Day 30: Middlesex, Vermont to Charlottesville, Virginia. Day 31, 32: Charlotte, North Carolina

Sorry for the long break in posting. I fell behind after Cleveland because our map disappeared and I kept thinking it would magically reappear. Turns out, things don't magically reappear or disappear (as some folks suggest). We've started a new map and I'll post it showing all of our travel once I've got it up to date. 

I had intended to catch up on the blog last weekend in North Carolina, but Greg accidentally took my computer charger when he headed off at the crack of dawn on Sunday to cover the Panthers game. After venturing down to the cavernous, empty hotel lobby to fetch a coffee from the Starbucks woman with a thick Eastern European (I guessed) accent, I sat down to blog and discovered that my computer was dead. So, I finished a novel instead. Here I'll catch up on our time in Vermont post-Cleveland and our journey and time in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Vermont was incredibly beautiful, which made it awfully hard to leave. Here are some shots taken on the road to and fro, and at home

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Funny, as I write this, I am just now noticing that our hotel on the way to Charlotte, North Carolina was located in Charlottesville, Virginia. This trip has been infused with so much angst over the state of our nation that it feels odd to me. Perhaps its a function of the fog of the road, but I didn't grasp the significance of our stopping place at the time. 

It had been a very long drive, with lots of road work, slow downs, and white-knuckle driving hemmed in by big rigs and solid cement dividing barriers. We lunched on peanut-butter sandwiches at a rest area just inside the Virginia border. While Greg had a conference call, I took a walk around the grassy area at the pet friendly rest-stop. Virginia may be for lovers but, unfortunately for me, they don't all love picking up after their pets.

On the way to Charlotte

After a rather fine (for us, our standards have really dropped) dinner from Noodles & Company and an uneventful sleep, we headed for Charlotte the next morning. The closer we got to Charlotte, the more crowded and stressful the trip became. I was happy to finally get there and park the car. Although Greg has been to Charlotte many times as it was a site for NASCAR which he covered for 13 years, this was my first time to the city. I thought it was rather pretty, with lots of sleek skyscrapers. Food was better here, too, or at least we were better at finding good food. Had a really nice gyro from a Greek pub (take-out of course) the first night.

Scenes from Charlotte.

Along with the sleek buildings, Charlotte has a lot of public art, including a truly wonderful Black Lives Matter mural on a major street. I couldn't get a good angle of it, though.

In Charlotte, we stayed in a very lovely hotel. Here's another feeble attempt at being artsy.  As you'll see, this hotel was even fancier than the first one I chronicled way back near the beginning of this adventure. That one was in San Jose. 

 Hotel during a Pandemic, redux.

Here's a shot of Greg on game day.

Our first night in Charlotte was marked by the bombshell announcement that Trump had tested positive for Covid. Of course, that seems like ages ago now, as the aftermath has certainly eclipsed even our most dramatic fears in those early moments. Here I am, with our take-out dinner, glued to to the news.

On the field: NFL Week 4, 10/4/20: Arizona Cardinals @ Carolina Panthers

Carolina Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (#5) threw for 2 TDs and ran for another one, his first score since a devastating knee injury in 2016. Final score: Cardinals 21, Panthers 31.

On the map: distance from last week's game -- Cleveland to home to Charlotte: 1,514 miles.

The reconstructed map. If your eyesight allows, you may be able to see where I've noted which day we arrived in various places. 

Here is a closer shot, highlighting the route we took from home to Charlotte, NC in red and orange.

                                                

 We left Charlotte as soon as Greg got back from his game. To make the drive home the next day doable, we needed to get four hours of driving under our belt that night. Here's a pic of me dragging myself and our makeshift breakfast to the car in the wee hours the next morning. Although you can't see it, a local restaurant's emblazoned sign off to the left gave me a laugh. Since one letter had burned out, the breakfast eatery proclaimed itself to be "affle House" (pronounced "awful," of course.)