Southwest to Gaffney, South Carolina

Maryland's bold 

autumn colors

We travel along the

Baltimore Beltway

(Interstate 695).

An airplane takes off from
Baltimore Washington 
International Airport.

The National Security Agency

is housed at Fort Meade.

Besides being a government security agency, the NSA is part of popular culture.  It is featured in numerous books, television shows, movies. radio and video games.






This section of road reminds
Eric & me of the Taconic 
Parkway in New York.






The road has a narrow road shoulder and adjacent wall.  Apparently, this section of Maryland doesn't have enough flat land to build roads with wide breakdown lanes.

NASA, the National Aeronautics

& Space Administration has an

 installation in Maryland.

Everyone knows about the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where rockets carrying Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts throughout the 1960s and '70s and the Space Shuttle missions were launched. Johnson Space Center in Texas that monitors the flights. Edwards Air Force Base in California is the back up site for Space Shuttle landings.  Goddard is one of several other NASA facilities across the country.  

Eric & I take the exit for
Interstate 95/495 South
toward Richmond.






Interstate 495 is the Washington, D.C.'s Capital Beltway.

The often photographed

Air Force/NAVY water

tower at Andrews Air

Force Base.

This is the local landing site for the President's airplane.

Welcome to Virginia.







Eric and I have traveled up and down this highway corridor at least eight times since we retired in 2012.  I fret that this post will be a rehash of previous blog posts.

Northern Virginia is a maze

of highway ramps &

flyovers.

Traffic around Washington, D.C. is very heavy with commuters driving an hour or more each day to and from their jobs.

Virginia's Department of

Transportation provides

traffic information for

drivers.

The I-95 corridor through Maryland and northern Virginia has numerous security, science and military facilities.  Here's one more.

The Marine Corps Base

is located at Quantico.

Fans of the NCIS television series are very familiar with this oft filmed and referred to location.

The shadow of our motorhome

travels beside us.

I see the shadows of

cars & trucks driving

south, & north.

This SUV & trailer cast

interesting shadows.

This sign is hard to decipher.

Marlboro

Benson & Hedges

Merit

Philip Morris is a major

cigarette manufacturing

company.

Marlboro, Benson & Hedges

& Merit are among the

company's top selling brands.

The direction of the road shifts

& so do the shadows.

Shadows are cast across the
highway by overhead
sign structures.

We continue our drive

south on Interstate 85.

We travel on a single lane
in a construction zone.

Cattle graze just off the

highway. 

Welcome to North Carolina.













Shadows on my mind....

The bridge casts its shadow

across the highway.

State Farm Insurance is funding
North Carolina Department
of Transportation's Safety
Patrol program.










This program provides roadside assistance on heavily traveled highways in Raleigh, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Wilmington, Charlotte and Asheville.

This Franken-Tree is the twin

to the one that towers above

Interstate 88 in New York.

Today's hazy conditions are caused by fires in in western North Carolina.

Tonight's muted sunset.

Lighted signs alert drivers to the

upcoming traffic slowdown.

I hope no one was hurt
in the accident.

Here's our exit in

Gaffney.

Eric & I look forward to pulling into the local Walmart parking lot after our eight hour drive and having a leisurely dinner.