Made it to Youngstown, Ohio. A bit over a thousand miles today, according to Google Maps. It’s really late – after 3 AM here – but I would have been here several hours ago were it not for the horrendous traffic south of Chicago on I-80. It took me nearly two hours to go about 4 miles, thanks to the inevitable but nonetheless inexplicable inability of humans to merge efficiently when, say, three lanes go down to two. But apart from that and a spot of rain in Nebraska, today was just fine. Cranked through some tunes on the iPod, a couple of CD’s, and couple of hours of Stephen King’s Cell which, while not up to the literary standard of something like Atkinson’s Case Studies which I polished off a couple of trips ago, is quite entertaining. Thank god I’m not in the trucking business, because my books on tape bill would be staggering. There are few things better for killing drive time.
Anyhow, the plan now is for me to get up late tomorrow and complete the final 367 miles to NJ by mid afternoon, and then crash. I’ve been able to take care of a couple of press and client calls while in transit, so if something urgent does come up feel free to give me a ring. But otherwise, I’ll look forward to getting back to regular posting next week.
Ryan Tomayko says:
June 16, 2006 at 5:28 am
I’m in Akron, bro. I wish I had known you were coming through town, I could have dropped by with burritos or something.
stephen ogrady says:
June 16, 2006 at 8:23 am
ah damn. wish i’d thought of that – would have been a lifesaver.
let’s try and connect maybe for a quick meal on my return trip through here.
Mike Dolan says:
June 17, 2006 at 12:54 pm
I’ve driven that route a few times… it’s rough. You can put a lock on your steering wheel and coast through Nebraska. I actually perfected reading while driving in that state – read most of Open Sources 1.0 while driving through Nebraska-Colorado.
I always try to time the Chicago flyby for 1-6AM; you’re bound to be stopped any other time.
stephen ogrady says:
June 20, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Mike: reading while driving? interesting, i’d have to see that in practice. if there’s one place to do it, however, it’s on that stretch. most boring drive ever.