That's the time we left Rockville Maryland this morning. 3:30 a.m. Central Time.
As we walked to the car we heard Riley pawing at the door. We got to be great pals, he even slept with us. Katie snapped a picture just after we left, she said Riley was really unhappy we left, he went up to where we slept and cried dog cries. Aw.
Let me just say this, rural areas of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, etc have nothing on Maryland when it comes to pitch darkness during the nighttime hours. We were driving along seeing nothing beyond our headlights and nothing to either side. No light at all. Maryland towns and cities must be well hidden beyond the prying eyes of interstate drivers.
Then, about an hour into the trip, traveling north, it began to snow. Not just flurries, but real snow with huge flakes blowing right into our headlights. The grassy areas were covered as were the shoulders of the highway. Scary.
We're thinking, oh boy, is this what we have to look forward to all day long. The radio was no help finding out how widespread this weather was, just try to find live weather reports at 3 in the morning. It seemed never to get light. We stopped for the first time in Morgantown West Virginia and it was still dark, but Morgantown was alive with people lined up to get into stores for some Black Friday shopping. People there were also out eating breakfast dressed in the University of West Virginia colors, ready for the big football game against Pitt even though they play tonight.
The snow kept up off and on through half of Ohio, but one thing we did notice was the huge numbers of cars in parking shopping center parking lots all across the eastern half of the country.
The news reports tonight say that people were out shopping with exuberance. I believe it after our informal glances at towns from Maryland to Missouri.
We're beat. But home. Ferdie's still at the Kennel. He comes home tomorrow after a morning bath done by a professional.