Road Trip to the Carolina’s ——–Early February 2022

Early February 2022

After COVID restrictions messed up my plans to visit the family at Christmas, I had to think when I could re-schedule.

My daughter Carla, Alex and the grandkids recently moved from Austin, Texas, to Willow Springs, near to Raleigh in North Carolina.

The next best thing to a Christmas visit was for a trip on my Birthday.

It would of been nice to have been down there on my ‘actual’ birthday, on Monday the 1st of February, but I had I.V.I.G , infusions scheduled at the Cornwall Hospital on the 2nd and 3rd.

So, the car was loaded up on Tuesday night , ready to head out the next day , directly after Wednesdays appointment. It was very much a last minute decision whether I’d go or not .

I was done at the hospital by 11-30 am and after dropping by my house for a few minutes, I set off on my journey south.

At 12-30 , I crossed into the USA at my local Cornwall border point. (Just 5 minutes from my house).

I made good time and by 6-00 pm I was passed Bingamton NY and in to Pennsylvania. Around 7-00 pm I was passing Wilkes Barre and decided to check into the Motel 6 for the night.

I was up nice and early Thursday morning and at 5-00 am I was on my way again. It wasn’t a good day for driving with constant rain, through Pennsylvania, Maryland , West Virginia, and Virginia until I crossed the state line into North Carolina.

By 3-15 pm , I was pulling into Carla’s driveway in Willow Springs.

My Chev Impala was parked up, and we took off in Carla’s AUDI for a Chinese Buffet in nearby Fuquay Varina.

It was great to see my Grandchildren, Benji and Sophia again , after more than two years.

It was Christmas 2019, that I saw them last. COVID 19 came on the world scene and travel restrictions prevented families from seeing each other. Oh boy they have grown.

The next morning (Friday) , Carla had a riding lesson booked at the local stables , so I went along to watch,

Over the years she’s done a bit of riding, and now wants to get more into it.

Here she is at my sister Anne’s farm in England back in 1997.

On Saturday morning (5th Feb) , her Audi was packed with bags as our family set off for the weekend.

Our destination was Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.

Carla had booked a family suite for us all at the Marriot Hotel beside the beach.

We arrived mid morning and had plenty of ‘kids time’ time before our evening plans for some racing.

The track we were heading for was the Lake View Speedway, at Nichols .SC, which is about an hour and a half away.

A big three day show was taking place for the DIRTCAR Sportsman, and Saturday was the final night with 3000 bucks to win.

To make things interesting, a number of my local drivers had made the long trip,

We timed it just right and arrived just as the Sportsman heats began.

It was Sophia’s first time at a race track , so after the heat races , we went to the pits for a picture shoot with my friend and fellow Canadian, Cedric Gauvreau.

I’ve known the Gauvreau family, from Gatineau , Quebec for many years.

There were other divisions in attendance , and some were playing ‘catch up’ after Fridays show got rained out. Jr Mini Sprints, Vintage and V8 Stock.

The Sprints got their feature in the books and the Stock V8 began theirs.

A few laps in and disaster struck.

One of the cars bounced out of the track and pulled down the safety fence.

It was a cold night and obviously the broken fence caused an unwelcome delay.

To keep the kids happy and occupied the track had a Candy Toss from the flag stand.

Once the fence was repaired, racing resumed.

After the Sportsman had their last chance races , an intermission took place for track prep etc.

The main event for 3 grand was still a few races away, so in fairness to my family , who were sitting in the cold, I suggested we head back to the Hotel.

In our absence Zach Sabotka took the checkers.

The Lake View Speedway became # 243 on my TRACKCHASER totals.

We had two nights booked at the Hotel, so Sunday was another day for the kids.

Monday morning was our time to head back to Willow Springs.

Monday and Tuesday were two good days of relaxation.

One of Canada’s COVID mandates , is the need for a negative PCR test to return home, that has to be done , no longer than 72 hours before arrival at the border.

Carla had arranged for me to have one in Fuquay Varina on Wednesday morning . This was very well undertaken by the Wake County Public Health.

This was all done by 11-30 pm, so following this, Carla drove me into Raleigh to see some of the sights and get a bite to eat.

We went to a food court , and this was a first for me, a shrimp burger .

On the way back to the house we passed the Wake County Speedway, so I had to stop to take a look.

It’s a paved track, about 1/4 mile in length. It wasn’t race day , but there was a Legend Car doing some hot laps.

I was relaxing back at the house when around 5-00 pm , I had my NEGATIVE , PCR results come through via e-mail. I never expected it to come through so quick, so it made things a lot easier to plan my trip back to Canada the next day.

Wednesday, my final night was spent playing games and doing Karaoke with the kids.

My plan was to get back home in one hit, without an overnight stop. It’s about a 13 and a half hour drive, and in the past it would be an easy job. I know the route quite well , from my trucking days.

I’m not getting any younger and it’s been a while since I did those kind of miles in a day , so I was going to play it all by ear. I said my goodbyes and hit the road at 6-00 am.

Willow Springs is about 35 minutes from the I 95 at Selma and by 9-00 am I ‘d cleared Richmond Va.

I don’t follow the I 95 through the Washington Beltway, I get off it at Fredricksburg and take the old Route 17 via Warrenton to the I-81 at Winchester Va . It’s a lot better route which I learned in my trucking trips .

I was on the I 81 at Winchester around 12-00 and from there on its a home run up towards Canada. I was driving through Syracuse NY at 6-00 pm and was in Watertown doing some last minute shopping at 7-15 pm.

It’s a two hour drive from Watertown to the Canadian border at Cornwall.

THE B/S BEGINS

Just after 9-30 pm , I arrived at Canada Customs and this was where all the B/S began.

I am treble vaccinated, I filled out the Arrive/Can App and I had proof of a Negative PCR test. No problems I thought , it should be plain sailing.

I was WRONG !

The customs guy was very nice and polite, but just when I thought I was good to go, he handed me a box and a piece of paper. He said , I’d been chosen to take a random Covid test which has to be completed within 24 hours .

How ridiculous ! What is the point of getting a mandatory test in the USA before my arrival at the border , and then having to do another one.

It’s no wonder so many Canadians are protesting about the crazy mandates.

I live about a mile from the border , so I was soon at home, looking at my random test kit.

To cut a long story short , I eventually figured out who I should contact and although the person on the help line did her best , we had a problem logging on. By about 11-15 pm we gave up trying, and she told me that a nurse would phone me the next day.

So, I ‘d been up since 5-00 am in the morning , driven 13 and a half hours and was now being forced to deal with all this, when all I wanted to do, was to get some rest.

The nurse phoned around 9-15 am on Friday morning, She was very helpful and went through the test procedure step by step so I could understand. Once done , I had to phone PUROLATER to get my sample picked up and shipped to the lab.

So the enjoyable holiday I had , seeing my grandkids for the first time in two years was tarnished by all the this stressful hassle to get back in my country.

Since I was away the Anti Mandates protests have spread all over Canada , Unfortunately , the TV News media has been very biased and obviously ‘pro- government’ right from the start . So far they continue to paint a different picture to the reality.

By Saturday 12th February , I had settled back in my house in the City of Cornwall , when I learned the protest movement had spread here.