Silver Spring, Maryland to Merchants Millpond State Park, North Carolina

Packed up, goodbyes to Petey and Serge, on the Beltline around Washington DC, quiet Sunday morning, into Virginia driving south in I95, learned my lesson there is not much romance in the suburban blue highways.  Heavy traffic for an hour before Richmond, but through, to the junction of Hwy 35.  Southeast through farmland, much cooler, trees lining the road, fields of soybeans, cotton and watermelons

farmers harvesting peanuts (I think)

quite a few old style houses, tall, wide and narrow, the opposite of shotgun houses.

A nice courthouse crowded up to the highway in Courtland, I think

around Franklin, busy town with a paper mill on the horizon, south to Murfreesboro, missed the old downtown heading east on 158 through pine forest and fields to Merchants Millpond state Park.  Interesting place, big (21/2 mile long) millpond in flat lowland, drove a vertical shaft wheel with little head.  Now a big park with canoeing and kayaking, hiking, and a nice campground with very tall loblolly pines and nice red cupped mushrooms.