The journey north

It's not such a horrible long drive from Jax to Boone but after about 6 hours, I hate all my music and have sung myself hoarse. The first hour, which is all about escape velocity (difficult to achieve, especially if there are many errands to be run on the way out of town) and the last 2 hours (all uphill) are the hardest of the 7-8 hour journey north. I have driven that route (95N to 26W to 77N t0 321 W) enough times now that I have particular places I like to stop -- places where restrooms are exceptionally clean, the access both on and off the freeway are easy, there's shade and a place to stretch my legs, and there are sometimes there are really cool birds to observe. These birds landed on my car in GA. They're very aggressive and/or curious (I can't really read birdie body language so I'm not sure which) and they were determined to be on my car while I sat in the shade to mix my tea and nibble on my lunch. This particular bird got tired of slipping on my car hood and used the windshield wiper as a branch. Her chirp was pretty loud and if I moved too much she'd fly away.