More Observations

Driving around in the Northeast there are tell-tell signs as to just how cold it gets up here.  For one, most every house has an entry way that is very large and secure from wind and rain and snow.  I'm guessing those inside porches are a mess at end of a long winter.

Another sign is that when I gather firewood for the winter I buy a chord or two and it pretty much does it for me.  My chords are usually made of split logs making it easier to burn.  Here, house after house has there own lumber yard full of not split logs but rounds.  Some as big as the trees themselves.  I can't even imagine having to come out in the middle of winter, splitting a have dozen trees just to have wood in the fire.  Some kind of life they have up here.

And Sue, if you're reading this you'd hate it up here if for only one reason - none of the convenience stores I've gone into, and I mean NONE, have fountain drinks.  I guess the three or four days of summer it gets hot enough to drink cold beverages isn't enough to warrant the expense.  lol  But there sure are a lot of ice cream parlors.  I see people walking around with ice cream cones all the time.

What a different world this is up here.

Plenty of beautiful homes with land on rivers to buy.  Probably got tired of splitting rounds in the middle of the snow storms.  I just found out that they had snow up here just a week ago.  I'd have never known if I hadn't golfed with a resident.

All the same, still enjoying life and what I'm doing.  Gets lonely at times though.  Where's that hitchhiker I saw again?!??!  Ha!

Driving the Roads of America

Over the past several months I have been driving the roads of America trying to take in what really is America.  Some states seems so comfortable and to me normal while others seem as foreign as if I were in China or Russia or something other far reaching part of the globe.

Heck, its even down right spooky going into some of these road-side stores to get a drink.  I'm not sure if the owners are looking at me as strange alien come from another planet or just another customer; all I know is that the feelings I'm sure are somewhat mutual.  I'm pretty sure some of them are from a far far away distant galaxy.  lol

Some quick observations:

Winchels owns the West; Dunkin Donuts owns the East and Northeast.

For get about getting a fountain drink in the Northeast.  I haven't walked into a gas station store were there was but one or two; and I've been in a lot of them.  Might want to stick to the truck stops.

Driving on the highways in the Northeast is much like driving down the street in Hilton Head; better look for the signs because you are going to see anything from the road.  Trees, trees and more trees.  Not that I'm complaining, just observing.

New York?!?!?  Not sure what to make of it.  I drove through on Sunday afternoon (literally - Brooklyn, Stanton Island, etc. etc. but it still took me an hour and a half to get through the city once I got on the freeway.  Traffice was terrible and it wasn't even rush hour.  If I ever got a job here I'd have to leave in the city proper where I could walk to work.  And if I couldn't afford that, well, I still have my van!!!  lol

Delaware beaches are beautiful.  Weren't too many people at the beach when I was there, probably more because it was the middle of the week than the weather - weather was great.  Beaches were clean and easy on your feet.  Lusha loved it but that was more because she found a friend to play with.  Man, her coat of hair sure can collect sand!  Ha!

Loved going across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It was like floating on the Atlantic (well, the Bay) as you watched tankers go by.  Tunnels are so fun, take all the beauty out of the drive.

When I am driving with no time restraint I program my GPS to avoid highways.  Just for those thinking about doing something similar to what I'm doing now, there is a particular corridor of the United States staring at Washington, D.C., passing through Baltimore then Philadelphia and ending up at New York City where you really don't want to do that; it'll simply prolong your journey by a year or two and you will never see anything worth seeing that's natural.  Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration but it can be long and boring depending on how much traffic you get caught in.

Enjoy the pictures:
Off of Chesapeake Bay Bridge

 Fisherman's Island

Delaware Beaches

Heading North

After spending a couple weeks at Matt's house and having Lusha, along with a little help from Snickers, completely demolish their flowers around their back patio I'm on the road again.  Heading to the Northeast time all the way to Maine and perhaps around-about way to Michigan, then Illinois, then back through Indiana.  May even take a break somewhere in between and take a 2-3 week trip to China.  One of five places outside the country I really want to visit; the others being Russia, Machu Picchu in Peru, Rome/Greece (not exactly where you'd want to go right now) and Isreal/Egypt.  Well, I suppose you'd have to add Scotland but that's more for golf than sightseeing but I here the castles are awesome.

First stop is in Virgina where I play a little golf, go to a Roanoke baseball game and then head to Virgina Beach to drive up the coast.

I put my expected route up on Google Maps but have no idea how to share it although it tells me it is shared.  It's called 'Northeast Trip' and is listed as Public.

No pictures this time, just a little note to let everyone know where I am.