I was talking with my family about a week or so ago about making a trip to New York to visit my mother. We considered going on Spring Break but there were some issues about going at that time so it didn't look like that would work. On Thursday morning February 26, I thought that I would just go ahead and make a road trip by myself. I felt that this needs to be a special time for my mother and visit her, not that I am all that special (ha ha). February 28 was my moms 70th birthday and I wanted to take her out to dinner for her birthday.
I finished up what I had to do at the office and went home and loaded up the car and left from Arkansas at 2pm Thursday, February 26th. I went through 
(this is a stock photo, most of them are the ones I took while driving, yes, I know that is dangerous but if I didn't then you wouldn't be able to read about my trip.) Tennessee. I feel this was the longest part of the trip. I had to drive from one end to the other and was 500 miles. It seemed like you are not going anywhere because you are still in Tennessee. I then entered 
(this is a stock photo, because it was nighttime and I couldn't stop, too much traffic) Virginia. This was also a long part because it was nearly 400 miles through Virginia. I took this picture of water coming out of the mountains and freezing and thought it looked cool. 
Then it seemed like I was making a good time because after driving nearly 400 miles I ended up in 
West Virginia. This was a short trip though. If you look at the map of West Virgina, it seems like it spreads out all over. I only had to drive about 35 mile through West Virginia and then quickly came up on 
Maryland. Sorry I didn't get a whole picture but when you are driving 70 miles per hour and there is a lot of traffic, it is hard to point and shoot. Maryland was also a short lived trip. I only had to drove about 15 miles through it. Then came 
Pennsylvania. It seemed like I was really going fast up to now, because in less than an hour, I went from Virginia, through West Virginia, through Maryland and now Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was a long trip and I never knew that there were alot of cattle farms here. I love the old barns and huge farm houses. I was going to take pictures of them but didn't know which ones because there were so many nice ones. I would see a nice place and it had a lot of pasture and in the background you could see the tall mountains, really nice. There were a lot of great photo ops but didn't get any. I then ended up at the 
New York state line. I couldn't get the road sign picture but just as you enter New York on I-81 the welcome center was there so I took that picture. My mother lives in Binghamton and was only about 20 miles further.
I stopped to get a city map so I could surprise her. She had NO clue that I was traveling up there. I finally find the building she lives in and planning on what to do to surprise her. She moved into this place about two years ago and I have never been there so I didn't know what to expect. I entered this little foyer area where you have to buzz the apartment number in order to get into the building. This is a great security measure but I was there to surprise her. There was an older lady pacing the foyer inside of the locked doors and she kept an eye on me as she paced back and forth. I was hoping she would open the door but she didn't know who I was. I thought I better do something or she will call the police, you know, this is a big city Dorothy, not Arkansas. I went ahead and buzzed her apartment, no answer. I then called her on my cell phone and it rang and rang then voice mail. WOW! What do you do now? You drive 1,200 miles and she isn't home?! In her building, they have events like playing games and bingo etc.. There was a guy being dropped off by a taxi and I asked him if they were playing bingo today and told him my story. He was kind of gruff with me and said no it's poker day not bingo and he didn't know my mother. So, I still had no way in. Just as he opened the door to get into the building my cell phone rang. It was my mother, she just couldn't get to the phone in time to answer. I told her hi and asked her to push the buzzer to open the door so I could come up. She was yelling of surprise. 
Anyway, I surprised her as well as you could when you have security measures like this. It was all good. I got to see the rest of my family that live there and had a good time. I even went to play bingo with my mother Saturday on her Birthday. While there, my son sent me a text with a picture that it was snowing in Jonesboro. 
This looked liked Jonesboro was getting alot of snow. My sister was sitting next to me and showed me a picture when they get snow in New York. This was taken out of her windshield 
. Well, I don't want any of that I told her. I checked the weather and this snow was basically taking the route that I traveled getting there. I decided that I would go a different route back and that I would stop in Pittsburgh and see some friends. I spent Sunday morning with my mom and had breakfast. I left New York about 10:30 am. I entered 
Pennsylvania and was going to drive from the east side to the west side and down to Pittsburgh. About four hours into driving, I see the scene 
. My adrenalin got pumping. I thought someone wrecked above off the side of the mountain. When I got up there, there was a cabin down below and they probably just started a fire. Oh, my mind was racing and thought the worst. The smoke was really thick and crossed the road. I'm glad it wasn't a wreck. I get to Pittsburgh and had dinner and spent about four hours with my friends. I left their house about 8:30 pm and continued on. I went through 
West Virginia again. Remember I said it was spread out. It was pretty short lived though. I then entered 
Ohio. (This is a stock photo also) I was going to stop for the night around Columbus. Then I thought about the morning traffic. I have never been to Cincinnati but I thought the traffic would be congested around 8am so I continued on. I am really glad I did. After arriving there about 1 am, Cincinnati is huge. Here is a tunnel I had to drive through 
.
After going through Cincinnati you immediately arrive in 
Kentucky. I didn't realize Kentucky was coming that fast and was in traffic so I couldn't get the best shot of the sign, but you can make it out that it is Kentucky. I finally stopped about 50 miles before Louisville for some much needed sleep and shower. I got back on the road about 9 am and traveled through 
Indiana and then 
Illinois. I'm surprised they don't have Home of President Obama on the sign yet (ha ha). After driving several hours I was approaching this bridge 
and finally felt like I was getting closer to home when I seen this sign 
. I drove several more hours then seen this sign 
. I have been waiting for this one but I still had about 3 1/2 hours to go.
This was a long but short weekend. I left at 2:00 pm on Thursday and drove 2,544 miles through Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and back to Arkansas (12 different states), spent nearly two days with my mom then arrived back in Searcy at 5:30 pm Monday, March 2, 2009. That's 4 days and 3 1/2 hours! WOW! What a trip! I hope you enjoyed my travel and hopefully you're not as tired as I am!
My name is Larry DeGroat and I am a Realtor in Searcy, Arkansas and I sell new homes, existing homes, commercial property, farms and land as well as manage and own rental properties. If you are looking for real estate for an investment or a home, I will be glad to assist you! You can call my personal cell number at 501-278-7659 or e-mail me at Larry@Searcy4Sale.com. Visit my website at http://www.searcy4sale.com if you are looking for Searcy homes for sale or other areas.
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