On September 8th, I drove South, which included driving on the New Jersey Turnpike, crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge and driving on the 95 and 695 in Maryland. The scenery was once again great. I took a few stops along the way, and wanted to highlight just a couple of them.

The first stop I made was while I was on the New Jersey Turnpike. I stopped at the Thomas Edison Travel Plaza (Woodbridge, NJ). This had been closed for quite awhile, but was now re-opened. After having been there in the past and seeing it now, I must admit that I am very impressed. They have completely redone the interior and it is much cleaner and open than it was before. If they continue to make over the other Travel Plaza’s along the New Jersey Turnpike, I will look forward to making extra stops to see the differences. While I was at the Travel Plaza, I decided to stop in Pret a Manger. They had little brownie bites, so I purchased one with the expectation that I would be eating it later on after lunch. I did wait on it, and the wait was worth it. I have had these brownie bites before, and they still taste really good. It’s a two bite brownie for me (maybe four bites for some people), and it is a nice little treat.

I already knew where I was going to be eating lunch. When I got into Maryland, I stopped at the Chesapeake House Travel Plaza (North East, MD). I went to Earl of Sandwich and got the Original 1762. Roast Beef, Cheddar and Horseradish sauce on their special bread. The roast beef was nice and easy to bite through, the cheddar was the perfect amount and the horseradish sauce was not overpowering and the combination of flavors made for a delicious sandwich. I look forward to going back around Thanksgiving time, when they will have their Holiday Sandwich.

I also went to Peet’s coffee to get a seasonal coffee drink. Their specialty drink was billed as pumpkin chai, and so I ordered the Pumpkin Chai Ice Blended Javiva. Unfortunately for me, I had Pumpkin Spice in my head, so the first couple of sips were a bit too much. When it clicked that I was getting a pumpkin chai instead of pumpkin spice, I focused on the flavors that I ordered. It was a good drink. The flavors for the pumpkin and the chai seasonings work well together. If you were expecting chai, you would think there was too much pumpkin. If you were expecting pumpkin, you would think there was too much chai flavor. But as a pumpkin chai drink, the flavors worked well. They have some other specialty drinks that I might try instead the next time, but I definitely didn’t mind giving it a try.

I ended up having a very nice drive. It took about 6 hours, but I had my playlist and the weather was pretty nice most of the way. It was only the last hour or so where the weather creeped into the mid to upper 80s. I’ve definitely been a road warrior these last 10 months or so, and I’m happy to share some of my experiences with you moving forward as I continue on the road.