i've been home for a week and STILL no substantial posts on boston roadtrip 2007? can i blame it on... car lag? yeah, probably not.

 

as usual, this is mostly for me so that i remember all the funny details. which is sort of like... writing to a future me? lame.

 

our grand new england adventure started off with a stop in... cleveland. elyria, to be exact. on friday i left work, rushed home, packed the car, picked up katie an hour later, and we were on our way. actually, before we were on our way, i was amused watching katie adjust the seat, mirrors and steering wheel for the drive north. apparently i am a giant. and for the record, surely i am not the ONLY person who adjusts the steering wheel to get in and out of the car properly each time? hmph.

 

the roadtrip officially begun, we met up with katie's old roommate less than four hours later. their house, a mere three months old, was roomy and spacious and perfect for their huge dog to slide through at high rates of speed on the new smooth floors. we hung out for awhile -- ice cream, anyone? -- then got some sleep in preparation for our twelve hour drive the next day. i woke up to katie rustling the loudest bags ever, and also, to erin and barry's two year old saying cute things very loudly downstairs. pretty adorable. we had a leisurely morning, enjoying cereal and fresh fruit after the unlucky demise of a breakfast casserole. aunt katie and i lavished attention on the two year old and six month old for awhile, leaving at 9:30am instead of 8:30am due to the decision to take i-90 instead of a possibly more interesting drive [which we would hit on the way home anyway]. we said our goodbyes and headed off at 9:34am, and i informed katie of our driving time elapsed in half hour increments, which i am pretty sure she enjoyed a LOT.

 

and so began a journey of me always picking the worst exits for gas, food, etc. we hadn't even made it out of cleveland yet when we figured we should fill up before getting too settled in. so i pulled off at an exit which of course had the most construction all at once, ever in the history of mankind. we weren't even sure we could get back ON at that ramp, much less me getting back on the road via left hand turn across four lanes of traffic. so we diverted, taking an alternate route to i-90 courtesy katie's navigational skills, and almost got creamed a few miles in by a PICKUP TRUCK. PULLING OUT. IN FRONT OF US. FROM THE RIGHT. OH PLEASE, TAKE YOUR TIME, SIR. rawwrrr. things were uneventful until we realized half an hour later that the giant cups of coffee we had at erin's would soon be taking their toll. i pulled off somewhere in pennsylvania, at one of those gas station slash convenience store slash restaurant kinds of travel centers. apparently so had a group of about forty harley riders. there was much. with the bikers. we went in to use the facilities and came out to find a ford explorer sitting at one of the fuel pumps, hood open and engine ON FIRE. THERE WAS MUCH. WITH THE FLAMES. along with the bikers and pretty much everyone else at the plaza, we decided to get the hell out of there instead of capturing the occasion with photos and/or possibly being blown to bits in a large gasoline explosion. i'm thinking we made a good choice.

 

we were on i-90 for approximately 466.1 miles and while it's nice to not have to worry about road navigation, it does get a little boring. we kept ourselves amused and it was a lovely drive, but seriously, i'm already several paragraphs into this thing and we haven't even gotten to massachusetts yet. there were plenty of missed photos of "welcome to _______" state signs, some select readings of "never hit a jellyfish with a spade" [some people have books on tape -- i have books with katie], deciphering of turnpike toll tickets, plenty of snacking, and lots of laughing. we took a leisurely dinner at the last rest stop before reaching boston, then psyched ourselves up for navigating the city.

 

after paying yet another toll before exit 18 [WTF?], we found our exit and promptly got lost. in case you didn't know, boston does not BELIEVE in street signs. "what road are we on?" "hell, i don't know." rachel navigated the two slightly anxious ohioans to her place via phone, and finally, we had arrived.

 

okay, so i've only made it two days into the trip, but bedtime looms. uh, this series may be longer than i thought.