Today is pretty much the last day of my trip as tomorrow is just packing and rental car returning and flying. It was spent with a very short time at the Ben and Jerry's Factory in Waterbury, Vermont, followed by what was supposed to be an 8-hour drive, but turned into ten and a half.



Ben and Jerry’s was very cute. I got some little presents for my nieces and nephew, and I did the $3 factory tour which was quite interesting. That location makes 250,000 pints of ice cream per day. That is a lot of ice cream. At the end of the tour we got to sample one of the newer flavors of ice cream – Milk and Cookies. It was delicious. And our tour guide informed me that as a Ben & Jerry’s employee, they get 3 free pints of ice cream for every day that they work. Lucky!

So I hit the road at about 10:30, and without any stops, my GPS put me where I needed to be at around 6:30pm. I was lucky enough to be able to stay with Hayley’s boyfriend’s family – the Benders – just outside of Philly, so that way I would have an easy drive tomorrow.

To get to the town of Hatboro, Pennsylvania, I had to drive through 6 states – Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and finally Pennsylvania. It was a long drive, and not very much fun. I stopped at a Burger King so I could get myself a veggie burger.

A couple hours later I saw a sign for Dunkin Doughnuts, and thought that would be a good little pick-me-up, but I had already passed that one, so I put in my GPS to find one along the route. The first one it brought me to, I didn’t see, so I had to go down the street a ways to turn around. Turns out this was a very busy area, and nobody there could drive very well, and a truck right behind me at a traffic light got rear-ended by a car. I was just one car away from getting in an accident! That was a little scary.

So I tried to find another one, but the GPS directed me to some weird street with no Dunkin Doughnuts, and I’m thinking okay, perhaps I am just not supposed to have any doughnuts, but I became even more determined. So, third times a charm, as the third time I inputted that in my GPS, I was directed to a very easy to find location for some tasty doughnuts and milk. And in true police man fashion, in walks an officer of that town, and every employee of that DD was like "HEY! Its Steve!" Some stereotypes are just true.

Now, I’m sugared up on doughnuts, and about 2 hours away from Hatboro. The second I entered New York, traffic just came to a stand still. It took me about and hour and a half to go about 15 miles. That was torturous.

Here is a good joke for ya…..

Why do they call New Jersey the Garden State?

Because "Oil and Petrochemical Refinery State" wouldn't fit on a license plate.

Now I cant take credit for that joke, it was from Miss Congeniality. Anyways...

Literally the moment I cross the border into New Jersey it reeked of sewer and garbage. It was quite reminiscent of the stench in India. It was disgusting.

But finally, through smells, accidents, traffic and six states, I reached my destination. I hung out with Hayley, Josh and friends all night and we ended by eating some food at a diner. Unfortunately, on my final night of the trip, I got sick because I didn’t have any dinner, and I had some sangria, and my tummy didn’t like that.

All in all, I have had quite the successful trip. I did everything I set out to do, and out of 14 nights, I only had to pay for lodging for three of them. And that only amounted to $97.16. That is for all three nights combined! Hotels are so lame. I love staying in the Hostels.