Ch ch ch changes…
Ok- today has been all about the change! Two time zones, six states and 36 degrees! I started in South Dakota this morning with a temperature of 3F (not that it warmed up at all through the frozen white expanses of Minnesota) and finished the day in Cleveland, Ohio with highs of 39F (and that was at 11.00pm) 15 hours of driving and 900 (give or take) miles covered, leaves a short day of 630 into Boston tomorrow. (In case you were interested the other states were Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin) I am making good progress at ticking off the states I have visited. I’m not quite up to all 52 yet, and I’m seeing a few weekends with some odd flights coming up- farm visit to Nebraska anyone? But I think this is a new travel target. I have 13 more to go, and I’m off to New Hampshire tomorrow- so 40 down by the end of the week…
I have been surprised at how hard the driving has been! Snow, and ice do that I guess- who knew! Much as I like being alive I am stupidly stubborn (again, who knew)- why do I refuse to listen when people tell me I have ridiculous ideas? I have to stop thinking I know best! This has been a great road trip, and time constraints were the main idea behind the rapidity of the driving, but in all honesty if I could have taken a few more days, and done a few less miles a day I would have gotten more out of it. There were a few place that I think I would have liked to have stopped, or made a slight detour to see, but I didn’t want to add any more time to what was already a 14 hour day of driving. It is a shame as I can’t see myself doing this trip again and I do feel I have missed out on a couple of things.
So, the last part of the trip into Boston was supposed to be a mere 650 miles and I was thinking it would be an easy and short day, hence the fact I left an Lorain, Ohio an hour later than I had started out every other day. I was still out of the hotel by 7.00am (it had been an interesting experience finding somewhere to stay the night before. Having arrived at where I thought the hotel was at 10.58pm I was somewhat shocked to discover it no longer exists, which meant it was 11.01pm by the time I had gotten next door to enquire after a room, turns out all the motels in Lorain only operate a front desk between 7.00am and 11.00pm.) Anyway, having stayed in an interesting motel, I was happy to leave at 7.00am and even happier to find an IHOP for breakfast. The 7 police cruisers in the parking lot and 15 officers seated in the restaurant also confirmed that, not only do they drink a lot of coffee and eat a lot of fast food (maybe I have found my calling and need a career change?) but that I was fairly safe to crank up the cruise control and knock an extra few miles an hour off the total trip time… Indiana provided the last 75mph stretch of road and it was all downhill from there, 70mph in Ohio, and eventually dropping to 55 mph in New York State and into Massachusetts.
The final day of the trip was very much about getting home, and 650 miles has never seemed to take so long. Despite the fact it was a much shorter day than previously the timing didn’t reflect that. It was still a good 11 hours of driving. Then again the roads got busy and the states get smaller and more packed together as you approach the Eastern Seaboard, and the city densities and speed limits reflect that. There was a little umming and ahhing over whether to take a detour to see Niagara Falls, but in the end the extra hour or so that it would add to the journey seemed too much. Possibly a weekend trip one spare weekend soon… I was also tempted with Philadelphia and the Liberty Bell, but again the detour was just too far, but I do have friends who live there, so it is still on the list of things to do and places to go…
The list does seem to keep growing, and the more I see and do here I can understand why. I have seen some amazing scenery on this trip, flowing water turned to icicles down rock faces, snow covered mountains, a frozen Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes, I have gone past some interesting named locations, Phil SD, Bryan MN and Gary ID to name a few- and yes they are all towns not people, I have stopped in Rapid City, and stayed in Lorain, and I would love to know what Schenectady, and Poughkeepsie (of “Friends” fame) are really like.
So, having gotten on the 1-90 in Seattle, it was the I-90 that dropped me three miles from my apartment in Boston. It still amazes me that one road can cross an entire country the size of America. What amazes me more is the fact that I have driven it, and with a slight and very muddy detour in Minnesota, I have traveled the entire width of America, coast to coast (Pacific to Atlantic) on one very long road.
Now to plan the next trip…
Ok- today has been all about the change! Two time zones, six states and 36 degrees! I started in South Dakota this morning with a temperature of 3F (not that it warmed up at all through the frozen white expanses of Minnesota) and finished the day in Cleveland, Ohio with highs of 39F (and that was at 11.00pm) 15 hours of driving and 900 (give or take) miles covered, leaves a short day of 630 into Boston tomorrow. (In case you were interested the other states were Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin) I am making good progress at ticking off the states I have visited. I’m not quite up to all 52 yet, and I’m seeing a few weekends with some odd flights coming up- farm visit to Nebraska anyone? But I think this is a new travel target. I have 13 more to go, and I’m off to New Hampshire tomorrow- so 40 down by the end of the week…
I have been surprised at how hard the driving has been! Snow, and ice do that I guess- who knew! Much as I like being alive I am stupidly stubborn (again, who knew)- why do I refuse to listen when people tell me I have ridiculous ideas? I have to stop thinking I know best! This has been a great road trip, and time constraints were the main idea behind the rapidity of the driving, but in all honesty if I could have taken a few more days, and done a few less miles a day I would have gotten more out of it. There were a few place that I think I would have liked to have stopped, or made a slight detour to see, but I didn’t want to add any more time to what was already a 14 hour day of driving. It is a shame as I can’t see myself doing this trip again and I do feel I have missed out on a couple of things.
So, the last part of the trip into Boston was supposed to be a mere 650 miles and I was thinking it would be an easy and short day, hence the fact I left an Lorain, Ohio an hour later than I had started out every other day. I was still out of the hotel by 7.00am (it had been an interesting experience finding somewhere to stay the night before. Having arrived at where I thought the hotel was at 10.58pm I was somewhat shocked to discover it no longer exists, which meant it was 11.01pm by the time I had gotten next door to enquire after a room, turns out all the motels in Lorain only operate a front desk between 7.00am and 11.00pm.) Anyway, having stayed in an interesting motel, I was happy to leave at 7.00am and even happier to find an IHOP for breakfast. The 7 police cruisers in the parking lot and 15 officers seated in the restaurant also confirmed that, not only do they drink a lot of coffee and eat a lot of fast food (maybe I have found my calling and need a career change?) but that I was fairly safe to crank up the cruise control and knock an extra few miles an hour off the total trip time… Indiana provided the last 75mph stretch of road and it was all downhill from there, 70mph in Ohio, and eventually dropping to 55 mph in New York State and into Massachusetts.
The final day of the trip was very much about getting home, and 650 miles has never seemed to take so long. Despite the fact it was a much shorter day than previously the timing didn’t reflect that. It was still a good 11 hours of driving. Then again the roads got busy and the states get smaller and more packed together as you approach the Eastern Seaboard, and the city densities and speed limits reflect that. There was a little umming and ahhing over whether to take a detour to see Niagara Falls, but in the end the extra hour or so that it would add to the journey seemed too much. Possibly a weekend trip one spare weekend soon… I was also tempted with Philadelphia and the Liberty Bell, but again the detour was just too far, but I do have friends who live there, so it is still on the list of things to do and places to go…
The list does seem to keep growing, and the more I see and do here I can understand why. I have seen some amazing scenery on this trip, flowing water turned to icicles down rock faces, snow covered mountains, a frozen Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes, I have gone past some interesting named locations, Phil SD, Bryan MN and Gary ID to name a few- and yes they are all towns not people, I have stopped in Rapid City, and stayed in Lorain, and I would love to know what Schenectady, and Poughkeepsie (of “Friends” fame) are really like.
So, having gotten on the 1-90 in Seattle, it was the I-90 that dropped me three miles from my apartment in Boston. It still amazes me that one road can cross an entire country the size of America. What amazes me more is the fact that I have driven it, and with a slight and very muddy detour in Minnesota, I have traveled the entire width of America, coast to coast (Pacific to Atlantic) on one very long road.
Now to plan the next trip…
No comments:
Post a Comment