This morning began with an ill omen, snow. Check it out below. Totally a surprise for us, yesterday was sunny and blue. Rained last night while we were having dinner - I had my first Philly Cheesesteak and I am now fatter but converted to a new culinary delight. With onions, peppers, and extra cheese sauce and gravy on the fries, please. Rained out game 5 of the World Series, played just a couple of hours down the road in Philladelphia.
So, off we went this morning against the best advice of everyone around. To the east of us, where we came from yesterday, the storm was particularly bad as it took down trees with the wet snow and winds. And power lines down too, with bad road accidents as well closing 30 miles (!!) of Interstate 84. But that was to the northeast, we are going mainly south. We only have to get over the next couple of mountain passes and we are down into the rain. We went even higher in the Pocono mountains as we left Scranton, higher and higher as the snow continued to fall and pile up. The last bit, to the highest summit, was spent behind a big semi who was behind two snowplows and a sand truck. Cresting the summit we found hardly any snow, and soon none at all. We had heard that the storm was due to a low pressure area coming up the east coast, with rain and wind, meeting cold air coming down from the Great Lakes. A so-called 'lake effects' storm, a nasty beast for sure. I was very happy to see the downhill side of that last mountain pass.
As we came down from the Poconos to our home for the night, the weather was very rainy and very very windy. Just before Baltimore, as we were getting onto the 695 Beltway, the wind and rain were replaced by broken clouds and finally clear skies. That was nice, the Boston and Baltimore beltways (or ring roads) are bad enough; the roads are between three and six lanes wide in each direction and the posted speeds aren't even regarded as guidelines by the locals. Jan has to just sit there, dealing with Hal and her maps and guidebooks, seeing the traffic blasting in at us from the approach ramps. I watch that traffic too, knowing that I'm already going 120 kph in the slow lane and have little accelleration left when I have to move into the faster traffic to make room. Provoking from time to time, but not as bad as it sounds. The Honda has been fantastic, great milage and comfortable, but it is not a car for the congested high speed roads of the big American cities. Only Washington left to go now, and we are going into the city center so it shouldn't be too bad.
Now, finally, a lovely but cool evening here in Laurel, Maryland. We reached a level of road fatigue today, so we are going to stay here for a couple of days, chill out, and rest up before the big city of Washington DC. Somebody stole a lug nut off our right front wheel last night and I didn't notice it till I did a walkaround this evening. All the rest very tight, but one missing. Who would do that? Have to buy another tomorrow morning, three out of four is pretty good odds but not on these roads.
