Driving West, Sort Of

Driveway in Oneonta to Ypsilanti, MI - 584 miles, in a little less than 11 hours.

It's taken me some time to get into the spirit of the thing.  It's such a different trip than any of the others, and that may be why.  Still not sure I'm "driving west."

I didn't play Roderigo y Gabriella right out of the driveway, because I had an errand to do before the trip started - get some cash.  I had literally zero cash, except for the sparse collection of change in the console.  I stopped at the bank - and the ATM wouldn't work.  

I put a lot of thought into planning for a trip like this, and then as the time gets near, I become distracted and unfocused.  For instance, I left my coffee and water bottle on the kitchen counter.  And I didn't think of cash until I was heading out the door.

So the transition from planning to driving was a rough one.  Didn't feel ecstatic.  But I put on Rodrigo y Gabriella's first album as I left the bank, and listened to it all the way through.  It was as great as it always is.

And then I drove.  It was a nice day, sunny but not too hot, and there is really some beautiful country along the Southern Tier.  It's so remote that you wonder how the residents' lives are different from ours.

Ohio Turnpike (EZ Pass accepted) rest stops are really nice - like small malls.  But they're big and cavernous, and loud noises are amplified - especially the loud noises of little children who've been cooped up in a car for hours.  They deserve to cut loose, but maybe outside, parents?

Every second or third billboard in Michigan is for cannabis.

Reserving the room, at one of those nice rest stops, was a nightmare, mostly because it required the use of a combination of technologies that I don't do so well, especially away from home.  I also wrote down two phone numbers on a piece of paper that I promptly lost, and never - ever - found.  But here I am.

Also - I cannot make the link mechanism on this blog work.  In other words, I can't include a link in the post.  I've done that a thousand times in my other blog (and here I'd normally include a link to my other blog).  I think it's because the highlight-right-click-copy function doesn't seem to work.  Suddenly.

Oh - and there's no baseball on TV.

Tomorrow - driving north.