Fri Jun 12, 2015

STATS
Departure: 12:00 PM, Charlottesville, VA
Arrival: 6:15 PM, Fancy Gap, VA
Miles: 196.6 miles
Travel Time: 6 hrs. 15 min.


We had thought to leave around 9:00 am and get to the KOA near Mount Airy around 1:00, but we had a chance to meet up with a friend of Barbara's from Stanford, who now works at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. We met at Starbuck’s, then went back to the RV, packed up, and left for points west around noon.

We stopped once for lunch. Back on the road and not too much later, we saw smoke in the sky that looked like it was right nearby. Turns out it was a small truck that had caught on fire. We were no more than a half mile away, and we sat in stopped traffic for about 40 minutes.

Eventually, they opened the lanes for us to get by, and we were on our way. About two hours later, we saw smoke, again, that looked like it was right nearby (déjà vu). Turns out this one was a big rig, and it was on fire! We were second in line, this time, so we could see the truck engulfed in flames. We sat there for about 50 minutes this time.

So how many vehicle fires does anyone ever see? We saw two in the span of about two hours. Unbelievable. I don’t know if anyone was hurt, but there were ambulances at both scenes. I certainly hope that everybody got out okay.

Nothing much else happened, except for when the skies opened up and all the water that California wishes it had fell from the sky and limited visibility to about 200 yards. I slowed to about 45 mph and drove with my emergency flashers on. Many others were doing the same. We still did see one or two trucks barreling through at 70 or so. Crazy. Can’t be late with those deliveries, though.