H-93 Somerset L H 71 L 58 RAIN H H 74 L 57 M H 78 L 63 T-STORMS
L-75 C H 93 L 74
Bear update The Bear says The Bear says I Pursued Piratesses Through Tunnel After Tunnel Party. TR says, “Where could they be going.” Moose say, “You got one, Bear!” Lou says we will have a Piratesses Shot Them Upstairs Party. We will serve High Noon Foods. The Amazon says, “It’s High Noon for the Bear.”
We woke up to sun. Will it last? It lasted, and the temperature in Somerset climbed to 93.
Tucson 85/74 T-STORMS Brooklyn 93/77 T-STORMS Brooklyn 92/72 tomorrow
We woke up at 7:30AM. We got dressed and went to CP in the lobby. We checked out of room 134 at 9:59AM. Our first pit stop was at a rest area near Grantville on 81. Our second pit stop was at a Loves/McDonalds truck stop at exit 23 Shartlesville to buy a flat of water. Our third pit stop was lunch. We stopped at a McDonalds in Allentown at exit 54. Traffic picked up as we got closer to New Jersey. We see New York license plates. New York is 71 miles. We see the last exit in Pennsylvania. Our fourth pit stop was at exit 75 Exxon. The fifth pit stop was at the Pilot Travel Center in Clinton. We bought another flat of water and klondikes. After that we pulled off the road at the La Quinta Somerset. You can read below why we asked for our money back and drove to exit 10, Courtyard by Marriott, instead. We went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s, which is attached to this hotel. You don’t even have to go outside. We called my parents at dinner and tipped the waiter for the first time on this trip for getting us pointers about how to reach the cruise terminal. We did lots of postcards and mailed them. Then we started repacking our luggage in earnest and doing laundry. This is it before the ship. The Comfort Inn tomorrow night doesn’t have a guest laundry yet. It’s under construction.
At least we’re off the PA Turnpike today. We’re driving up Ii-78 towards NYC. We just stopped at a Loves/McDonalds Truck Stop. It wasn’t 3 miles off the road like the Pizza Den yesterday. It was right at the exit. When you don’t have government interference such as the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission there is an incentive for private businesses to build stores along the highway. The Turnpike Commission ought to step out of the way and let Pennsylvania step into the 21st century.
The La Quinta in Somerset, New Jersey is the only motel we walked out of on the whole trip so far — the past three weeks. As soon as we entered the hallway a dank smell engulfed us. It was dingy, dark, and depressing. The elevator barely worked. We took the stairs. They looked like a fire escape, nothing nice at all. The A/C in the room was broken. The maintenance man didn’t know how to fix it. He didn’t speak English and didn’t have the key to another room on the second floor to show us. We got our money back right away and checked into the Courtyard by Marriott two more exits down the highway in Somerset. Would you believe the La Quinta was charging the same amount as the Marriott? And the Marriott looks brand new!
Must call before Friday:
1)BW Breezewood desk clerk
2)FEDEX
3)Christine about email communications and talk to dog
4)Mailboxes in Tucson
George’s Address:
George Hammel
Aastro Transmission
8150 East 22nd Street
Tucson, AZ 85710
The Dog/Cat Report:
On Monday, the first full day the pets were at the kennel, Sabaka got the lady to walk him the way he’s used to it — on a leash. He got to pull all he wanted. He didn’t eat as much. Christine said he was “melancholy”. But by Tuesday he was getting into the routine, especially after Gary talked to him on the phone on Monday night and told him he was going to get a toy from Amazon. Amazon.com delivered the toy on Tuesday afternoon, and the dog sniffed the package. The lady gave it to him, and he had fun.
Putlitz got to go to Petco on Monday with Christine. People said, “Wow!” Before that he was hiding under the bed. She put him in his stroller. He didn’t want to come out, so she put his bed in there.
Last night at dinner at Bob Evans Restaurant in Harrisburg my mother said she was going to visit the pets on Thursday.
As we drive down the highway toward NYC I think what will tomorrow be like. This is getting more and more urbanized. There is more and more traffic. Tomorrow we have to actually enter NYC for the first time since 1975. I never liked New York the few times that I ever visited it: a vacation trip in grade school, three trips to JFK to goto Europe on vacation, and visit in 1974 and a visit in 1975 to go to the Met. I’ve had all sorts of dealings with the New York publishing industry over the years, which is another reason I don’t like the city. But here I come.
Still no contract . . .
What next?