HRPT 2019- Gettin' Home: June 14-16-Norwalk, OH to Orlando, FL (1,051 miles)

Regardless of how near or how far the endpoint is, it's always hard to leave the last Power Tour venue and begin the trek home.  After over a thousand miles of driving surrounded by hot rods, muscle cars, performance cars of all makes and models, it's strange to be on the highway alone surrounded by the mundanity of normal highway traffic.  To be fair, I wasn't completely alone, we were a group of 3 cars.  Occasionally, we'd pick up a Power Tour departee for a small stretch, but otherwise, it was a vast wasteland of SUVs, crossovers and meh cars.

Not a Power Tour car, but it helped break up the monotony

Actually, the trip home out of Ohio and down the West Virginia Turnpike and through North Carolina was a nice drive.  The roads still had plenty of curves and bends.  On Friday, we got a few hours of the return drive out of the way.  We took backroads from Norwalk down to Lancaster Ohio and it was like our own private Power Tour route.

The next morning, we headed out for our next waypoint, Columbia South Carolina.  We went down some more backroads until we picked up I-77 which includes the West Virginia Turnpike.  We found out it took 54 years and cost $1.5 million dollars PER MILE to build the 88 mile stretch that is the West Virginia Turnpike.  Based on the tolls they charged, they're trying to get it all back in a hurry.

Tara continued her streak finding interesting lunch stops and found the Log House in Blytheville, VA.  The restaurant was in a log house that was begun in 1776 and the last addition was made in 1898.  It was an eclectic place and the food was really good.  Tara enjoyed a brief stroll through their garden before we got back in the cars and resumed the drive south.

The Log House in Blytheville, VA

I probably could have left Tara here and she'd be perfectly happy

We made decent time and got to Columbia, South Carolina a little before 6 pm.  After checking into the hotel, we all decided we were done driving for the day and took an Uber to Midwood Barbecue restaurant for dinner.  It was some of the best barbecue I've had.  The best part was one of the specials was "Massive Beef Rib."  I had to order it and, sure enough, it looked like a brontosaurus rib Fred Flintstone would get.  The meat was tender and had a great bark on it.  Everyone else ordered something different and no one was disappointed.

This morning, we left bright and early for the final stretch home to Orlando.  We had breakfast in Georgia and then it was back in the cars and onward.  We hit some fairly heavy rain around Jacksonville, but the drive home was, for the most part, uneventful.  We made it home around 3:30 this afternoon.  All told, it was another great Power Tour and we can't wait for next year.

Finally, to the woman in the white Lexus on I-4 near Deltona, I have to say: "Thank you for hearing my horn, stopping your ill-advised lane change, and getting back into your lane before running me completely off the road.  You paid for the mirrors on your car, please use them."