow, so that's not too bad.