Tuesday, September 13, 2011

500 miles today, day 6

Cleveland, Ohio 

The speed limit on I-80.  My car gets 35 mpg at this speed.  

Ohio's corporate looking rest areas. . . on I 80.


So I am in New York.  I've gone from Elkhart, Indiana across several states. .  .Ohio, the little panhandle of Penn., and half way across New York, all in one day.  It took me 2 days to get across Montana, and another 2 to cross S. Dakota. I hope all the folks from the east get to go west sometime and understand the expansive space out there. Less stress. It was a farm-y trip through Indiana and into Ohio until I reached the urban areas. Ohio's rest area building were ultra modern, even in farm county. No trees in the parking lots. Shade is nice. . . I think there should be trees in rest area parking lots.

Leaving Pennsylvania and entering New York, I passed all the vineyards again, as in June, but this time the vineyards were heavy with grapes. Lots of wind today. . . the triple trailer trucks were swaying in the wind like boxcars. . . a bit scary to pass one.

Immediately, there is a difference with drivers. . . I noticed it in Ohio.  People don't naturally move over on the highway when there is someone in the breakdown lane, or when a car comes off the entrance ramp. OK, I'm back east. Gotta watch it. I did the speed limit and had people on my tail impatient with me that I wasn't going faster.  In the construction zones (miles of construction through Ohio and New York) where the speed limit is lower and enforced with double fines, I didn't see many drivers who cared. Saw many people pulled over for speeding, and the rest of the traffic just sped by. The highways around Cleveland were nutty, and I'm back!

Staying at the same Super 8 in the Finger Lakes region of New York where I stayed on the way out west in June. Yoko is tired, I am tired. Not too entertaining, are we? Oh! Rain!  I had the first raindrops fall on my car today. The last hour of my ride was wet. And for once I finished the day with no bugs on the windshield. Thank you, rain.

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