It Started with a Truck Fire on US 360

Not really, but that’s a lot more catchy than the reality, which is “it all started with a traffic jam.”

It did, in fact, start when we were stuck in traffic on I64 coming home from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Rather than play, say, a license plate game, we bandied about some Virginia place names that are fun to say or just are fun: Machipongo, Zuni, Lightfoot, Botetourt. (Dan held out resolutely for Onancock, which sounds dirty but isn't.)

Maybe that led to one of Lisa's mind-clearing exercises when not sleeping, which is naming one Virginia town (or county) for each letter of the alphabet. Instead, we aimed to name all of Virginia's counties, ninety-five in total, Dan says casually, off the top of his head. Eventually, we were able to name sixty-seven counties.  

What's certain is that it ended up with a plan to visit each of Virginia's ninety-five counties. We discussed which ones we'd seen, whether or not it counted to just have driven through or if you'd had to actually get out of the car and do something.  Either way, we will see them all and now, so will you.

We also promise to tell you about that truck fire eventually.

No traffic jam photo so here's Dan looking at cargo ships in the Chesapeake Bay