Summer 2007 Road Trip: One girl. One car. Over 8,000 miles.

First off, I think it’s awesome that I keep getting emails and comments from people who live in the areas I am passing through. Small world it is!

Since I stopped a bit early today out of sheer boredom and fatigue, I will finally update you guys on some details.

My Itinerary:

This trip was planned a little differently than it is turning out. But actually, that is fine. I originally planned to drive on I-90 (starting in MA) all the way to I-80, go through the Colorado Rockies, then Utah, then hitting Las Vegas on July 4th. I even had a room reserved in Vegas. Then I planned to get to California on Thursday, July 5th.

Since my accidental detour and laptop problems Monday morning, I have decided to change my route. Monday morning, after having a super-nice guy at the Plattsburgh BestBuy fix my laptop problem (which turned out to be static and simply required me to remove, then replace, the laptop battery), I decided to be more spontaneous. After all, I’m going to be 30 in a couple months and when will I get this chance again to see the country? So, each night when I stop, I plan where I will go next.

This is what it’s looking like so far: I got back on I-90 in Upstate New York Monday afternoon and made it to Erie, PA Monday night. Today I drove along I-90 and am a few miles outside Chicago. For safety reasons, I won’t yet reveal the city/town I’m in, but I can tell you I’m in really nice hotel. It’s a Hilton chain.

Tomorrow (July 4th), I will take in a few Chicago sights before getting back on the highway. My next stop is Minneapolis, MN. That’s where I will be for the night of the 4th. Then on Thursday, I will go to the Mall of America (which I’m super-excited to finally see!!!) Then I will head to my next destination, which is as of yet unknown but probably be somewhere in Montana or SD. I am really considering driving over to Seattle, WA because I’ve always wanted to see it, and I won’t be too far from it.

Today’s Photos:

Pleassssssse don’t laugh at me for taking really lame pictures. I was kind of feeling under the weather today - especially after I ate McDonald’s for lunch. My poor body is mad at me for suddenly eating junk food when for weeks, I was only feeding it grilled meats, eggs and veggies. Honestly, I have been trying to eat healthy. I even had an apple and veggie sandwich today for my first meal of the day.

I just ordered this fabulous dinner from the hotel, and couldn’t resist taking a photo of it!

Here is my laptop, sitting on the desk in the hotel (before my food arrived):

Notice my favorite site up on the browser… (I’m in a silly mood).

Today, I left Erie, PA at about noon. I was in no rush and stopped in the Super K-Mart for supplies before heading out. As I was driving through Cleveland, OH later on, I got a reallly horrible picture of the skyline. It’s so bad that I’m not going to post it.

Instead, here is my speedometer as I was coming out of Cleveland:

Yeah, I know - a bit fast. I should have known better, considering I received my first ever speeding ticket in the state of Ohio several years ago on my first ever road trip. But there were people going faster than me, so I felt safe.

The photo below shows the average speed that I’ve been traveling at on the interstates. It goes up or down 5 miles, depending on if I have to pass trucks or slow drivers.

As you can see, none of my dashboard lights were on (thank goodness!) and I had a full tank of gas.

Anyway, as a last lame photo, here is a shot of the room I’m in:

It smells very nice, which is more than I can say for the Erie Days Inn room I was in last night!

Other Observations:

I haven’t seen any other New Hampshire plates since leaving NY State yesterday. I saw a Mass plate today in Indiana. I saw other plates from all over - all the way from Delaware, Florida and Virginia to Colorado.  One of my hobbies while driving is checking out license plates.  (Hey - not much else to do on the road!)  I also like sometimes checking out what other people are doing while driving.  Yesterday, for example, there was a guy swerving all over the road.  When I finally passed him, I noticed that he was trying to read a large fold-up paper map, which was propped on his dashboard.  No wonder he was all over the road!

I will get better pictures tomorrow, for sure!

I only have time for a super-quick update because I’m running behind!

However, quite a lot happened since I left New Hampshire. I’ll list the basics here and go into details later:

• I accidentally drove 150 miles in the wrong direction somewhere in Eastern NY, which landed me in Plattsburgh, NY on Monday night. (20 minutes from the Canadian border near Montreal!)
• Yesterday I drove like a bat out of hell to make up for lost time, and managed to get to Erie, PA, which I am about to leave.
• Tonight I will drive to Chicago and stay somewhere in the city.

I stayed in Days Inn in both locations. I doubt I will stay in another one until I hit Minneapolis (although I’m not sure about that either). The one here in Erie, PA is kind of yucky. I got out of the shower about 20 minutes ago to workmen standing outside my window - on the third floor! And the cheap curtains don’t even close all the way. Not to mention they started doing some sort of construction at 7am.

More later. For now, I have two photos for you all. Both were taken somewhere on 87 in New York State.

My lovely car:

The view from 87, somewhere in the mountains at a rest stop:

Sorry for the lousy pics. I promise to take more today! My little detour yesterday threw me off.

Hey everyone, welcome to my road trip blog.  I’m about to head out of New Hampshire and start my journey, which will eventually lead me to Southern California.

I will update tonight with photos, etc.