Marion, VA (USA)

I didn't sleep well and got up very early.  I left the hotel about 0730, picking up breakfast at McDonalds in Marion (0740).  Drove north on VA-16 until I reached Hungry Mother State Park (0800).  I used an REI receipt to get free parking and then took a walk on the Lake Trail Loop for a couple of hours.  By 1000, I headed back into Marion and got on I-81.  Stopped in Salem (1100) for gas - had to leave interstate and drive into town to find a reasonable price.  I was pleasantly surprised that my new car got over 500 miles on one tank!  Got back on I-81 and drove to Harrisonburg.  Brenna called me when church was over and we coordinated a meetup.  I arrived at her apartment at 1235.  We then drove to visit the group house that Brenna planned to rent for her fifth year.  The "Rough House" was an old place located just blocks away from Brenna’s classroom building and the historic downtown.  I learned that there were eight IVCF ladies living there - most of them were going to move out but be replaced by more IVCF girls.  One of the residents gave us a tour and I was surprised to see that Brenna would get a pretty big room.  After we left, Brenna told me that I was being “surprisingly chill” about her moving across town!  I told her it was because she was almost graduated and I was happy she was taking responsibility for her future.  We drove to Walmart and I got some groceries for Brenna (1400).  As we were paying, I realized how tired I was - so I said goodbye to my daughter at around 1415 and headed home (via I-81).  There was a lot of heavy traffic near the I-66 merge - actually, I was in traffic almost all the way (grrr...) and it took about two hours for the drive.  I'd had enough by Centreville, so I used the Fairfax County Parkway to get to my house.  Felt pretty good after my backpacking adventure and started looking forward to more such trips in the future!