When you drink someone's tea and they haven't really had much to drink, they get a little pissed off. I was very thirsty and I had mindless consumed both my tea and Matt's. So, when we got in the car, Matt was upset that his tea was gone. I felt terrible about it and couldn't find anywhere nearby to get a drink.

At 2:15, we finally found a McDonald's. While we were in the drive thru line, I suggested Matt open a can of Mandarin oranges. Hopefully, they would tide him over until we got our drinks. We were both hungry, but neither of us wanted to eat McDonald's. Instead, we ate the rest of the oranges, some trail mix and other snacks.  Matt felt better after he got his tea!

While we were driving through Lexington, Kentucky, I noticed a castle.  That's not a typo.  It was a real castle.  And no...I haven't been watching too many episodes of "Game of Thrones" and I wasn't hallucinating.  Sure, I was tired, but I know a castle when I see one!  Matt took this picture with his phone at 3:16 PM.

What's up with the castle? I had to know! It turns out the Castle is owed by someone named Tom Post and it's Kentucky's Premier Luxury Tourist Inn. For more information about Castle Post, check out their website!

After we entered West Virginia, we started talking about dinner and agreed to find a pizza place. We had dinner at Giovanni's Pizza in Barboursville - a 12 inch pizza with pepperoni, sausage & extra cheese.  It's no wonder I gain weight on our road trips! The service was pretty fast and we were back on the road by 6:00 PM.  

Just when I was back in the groove of driving, we saw a sign for a cash only toll road!  Ugh! Neither one of us had any cash left. There was only one exit left before the toll. Right off the exit in Charleston, WV, we found a Go-Mart.  I was planning to use the ATM, but the clerk said I could get cash back with a purchase - awesome!  No ATM fees!  He told me that most of their business was from people getting off the highway to get money for the toll.  I grabbed a Red Bull and got $20 back.  We were on the road by 6:50 PM - exactly 300 miles from home.

As we got closer to the toll road, we realized they take EZ Pass!  Matt quickly grabbed it out of the glove box, turned it on, and held it up as we passed through the toll. Beep!  We were good to go.  

Once we got past most of the curvy mountain roads, we stopped and Matt took over driving.  I talked to Emma a few times along the way.  She was trying to decide if she would be staying up until we got home, but our ETA kept changing.  When I was driving, I managed to shave off some time.  It seemed like we might be home before 11, but when we got on 81, there was a backup. Apparently, VDOT thought it was a good idea to do road construction on the last night of spring break!

I called Emma and told her that she should definitely go to bed.  It was frustrating to be so close to home, but not moving.  Eventually, the traffic cleared.  I was relieved when Matt said he'd drive the rest of the way home. When we pulled into our drive way, it was almost 11:30  We'd been gone 4 days and 13 hours. We'd driven 2,840 miles, went skydiving in 5 new states, met some really cool people, and now were were finally home!  Yay!  There's no place like home!