I do get around...

Yesterday was a loooooooong day. In keeping with my "make no solid plans" approach to this trip, I bailed on what I was *thinking* of doing and did something else entirely. Decided to drive from Sandusky Ohio to Boston Massachewsits in one hit.

If I had a brain, I'd have gotten up early and gotten under way by 8am or something. But I don't have a brain and I meandered out of bed around 9am, off at 10am to continue my love affair with breakfasts in diners and finally hit the road at 11am. Straight into a Saturday morning traffic jam because no one here seems to know how to merge. I practiced my ranting and refined my insults quite a bit.

Because I didn't hate the **** box car enough already, I had to stop and fill the damned thing with fuel every half hour because I swear it has a gas tank the size of a ping pong ball. This slowed me down considerably.

Fun things I saw on the road. Lots and lots of people on motorbikes with no helmets. One dude on his bike *with* a helmet while his woman sat on the back with no helmet. And they say chivalry is dead. I also saw some signs that suggest what used to be "Rest stops" are now "Text stops". Like that'll ever happen. To show my support for this initiative, I took a photo of one as I blew past at 130km/hr. I saw a Ford with a number plate framed by the words "I work for Ford, I drive a Ford". On his back window, he had a sticker that said "Please don't put my flag on your foreign car". This sticker of course had an American flag on it. Made me want to drive a Ford and slap a Mexican flag sticker on it. See what he thinks of that one...

Even though I've sworn up and down in the past I wouldn't travel overseas anymore into any country's summer, I'm a bit glad it was forced on me. The drive yesterday went from Sandusky, which is about half way across Ohio, east into the far north west corner of Pennsylvania then up into New York state and very literally across the entire width of New York and the entire width of Massachusetts to Boston, which is on the coast. This is 1128km, according to google maps. One hell of a drive for a single sitting. Anyway, my point is, that north east corner of America in summer is incredibly beautiful. It's green, lush, undulating, picturesque in every way and it just goes on and on.

Which after six or seven hours can begin to be a bit of a problem and I ended up fuelling myself with caffeine to stave off the steering wheel power naps. By the time I blasted into Boston at 11pm, I was pretty damned wired. And starving. Motel fortunately had a Mexican restaurant. It wasn't up to Pink Taco standards, but it was decent enough. And they served Margaritas big enough to drown in. So I had several. Still needed sleeping tablets to sleep, though. *sigh*

I got up this morning with a full day to kill in Boston. I tried to ponder what most people would want to see in Boston... Fenway Park, downtown, something historical... Nah... What would Linley do?

Linley would google outlet malls and indulge in a spot of shopping because I decided I hadn't brought enough shirts for work. That crack ***** in my GPS really cocked up on this one. Tried to take me to a run down car park outside a dodgy looking restaurant in an armpit looking suburb. I was able to figure out where she'd gone wrong and find my own way there, fortunately. I have no idea what she was thinking. It was like hitting "I'm feeling lucky" in google, instead of "search". Twit.

During the drive yesterday I'd had a random thought, totally out of nowhere, while trying to figure out what to do with my day "in" Boston. The thought went something like this. "Hang on, wasn't Lizzie Borden from Massachusetts???" A quick google revealed that yes, she was. And the infamous house was only an hour out of Boston. Winning!!! And you could tour the house!!! More winning!!!

And that's where I went after lunch. To see where "Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty one." OK, so technically it was her step mother and she was hit about 17 times and her father was hit 11 times but that doesn't sound nearly as poetic. She was also acquitted of this crime because in 1892, a woman doing such a thing was unconscionable. Nevertheless, the story continues so I did the tour then headed over to the historical society to see their display which included evidence from the trial. Was heaps fascinating!!

After that I did actually drive into downtown Boston in search of a Thai massage to try and beat my body back into submission. 8-12 hour days in the car broken up only by days of brutal roller coastering have put me and my hips on poor terms. All good now, though. Then I dropped the rental **** box back at the airport and was collected by a private driver who took me to the door of my hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire. It's nearly midnight and tomorrow I start my training at work.

This could be my last blog update for a bit as I don't expect anything too exciting to happen at work. Unless I end up writing a blog called "Stupid questions Americans have asked me". That will probably happen sooner or later.

I do have some good plans for the weekend though, so stand by. If I can remember any of it, I'll probably blog about it. ;-)