Day 4, Rochester, NY to York, Maine

Telling you not to laugh isn't going to help here. You're going to laugh, and eventually so are we.

I think it was 2nd grade that I found out we were going to move from Virginia to Illinois and then Idaho. I'd already lived in Michigan and Churchill, Manitoba. I made myself a promise then and there that I would see all 48 States "before I die." Of course, now there are 50, and before today I had seen 49 of them, with only Maine left to explore. So we were more than eager to get to Maine. In fact, we were so eager that we arrived a day early, and started looking for exit 7 for the hotel we were going to use for the extra night before we got out of New Hampshire. We spent an hour on Route 1, going up and down the coast of New Hampshire looking for the hotel. Finally I thought to call the hotel, and he told us to go back on the Highway 95 and continue on until we got to Maine, and then take that exit 7. Duh. It was a lot easier to find that way.

We passed through the Leatherstocking region East of Syracuse, New York earlier today, and it made me think of some of the first books I had read and loved as a pre-teen. It also made me think of one of the first contests I won as a young mom visiting Conejo Valley Days. We were passing the radio booth and the D-Jay offered a basketball for the first person to come by and answer the question, who wrote "The Deerslayer." I walked up the last ten feet and said said it was James Fenimore Cooper and handed Tighe the basketball. Boy was that kid happy.

We saw another herd of "Oreo" cows just west of Johnsville, NY, but there was nowhere to pull over to take a photo, so I'm using the one I liked from the internet.

One thing I wanted to mention was the importance of an itinerary. At one point today I hinted rather blatantly that we were approaching Cooperstown. You know, the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame? Tighe's name IS in there as the American Legion pitcher for the year for 1992, when his team won the world series. I sure would love to get a photo of that! "Oh, look at that antenna!" he exclaimed as we sailed right on past the exit. Maybe next time I'll be smart enough to have it on the itinerary along with Niagra Falls, which we passed yesterday without seeing. John really respects the itinerary. Of course, we're still only a day ahead of schedule... and if I had fussed, he would have gone back. This way I know there will be other trips.

And finally, though not in the order it happened, we ate a late breakfast at a Cracker Barrel today, and while she was checking me out at the counter, I looked down and saw a box of pecan logs. I quickly related my Dad's Pennsylvania Turnpike strategy to the clerk. She laughed and said things haven't changed much, just gotten more technological. It seems that now the people with the EZ pass are clocked as they ride beneath the monitors with their transponders. If they pass through in less time than the speed limit allows, the owner of the transponder is mailed a speeding ticket. Now that's what I call progress.