We left Newport about 9:00, assuming we would have a leisurely day of travel and get back to Richmond at a reasonable time. But it seems that a member of our party is a University of Connecticut fanatic, and was very hopeful (but not insistent, or unpleasant, or demanding - just encouraging us to want to make a small detour) that we might travel a bit out of the way to visit Storrs and check out the Home of the Huskies.
Which we did, after unintentionally going through the outskirts of Providence, and traveling some really pretty back roads. I said any number of times, both out loud, and under my breath: I am so thankful I am here in August instead of January. Everything was so green, lush, lots of wildflowers blooming along miles and miles of right of way, as well as beautiful bushes that looked like snowball viburnum (similar to hydrangeas, but bright white blooms and much larger than a hydrangea would get) and lots of rudbeckia planted in landscaping, looking like mini-versions of sunflowers with bright yellow petals and dark eyed center. Still so thankful I was not there when it was bare, drab, grey with miles and miles of icy roads, and black, stained snow banks piled up everywhere.
Beautiful campus at UConn. We had 'way too many navigators, everyone except me with GPS on 'phones giving directions to get us to the bookstore. Where I bought postcards, and others made purchases that turned out to be a really nice Christmas gift. We drove in circles (2) trying to figure out how to get back on the path, heading towards Hartford and I-95.
Tooling around through CN, and on to the dreaded NYC (even though it was remarkably un-scarey when we whizzed through on Sunday morning: obviously the Perfect Time for one to brave the streets of NYC). It was awful. There was a baseball game going on: and it took us over twice as long to get through the Bronx area as on Sunday. We were actually stalled for so long, we inched our way up on an exit and found a McD., where we all were relieved to relieve ourselves. I personlly had to go so badly, and did not see any advantage to waiting my turn: I went in Men. We decided we do not like the restrooms in the City: they do not have stalls - only one person can do their business at a time, unless you are brave enough to go in Men.
Had to circle around about ten blocks to get to an entrance ramp, and thankful to only be passing through, and not a permanent resident.
There were guys standing on the dotted line in the middle of the 8-lane Interstate, hawking DVDs and earphones. The general agreement from the backseat is that you would be buying an empty box, but too far down the road to do anything about it. Got past the stadium area, and on to the NJ turnpike where traffic would periodically pick up to a reasonable speed, then drop back down to 20 mph for no apparent reason. We probably paid over a hundred dollars in tolls in the course of the week: between highways (that I am sure I already paid for once) and bridges, it seemed like there was always some generally frowning, chronically unpleasant, constipated looking female sticking her hand out, grumpily wanting $1.25, or $4, or $12.50 to allow us to move on through.
Having diverted through UConn, and stuck in creeping traffic for several hours, caused us to miss the rush hour traffic we would have encountered around Baltimore and DC: that's the good news. The bad news is that it was entirely too close to midnight before we finally got off the interstate and stopped - not nearly close enough to Richmond to suit the guy who gets a goal in mind and won't quit until it is accomplished. But the back seat team was road weary. So we stopped just south of Washington, knowing we could jump back on I-95 and easily get to the Airport the following mornin7
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