Friday & Saturday, October 9th & 10th, 2015 - Homeward Bound

As I looked forward to my 1,600 mile drive home, I was not looking forward to the lousy weather forecast for Friday!  I woke up early and refreshed in New Brunswick, figuring I was probably three hours from the US/Canada border.  The skies appeared clear although it was very chilly.  I  thought "Gee, maybe they have the predictions for rain all wrong."  But the further I drove south, the worse the skies looked.

By the time I got to the border crossing into Maine, it was pouring.  I would not see dry roads again until after dark in New York.  The drive was really unpleasant . . . no attractions along the way, nothing interesting to see or distractions to take me off course. I was very happy that I had decided to check out the lighthouses along Maine's coastline on my drive into Bar Harbor two weekends earlier. 

I got into the Boston area ahead of what I expected would be rush hours . . . probably 3:00pm.  Of course, it was Friday and it was also the Columbus Day weekend.  A bad combo in New England especially with the peak fall colors predicted.

I kept on keeping on, and made my way to New York State.  While the rain had ended around 6:00pm, it was dark and I was mindful that deer were out and about.  I found a nice place to stop for the night . . . the Chatham Travel Lodge in Chatham.  At $81 including tax, I was happy to pay it rather than try to find a campground.  My research before leaving home found that a lot of the campgrounds in Pennsylvania and New York were in the $35 to $50 range so it was worth a few bucks more for a comfy bed, hot shower in the morning and electricity.

I was able to log 665 miles in spite of the rain and crummy driving conditions.

The next morning I was up right at sunrise.  I gassed up my truck and hit the road before 7:00am.  It was a frosty morning, having to scrape the ice from my windshield.  Brrrrrr . . . it would have been a chilly night in the sub-zero sleeping bag.

It was my goal to try to make it home in time to watch the Green Bay Packers' game at noon on Sunday.  I had told David that it was better than 50/50 that I might even make it home Saturday night.  I knew to do that, I'd be driving well into the night . . . maybe even as late as midnight.  I've done that long 1,000 mile trek home before.  It would just depend on the weather along the way, and the Chicago traffic on a Saturday night.

I was focused and pretty disciplined about the side tracking and chasing distractions.  It is so easy for me to just get hung up on things that interest me.  The good news is that I was able to make excellent time for the first five or six hours of my drive.  Logging photos on Facebook when I had a connection, it was noted that I made it through New York and Pennsylvania, into Ohio at something above the posted speed.

I did have my Road Trip Bingo with some serious blank squares including a brewery, distillery and winery.   Ironically, there were lots of them in Maine when I was there my first weekend of vacation . . . and there were equally as many in Canada.  I just hadn't bothered to chase after them since I was chasing other things like covered bridges, bowling alleys and lighthouses!
A side detour at the Pennsylvania/Ohio border had me checking off winery, complete with a couple of photos and a nice stretch of the legs.  But before I made it to Cleveland, I needed gas.  My Gas Buddy app find the best pricing.

What it didn't warn me about was the other distractions at that exit.  I suppose the good news was that I was able to check off the distillery and brewery within a few miles of the gas station.  What I didn't count on was literally stumbling upon the Harpersfield Covered Bridge, the oldest covered bridge in Ohio that is included on the National Register of Historic Places.

I probably spent an hour, maybe even 90 minutes on this series of gas stop detours.  As it turned out, it was probably an alright thing as I arrived into Chicago behind what had been significant traffic delays all day.  As I monitored my route home, the delays had been estimated to be between 30 and 60 minutes, but once I arrived to the area, there was some stop and go but nothing as significant as an hour.

I rolled into Casa Bennett at 9:45pm after 950 miles.  I think my total "on the road" time for the day was about 16 hours.  Doing the math, that works out to just under 60 MPH, including stops, etc.  Interstate tollway speed limits of 70, allows for a reasonable 75-ish, so I believe that is how I made up enough time to be able to get home safely by midnight.

All totaled I drove 5,512 miles over my 16 day road trip.  It was an outstanding adventure, one I am sure I'll never forget.  I met a lot of wonderful people, saw some pretty amazing things, and learned some things along the way too.  I look forward to the time when I can return to Nova Scotia and see more of what they have to offer . . . and to try a locally caught and prepared lobster!

The final Road Trip Bingo card