Snow and ice made I-95 around Rocky Mount the road to nowhere overnight. Monday's temperatures helped to thaw the roadway, but the sheer volume of holiday travelers made for more slow spots.
"We never did get up to 60 miles per hour," holiday traveler Nathan Sosebee said.
Eve Semanie said she did not hit the slowdown until 20 miles north of Rocky Mount.
"We hit North Carolina and thought there was an accident. It was stop and go," she said.
The traffic and the weather were not headaches for everyone. Four Georgia girls enjoyed a rare opportunity to play in the snow. For Jim Knapp, the traffic brought other thoughts.
"The next thing you start to think about with kids in the cars is how close is the nearest restroom," he said.
Frantz Lessegue and his wife, Carole, had a hotel reservation waiting for them at exit 138 when they left New York, but the stretch from the Virginia border down took hours to complete.
"Fifteen miles into North Carolina, it took four hours to get to exit 138," Lessegue said.
More than 500 stranded travelers spent Sunday night in two emergency shelters. Area hotels let people sleep in their lobbies when all their rooms were booked.
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