We hit the road!

Thursday, September 5th.

On Thursday, September 5th, at 2:30pm we pulled out of Carol & Brent's driveway in Pfafftown, NC, and drove towards adventure on the highways of America...

We spent the last morning with them getting our things packed and testdriving the van. After a final lunch with them we took a picture on the couch, thus bestowing on them the dubious honor of being the first guests on the couch. The first people to be "Sofalogged", to coin a new phrase... :)

Carol and Brent christened the van with sparkling water and threw glittering confetti all over the interior of it! Then we said our goodbyes and thanked them for all they've done for us. And to the tune of "Sweet Home Alabama" we fired up the van and pulled out of their driveway.

We drove northbound along the scenic route to Danville, on the border of North Carolina and Virginia. Not able to withstand the photo opportunity at the Danville city limits sign, we made that our first stop along the way. Like a SWAT team we pulled off the road, jumped out the back of the van and lowered the couch onto the hot pavement. We wheeled it across the street and photographed ourselves beneath the Danville sign. Then we wheeled it back again and took a picture on the North Carolina state line. The couch went back in the van, and we drove back on to US29 northbound, laughing at the thought of what our little ordeal must have looked like from inside one of the houses along the street! :)

We pushed on into Virginia as darkness began to fall upon the rolling hills around us. Stopping only for a quick dinner (sad to say, we made McDonalds the site of our first dinner on the road. And discovered that the art of making fajitas is best left to the Mexicans...) we made it to Charlottesville at 9pm. This had been made our first destination so that we could meet up with Dan's old friend Carolyn, whom he knew from his year at New Trier High School on Chicago's North Shore 5 years ago.

We spent the evening experiencing the atmosphere of collegiate Charlottestown on a Thursday night. As bustling as things were downtown it was hard to believe that people had classes Friday morning...

We'd had to park the van across town in a parking lot, so its sleeping facilites were left unused for the first day of our trip. Instead we had a good night's sleep on the futon beds in Carolyn's apartment.