virginia is for lovers

The big day has arrived! This morning, I said good-bye to Alex, packed up the rest of my things, and drove off. I had to make a stop at 2129 13th St in order to pick up my bikes and, more importantly, Little Worf. I crammed one of those sedatives from the vet down his throat, and then the two of us drove off into the sunset. I ended up having a few more things than I anticipated, and so my little truck is a little full now. She seems to be holding up alright. Arrrr, she be a fine vessel. Worf and I made three or four pit stops on our way to our first destination, Wytheville, Virginia. He held up alright, but acted not unlike myself during trips and got super bitchy. He was pretty doped up from that medication (who's name I'll post soon, it was an anti-emetic, which apparently the vet said that is preferable to use with animals; I assumed that he would be getting an anti-histamine instead, like diphenhydramine, but I guess not), but he's sitting in my lap purring right now, so I think all's well that end's well.

You know, I have talked a lot of smack about Virginia lo these many years. I guess I felt that as a native Marylander, it was my duty to consistently poke fun at our sister state (or "commonwealth") to the south. Seriously, though; what state has cities with names like "Balls-town" and "Man-asses?" Plus, driving in VA is a nightmare, because the streets are all over the place and the signage sucks. I think I was wrong, though--Virginia is amazing. Driving in the mountains is totally rad, and the landscape just goes on and on forever, dotted by farms and road stops. This is sort of just the beginning of my first voyage to see America, and I am super glad that it's something I'm doing. When I lived in Germany, and forever after I came back, I used to pooh-pooh America, and I feel bad about that now. Our country is really awesome, no matter what your political opinions are. Something I've been trying to do in my life is attempt to look at the positive side of things rather than the negative side. It's really hard sometimes, and it takes a lot of effort, but it's totally possible. Europe isn't better or worse, it's just different. But I guess I'm kind of rambling. At any rate, I took a bunch of pictures. There's a Harley-Davidson store right next to the motel, and I was super tempted to buy a little American flag for my car, but I thought that might be a little over the top.

Oh, and I'm super bummed that I've missed out on Bojangles and Waffle House for all these years, definitely two things that Maryland is lacking.