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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;V. Kurt Bellman, post: 2617595, member: 71723&quot;]Fayetteville was COLD! Mean cold. Ugly cold. 2AM wind howling mean ugly cold. There were wisps of snow blowing around. Ice collected at the base of the gas pump islands. Nobody was on the roads, nooooo-body. Meh. I figured so what. Army town. Ft. Bragg. No problem.</p><p><br /></p><p>Uhh, big problem. As I turned the Taurus northward back onto I-95 from US301, I saw my first little wisp of black ice, which slipped neatly between the track of my wheels. Nothing much. But it quickly went from meh to bad to worse. Black ice was just the beginning. Around Rocky Mount, the untreated nature of I-95 became ridiculous. That road had seen no pretreatment, no salt, no sand, no nothing. I-95 was a washboard of various thicknesses of packed untreated ice. The maximum practical speed was 35mph and the car sounded like a Sherman tank traversing a log bridge. The speed limit of 70 was but a wish wrapped around a fantasy. Nick slept through it all. Cars and 18 wheelers off the road were an every few miles occurrence. I got sideways at least six times. The traction control light on the dash looked like it was sending out Morse code.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nick and I nearly died 12 hours into our ANA judging careers. Thanks for the great time, North Carolina highway department. There was a Rest Area right at the Virginia line. You&#039;re in NC when you enter and Virginia when you leave. The in-ramp was snow-covered and the out-ramp was clear. The facilities were under construction, so I stood alongside the car and peed for what seemed like 5 minutes.</p><p><br /></p><p>Virginia had a few black ice wisps hither and yon, but nothing like the North Carolina I-95 experience from hell. After that, I was getting drowsy the farther into Virginia we went, so I took 95 rather than the Richmond by-pass to keep the visual stimulus up. That only worked so long until I had to have a Starbucks recharge, which I got south of D.C.&nbsp; Nick took it on home and I slept like a dog through Washington and Baltimore. One last fuel stop north of Baltimore to avoid SOME of Pennsylvania&#039;s obscene gas tax finished the stops, and we rolled into Nick&#039;s place at 11:22 Sunday morning. I got home about 12:45 and never saw a snap of the NFL playoffs.</p><p><br /></p><p>Zzzzzz.</p><p><br /></p><p>Next trip: ANA Orlando in March.</p><p>Southwest on a bonus voucher southbound.</p><p>Amtrak on Guest Rewards points northbound.</p><p><br /></p><p>You may have noticed I buy virtually no U.S. Coins at major shows. The prices are just too astronomical compared to what I get at local backcountry auctions and estate sales.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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