I woke Mollie up at 0615 and we packed up our car. We picked up breakfast (to go) and left Fort Belvoir at about 0700. Mollie helped me navigate the route to the north (used Fairfax County Parkway, I-495, I-95, I-695, I-83 and I-81) and we had a great conversation all the way. Mollie treated me to lunch at Wendy’s near Wilkes-Barre, PA (1045). We then continued driving north on I-81 without much difficulty. We called Brenna and she told us all about her good days doing her student teaching, visiting with Isaac, "Friendsgiving" with her roommates and her plan to go home to Alexandria for Thanksgiving. Mollie and I switched to I-88 at Binghamton, NY and later stopped for gas in Rotterdam (1420). Mollie again helped me navigate (via surface streets and NY-7, through Albany) to Troy. Once we were on NY-7, Mollie told me she was interested in visiting the home in Danby, VT where I’ve sometimes stayed while hiking in Vermont. I agred to take her there and, after we drove around the edge of Bennington and got on US-7, we arrived at Elizabeth's little house. Mollie liked the little town but we didn't stay long - we were soon on our way north on US-7 again. Mollie said she wanted to stop for food so I didn't turn east when I normally do. Instead, we continued north towards Rutland. The sun was just setting but rain was coming in fast - this made the drive a bit less fun. We got some dinner at McDonalds in Rutland (1645) and then followed US-4 to I-89. We made it to my home in Hanover by 1800 - this was a longer trip than I'd hoped for but we hadn't had any real difficulties. Mostly, we'd just taken our time and enjoyed visiting together for the first time in a while. We spent the evening unpacking and I got Mollie's new room ready for her (hopefully) multi-month stay. Hard to believe that this trip started with hiking in the Georgia Mountains - seems like a completely different year now that I'm home again!
