Getting Here from There

It is eerily quiet–a gift and an oppression on an early Tuesday morning. Our daughter from South Dakota popped in suddenly upon finding “cheap” tickets our way. And now as suddenly, she is gone.

For the first time, we used the Greensboro airport to make connections. It won’t be the last time for that, as ROA may or may not be available in the future for the flights we need to make, few and far between as they are. Like many small airports, there is the threat it will be closed or drastically reduced in flight availability.

Thankfully, the trip to Greensboro, while it takes 2 hours instead of the 45 minutes to the Roanoke terminal, is a very tame trip–at least in summer. The dive off the Blue Ridge plateau down Route 8 towards Stuart is not one I’d be happy about were this an early January morning and I’d just sent my wife and daughter off in the cold, ice-stormy dark.

But beyond Stuart, and hour from home, is another hour of low-stress driving through rolling tobacco fields, old barns, modest homes and the absolute freedom of the ugliness you might steel yourself against on other routes. The Greensboro airport, thankfully, is on the western edge of the city, so we stay in the country all the way, avoiding urban defensive driving.

There are lots of ways to get to and from. However, my daughter’s Yahoo maps (printed when she was planning to rent a car for the trip to Goose Creek) made some really bad choices and even had her turning the wrong way down our road. So let the buyer beware.

I chose the following route for the few of you who might know the country or care, and this is the map Ann will have to navigate to get home today–a greater feat for her as she is one of those people who abhor maps, as we were talking about a week or so ago.

Goose Creek to Floyd, Route 8 to Stuart. South from Stuart on Rt 8 10 miles to 704, east 10 miles to 770, east another 10 miles to 220, then 68 south to the airport. Two hours, 100 miles.

If you have other route options you can recommend, even though I’d be happy if I never got on a plane again myself, I’m sure there will be times ahead to check them out.