I wake up to Labor Day morning rest area zoo. The fact that I slept until 10:30am means I'm in the thick of it. The place I'd parked was not off to the edge of the rest area, either, but close to the center. But it really was the darkest spot last night.
This is only my third rest area sleep of the trip. The first one was in Kansas near the Colorado line, the second was in Montana, west of Billings. I like the independent-ness of crashing at rest areas, and some of them (not this one) are set up so that it's easy to get away from the lights. Also, if you crash early (I didn't) you can get up at dawn and just continue driving (like I did in Kansas).
The driving continues. Through Erie, PA, and onto the New York State Thruway, past Buffalo (which was where traffic picked up, and then once I got to the other side, disappeared), Rochester, and Syracuse. And then I trusted the GPS again. I had glanced at the route and noticed it was taking me off the Thruway to hit the Northway. That's fine; there's a shortcut near Schenectedy that we sometimes take, since diving south into Albany isn't necessary.
Alas, I didn't look closely enough. It took me off the Thruway long before Schenectedy and on state roads to eventually get on the Northway at Saratoga Springs. That was 40 miles of slow, wasted, driving. Another data point for Garmin's customer support center, I guess.
I entered Vermont, and took Rte 30 to Middlebury, during which there was another incredible sunset. They even happen here. Thinking about that, and about all the rain folks have said they've gotten, made me realize that I have been gone for 42 days and beautiful weather has followed me for all but perhaps three of them.I pulled into the driveway with my new car, and parked it in the garage. Home.
The GPS reads 11,656 miles, of which 7.346 were done in this car. That's a lot of bug splat.
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