Road trip

First of all, I'd like to thank Margaret Maron, who saved my sanity Sunday on an I-95 road trip. Reggie and I listened intently for 7 hours and 15 minutes of our 12 hours in the car to Maron's book on CD "Shooting at Loons." Thank you for keeping me entertained and alert on our long day driving to and from Savannah, Ga. And thanks to the Wilson County Public Library for its wonderful collection of books on CD.
It had been a number of years since Reggie and I spent so much time in the car, and I have some observations from the road.
First off, why is the South Carolina stretch of I-95 in such awful condition? There were ruts and holes and potholes and more ruts and holes and potholes. The pavement was uneven and made the trip bumpy and loud. We had to keep the volume of CD player turned up high to hear over the road noise. Also, the roadside isn't as well maintained as the N.C. stretch we were on. The medians are overgrown. I imagine money is the blame for both problems, but I wish they could get the road repaired. On the way back last night, we noticed southbound traffic was reduced to one lane, and workers were putting out orange cones on one stretch of the road. Perhaps part of the road is being paved or at least repaired.
My next point might just refer back to the last paragraph. I promise you I'm not exaggerating when I say we saw at least 15 to 20 cars beside the road, mostly in S.C., with flat tires. Mile after mile, there were families huddled beside the road or in a ditch while someone changed a tire. There must be a reason for this. I've never seen so many disabled vehicles on a trip. We were so thankful our new tires held up well.
And why are there no Steak 'N Shake restaurants along I-95 in S.C., or N.C. for that matter? I really wanted a burger with fries for supper last night, but no luck. Just the same old boring fast food offerings we have at home. And why did I not see a single road sign for Starbucks while driving to Georgia? We did, however, see our share of South of the Border signs.
Yesterday, we also saw a rather large police presence. There were many patrol cars parked in the median or driving along with traffic. We saw several cars pulled. On some trips Reggie and I take, we don't see a single patrol car.
We were also alarmed at the number of roadside memorials on the interstate. I feel sure we saw more than a dozen crosses and flowers that marked where someone was killed on I-95. It's a sobering thought when you're going 70 mph and cars are flying past you.