Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Smoky mountains - Williamsburg - Washington DC - New York) Day 9

[janey2000]

Day 9 - Saturday 8th April 2017

Despite being able to stay in the cabin until check out at 11, we knew it was a 7-8 hr drive to our next destination so had wanted to head off early. I woke first at 7.30 and packed the last of the clothes I had washed the night before. It was really helpful to have the washer/dryer as we only had to pack for 10 days worth of clothes, as usual we had overpacked anyway! I had planned our breakfast stop in 111 miles but knew Georgia would be hungry before then so gave her some toast before we left at 8.30.
We said to goodbye to our cabin

And it's beautiful view

We passed the state line and I took the worst photo ever!

I had looked at the welcome centre online as wanted a photo of Georgia by the 'Love' Virginia monument, but it looked complicated to get to having to come off the interstate and drive round bends etc. I was so annoyed as we drove past seeing it was an easy pull in!

We arrived at Perkins at about 1030 for Jack's fried chicken breakfast. He was disappointed though as stated it was brunch and not breakfast and wasn't as tasty as he remembered it being in Florida.

I had the French toast

I cant remember the bill, but know I had a 20% coupon! We set off and having to detour again to refuel after about 30 minutes. The price to fill the tank was ridiculous, about $17!
The drive was long and it seems Georgia spent it taking selfies as I have about a million photos of this...

I had planned several places on the route where we could stop but we decided on Buchanan. It was just a way to stretch our legs but turned out to be a really good rest stop. The town was like a ghost town!

We parked up and walked to the swing bridge which Georgia really enjoyed (after the initial fear!)

We found a map on a board and discovered there was a park just around the corner. Turns out it had a cute little play park so she spent some time playing here. There were toilets next to it so these came in really handy. The sun was really starting to heat up and it was lovely to be out the car.

Not much at all going on here, but a great stop to walk around and the kind of town you would expect to see in Virginia, with a lot of history. We were about an hour here and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Back in the car we were thankful we were on the right side of the road!

We pulled in quickly to a viewpoint

It was becoming late and we knew we would have to stop to eat soon. The great signs they have telling you what restaurants are off the junctions were all either fast food or places we had never heard of. We took a turn for one that seemed to have a few options, but ended up pulling into Ihop as it was one we knew and an easy pull in. It seemed that Ihop is only great for breakfast, their dinner menu was poor. There were no veg options for kids, and no veg sides on the adult menu. I ended asking for fresh fruit for Georgia's side instead of the apple puree (she is not a baby!) and begged for a side of broccoli I was willing to pay extra for. I had a chicken burger that came with avocado and was tasty. It was kids eat free after 4pm so the bill was cheap at $22, we tipped well I think as the girl as so helpful with our requests for nutrition!

It was only a short drive now to the hotel, about 45 minutes and we were about done with being in the car. It worked out at 11 hours in total, with an hour at Perkins, an hour in Buchanan and an hour at Ihop.
I picked the Howard Johnson solely on price (about £35 a night with breakfast and a pool). the reviews were hit and miss but it seemed they were going through a refurb so I crossed my fingers.

It was about 7.30 by the time we got to our room and I let Jack chill out from doing all the driving and took Georgia to the pool for an hour as she had some energy built up from being in the car so long. There were some families who thought the pool was there's and were bomb diving and being extremely loud. The water was freezing but once you were in it was fine. I think it was salt water too which took some getting used to.

We got back to the room for a shower, hot drink and bed by 10.

[WileyCoyote]

Buchanan looked a great stop. Good travel day , long but glad it went smoothly .. Even the complicated order at dinner. hotel looks nice.

[disney owl]

a long travel day

[Jesslydevie1]

Loving this so far we are doing this next year but the other way around . What a long travel day though 😳