So the weekend before last I took a five-day trip down to Atlanta, GA, in order to finally see the Braves play at Truist Park for the first time with my parents and a family friend. Despite the fact that they keep finding new ways to lose, I did get to see them win one game. (To be fair, no one really thought that the Braves would have won the 2021 World Series this time last year either.)
So it is finally time to start doing some clinching in western NC instead of central/eastern NC, but I have to get there first.
Day 1 (Harrisburg, PA, to Asheville, NC)I started at 1 AM so I could get to Harrisonburg, VA, on I-81 as quickly as possible. Once there, I looped around to get VA 257 and VA 290 before heading south on VA 42 to the south end of its northern segment at I-64/US 60 and VA 269. After clinching VA 269 real quick, I took US 60 west (leaving I-64 through Covington, VA) to VA 159 south to VA 311. Once VA 311 entered WV, I took WV 3 west to Alderson, WV, (which actually has an Amtrak Station) being held up by some paving projects. I then followed WV 12 south to US 219 to finish my clinch of that route after doing it north of WV 63 in the snow back in March. I then went back to Narrows to follow VA 61 to Tazewell, VA, so I could finally clinch that route. After finishing up in Tazewell, VA, I went south on US 19 (sneaking over to Richlands, VA, to clinch the US 460 BUS route and also clinching VA 82 while looping around Lebanon, VA) to Abingdon.
I then took I-81 south to TN 126 back east to TN 394 to US 11E/US 19 SB. Then I did a full clinch of US 19E all the way down to where it meets back up with US 19W east of I-26. Then I followed US 19 (along with I-26, US 23, and other routes) down to Asheville for the night. After taking a brief nap, I drove around Asheville for a bit most notably clinching I-240 (NC) before settling down for the night.
Clinched: VA 42 (North), VA 290, VA 42 BUS (Dayton), VA 257, VA 39 ALT (Goshen), VA 269, VA 159, WV 12, VA 61, VA 16 ALT (Tazewell), US 19 BUS (Tazewell, VA), US 460 BUS (Tazewell, VA), US 460 BUS (Richlands, VA), US 19 (VA), VA 369, US 19 BUS (Lebanon, VA), VA 82, US 19E (NC/TN-full clinch), I-240 (NC), NC 112, US 19 BUS (Asheville, NC), US 23 BUS (Asheville, NC), NC 81, US 19 BUS (Weaverville, NC)
New Mileage: US 33 (VA), US 250 (VA), VA 39, US 60 (VA), WV/VA 311, WV 3, VA 16, VA 67, VA 80, US 58 ALT (Abingdon, VA), TN 126, TN 91, US 321 (TN), TN 67, NC 194, NC 226, NC 80, NC 197, US 19 (NC) US 23 ALT (Mars Hill, NC), I-26 (NC), US 23 (NC), US 25 (NC), US 70 (NC), US 74 ALT (Asheville, NC), NC 191, Blue Ridge Pkwy (NC), I-40 (NC), US 74 (NC)
Day 2 (Asheville, NC to Atlanta, GA) (note that we actually stayed in Smyrna, GA)On this day, I enjoyed the amazing scenery in the Smokies along US 19 especially in the Nantahala River Gorge. After an adventure in getting the cheapest gas in Blairsville, GA, I got to the Atlanta area around midday. In the Atlanta area, I basically finished clinching US 19 and GA 400 in the area along with a lap around the Perimeter (I-285), which was held up by a crash a few miles south of I-20 on the west side. I got to the hotel just after 4:30 PM ET and walked to Truist Park from there. Note the interesting pedestrian situation for the DDI on I-75 at Windy Hill Rd (Exit 260) where
pedestrians actually end up in the sidewalk in the middle of the DDI. There were pedestrian bridges closer to Truist Park so there was very little crossing the street after crossing I-75.
Clinched: US 19 (NC), US 441 BUS (Cherokee, NC), US 19 BUS (Andrews, NC), US 19 BUS (Murphy, NC), US 19 BUS (Dahlonega, GA), GA 60 BUS (Dahlonega, GA), GA 400, I-285 (GA)
New Mileage: US 23 (NC), NC 215, US 74 (NC), US 276 (NC), US 441 (NC), NC 28, US 129 (NC), US 64 (NC), GA 11, US 76 (GA), GA 2, GA 515, GA 180, GA 9, GA 60, GA 52, US 41 (GA), GA 3, US 29 (GA), US 78 (GA), US 278 (GA), GA 8
Day 3 (Atlanta, GA area)After realizing how bad the hotel internet was, I decided that it was time to tie some loose ends from my past Atlanta clinching from the 2011 mission trip. After eventually looping around Marietta for a while, I got to meet the Black Pope (known as Dear Woke Christian on YouTube, and yes he is handing out those indulgences haha) briefly before heading to the late afternoon game that the Braves actually won.
After the game, I took my parents through Downtown Atlanta to drive the Downtown Connector at night. I gained a little mileage of I-75 and I-85 that I did not already have from the 2002, 2004, and 2011 trips, but nothing significant since I had already clinched the Downtown Connector back in 2002.
Clinched: GA 141 CON (Atlanta), GA 237, GA 13 CON (Doraville), GA 3 CON (Marietta), GA 120 ALT (Marietta), GA 5 CON (Kennesaw), GA 14 CON (Atlanta)
New Mileage: US 41 (GA), GA 3, GA 9, GA 13, GA 141, US 23 (GA), GA 120, GA 140, GA 5, I-85 (GA), GA 54, I-75 (GA)
Day 4 (Atlanta, GA, to Boone, NC)Today was back to working on the western part of the Carolinas.
I left the hotel and immediately took I-285 over to US 23/GA 13. I followed that north to GA 317 in Suwanee and did a loop so that I could get the part of I-985 not concurrent with US 23. Then I followed US 23 to US 123, which I followed to Greenville in order to get a full clinch of that route. After clinching US 123, I looped around Greenville a couple of times to clinch I-185, I-385 north of the I-185/US 276 area, US 276 south of Greenville, and SC 153. I then followed US 276 north (with on and off rain becoming a slight factor though it allowed me to explore the Connestee Falls all alone) all the way to its northern end at I-40 for a full clinch despite having to sight clinch it in Brevard along the US 64 Concurrency (as part of the Davidson River Village Connector Road Construction US 64/US 276 is detoured onto the now open connector; however, there are no signs directing you back to these routes). Then I took I-40 back to I-26 in Asheville, and took US 19 north to US 19W.
US 19W is barely worth keeping as a state route in NC, and has no reason to be a US Route these days. While the scenery was fine, it was way too curvy, and of course I got stuck behind someone. After finally making it back to I-26, I went to Johnson City, and looped via TN 381 back to US 321 to head east to Elizabethton. From there, it was all US 321 for the rest of the day until getting to Boone as I looped around trying to find my hotel for the evening.
Clinched: GA 317, I-985 (GA), GA 365, GA 15 CON (Cornelia), US 123 (GA/SC-full clinch), I-385 BS (Greenville, SC), I-185 (SC), US 276 (SC/NC-full clinch), SC 153, SC 124, US 19W (NC/TN-full clinch), TN 381
New Mileage: US 23 (GA, TN), GA 13, GA 20, US 129 (GA), GA 384, US 441 (GA), GA 17, GA 184, US 76 (SC), SC 28, I-385 (SC), US 29 (SC), SC 20, SC 183, SC 11, US 64 (NC), NC 215, US 23 BUS (Waynesville, NC), I-40 (NC), US 74 (NC), NC 209, I-26 (TN), TN 67, TN 91, US 421 (NC), NC 194, NC 105, US 221 (NC)
Day 5 (Boone, NC, to Harrisburg, PA)After what was honestly a really good night’s sleep and some breakfast, I basically took US 221 north from Boone all the way to Roanoke, VA. From there, knowing that there was severe weather in the forecast east of me, I decided to drive into eastern WV and do a full clinch of WV 92. After some heavy rain in Elkins (and myself accidentally turning an opposite direction lane into a left-turn lane on WV 92 NB at US 33/US 48/US 250), I finished WV 92, took WV 7 east into MD to clinch MD 39 and MD 135, and then finished the eastern portion of WV 46 east of Keyser before taking WV 28 north to Cumberland, MD.
From Cumberland, MD, it was basically US 220 NB to US 30 EB to PA 26 NB (when I realized that PA 915 TRUCK was not signed) to PA 913 EB to PA 655 NB to US 22 EB to Harrisburg.
Clinched: US 221 BUS (Jefferson, NC), VA 392, US 58 BUS (Hillsville, VA), VA/WV 311, WV 92, MD 39, MD 135, WV 46 (East)
New Mileage: US 421 (NC), US 221 (NC/VA), NC 194, NC 88, NC 16, US 21 (NC/VA), US 58 (VA), VA 89, US 60 (WV), WV 39, WV 28, US 250 (WV), WV 38, WV 7, WV 28
