Travel from FL to VA 2026

Many of you already know that Gary takes me to Florida in late December to stay for the winter.   (Yes, I'm still a Snowbird.) Then he returns to VA to do taxes.  He comes for me in May. 

We travel from Harrisonburg, VA to Port St. Lucie, FL in one day.  Gary's sister, Betty Suter Wenger, gave us the key to success: "Start on the road at 4:00 a.m."

We stop only for gas and bathroom.  We have our food and drink in the car.  I drive an hour or two in the afternoon so Gary can take a nap.

We drive the 923 miles, usually getting here about 7:30 p.m.  This time we hit a traffic snarl at Roanoke that added about an hour to our usual time.  

Here are a few of the "adventures" we had along the way this spring:

McDonald's Scrub-a-Dub Cleaner

There was a man in McDonald's vigorously scrubbing plastic chairs.  He would clean the chair as one would normally, THEN he would turn the chair upside-down and, using a piece of steel wool, he would literally scrub and scrub on the aluminum legs.  Strange!

Statement on Society These Days?
We observed a new policy in McDonalds that surprised us.  You order and when you pick up your food, they give you a cup with your chosen drink.  When you go to the side where the drinks were, it was possible only to get ice and napkins.  There was a sign saying that people were coming with thermal cups from their car, getting a full cup, and leaving without purchasing a thing.  Sad to say, that seems to exemplify how our society is losing basic honesty.

Food on the Road
We've learned to take finger food in the car instead of stopping to eat.  Trying to eat a sandwich while driving is dangerous.  Our go-to foods for that are Lance crackers -  cheddar and cheese crackers and peanut butter.  The peanut butter ones are easy to eat because they're round.  You can put the whole cracker in your mouth, thus avoiding crumbs in the car.  The cheddar ones are square so you have to be rather un-mannerly to put the whole thing in your mouth -- but we do!

Navigating in Buc-ee's
The big phenomenon lately are the chain travel centers called Buc-ee's. They are huge, have pristine restrooms, and have up to 120 gas pumps and a huge store.  NO TRAILOR TRUCKS are allowed. They're known for their in-house barbecue counter where employees slice fresh Texas brisket for sandwiches - and it makes the place smell wonderful.

At this time, there are 62 Buc-ee's location in 12 different states, with Texas having the most stores - about 40 stores.

OK, you get the picture.....  well, we found a good parking spot near a door and went in.  After a pit stop, we met to go out.  We went out and our car was missing!!!   Huh????

I looked and realized that the entry we came in had striped chairs.... these were solid color.  We were in a daze by then but had sense to go back in and try again.  Whew, we found the entry with striped chairs and our car WAS there.

So much for our navigating skills in Buc-ee's!

Gu-ment Workers

It took a few minutes to decipher what we were seeing on this steep bank.  Sure enough, it was “government” workers often referred to as “gu - ment” workers.  

You know how it is with gu-ment workers - one to work and others to watch.

At the bottom of the hill were 2 more workers by the seeder truck.  They are both standing and watching also.

Conclusion

Gary Suter says, and I quote:
"I have resolved myself to the fact that I will spend the rest of my life driving on highways that are under construction."