The longest drive I have ever done with me as the sole driver has been from my house to Bates (supposed to be around 5 hours, can be anywhere for 4 1/2 to 9 depending on traffic). So, needless to say I was excited and anxious with the prospect of driving to Maine from Chicago. Now that’s a long drive.
The plan was to get an early start on Sunday, drive to Princeton, NJ, spend the night at Princeton University and drive to my house in Connecticut. From there we would drive to CT, stop at my house to pick up my things and then drive the last leg separately. Well we did get an early start, leaving Chicago at 6:30 am and actually arriving in Princeton at 9ish. Not bad. But the journey itself was something to be remembered.
As someone who is a pure Yankee, I know nothing but the East. So the Mid-West fascinates me. Driving through Indiana, Ohio, wherever else we were, they were distinctly different than anything I’ve ever seen. Firstly everything’s flat. Like really flat. Listening to the radio and hearing about swine flu, I could just picture packs of rabid, zombie pigs running over the horizon, charging at our car, the only car on the road and then my friend would get bitten and I’d keep him around for a bit as he starts to get more and more ragged and finally he’ll start to change and I would have to kill him. And then I would have to drive through Pennsylvania by myself. And Pennsylvania is very large.
In fact Pennsylvania was the longest part of the trip. That state is huge. And the roads are windy. Not like Ohio. Indiana is kind of stinky. New Jersey is kind of stinky too. New York is hectic. Connecticut is… nice? Lots of trees. Mean drivers. Massachusetts, good rest stops. Mean drivers. New Hampshire and Maine? Beautiful with nice drivers who stay in the right lane except to pass. I’m not kidding. My two favorite states on the drive, familiar because they’re in the East, enjoyable because people aren’t mean.
Anyway, what I noticed from the trip is that I am very comfortable in the East and very uncomfortable outside of it. The mid-West rest stops were bizarre, the people were different, the food was different, the vibes were different. It was just different. And that’s what I learned on this trip. Here are some pictures. You can see what I look like when I’m tired and driving and a pastoral view from the Mini sideview mirror.
Shhhh,
Steph
