ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — The disappearing leftovers in the refrigerator are a reminder that the holiday weekend is coming to an end.
And a busy travel weekend as well.
If you've been on any of the highways throughout the Triad today, there is no mistaking the rush to get back home.
"We've been in traffic all day," said Ricky Pennington.
"We have had some pretty dense patches of traffic," said Lance Perkins.
"The traffic has been kind of heavy, it got really bad once we got onto 85," said Nancy McCoy.
From the highways to the back roads...
Stop and go traffic was the norm for many, heading home from the Thanksgiving holiday.
Ricky Pennington is from Lexington and spent the weekend in Myrtle Beach before visiting his grand kids this morning in Greenville.
"Around 40 in Raleigh, there's wrecks on both sides of the road, backed up for three or 4 miles," said Pennington. "You sit in traffic and move a little bit, sit in traffic and move a little bit. Ever since we got on 40 out here It's been the same."
If you were caught in the traffic today, you were not alone.
AAA of the Carolina's estimates more than 1.4 million North Carolinians traveled by car this weekend.
Experts also say pre-Thanksgiving travel is usually spread over several days.
However, for many, the trip home is on Sunday.
Packing three days of travel volume into one.
"Wednesday before Thanksgiving we took 77 to 81 and it was not this heavy. It used to be really bad, but it's not been this bad," said McCoy.
Nationwide, Thanksgiving travel was expected to be up from last year, but is still forecast to fall short of pre-pandemic holiday travel numbers.
"We make this trip about once a year for Thanksgiving and it's pretty typical to see this every time," said Perkins
Even though traffic was dense, those we spoke with say it was worth the drive to spend time with family.
Leaving some already looking ahead to Christmas.
"Exactly, resting up for the Christmas travels," said McCoy.
The drive to and from your Thanksgiving destination also cost drivers more this year than last.
AAA expects North Carolinians paid about 10 cents more, per gallon than Thanksgiving of 2021.