The Road to Boston

Wed 11th April
Went for a half hour jog along the level road from the cabins. Much warmer today. Still a touch of the flu.
After fond farewells headed up the I81 towards Boston. We made it as far as Harrisonburg where we crashed out at the Comfort Inn.

The Interstate highways in the US are amazing things, they are everywhere. The big difference to Australia is the lack of cops. Despite it being Spring Break (Easter) we saw only a couple of cops. The speed limit is 65 mph but that is definitely treated as a guide only. Especially the trucks fly through at 75 to 80. And there are so many trucks, they form an almost constant line up the I81. I have just seen a TV interview with a cop urging people not to drive over 90 mph!

The drivers are all over the place, and often don't indicate before changing lanes. Hand held cell phones are very common too. A big contrast to NSW where you would be almost guaranteed to be booked for consistently driving above the limit, let alone being captured by one of the many fixed cameras, of which there are none here.

The naming of all the Interstates and their exits with numbers such as I61, I231 etc is a very efficient way of navigating, travel instruction are "Take the I81 North and turn off exit 16 onto I231 South." It makes it hard to get lost.

On the flip side of the wild ride on the Interstates, Americans are extremely polite and considerate. In the two weeks here now I am yet to find one person in a bad mood (except for my kids of course), let alone hear a swear word, .

Thur 12th April
Got out and ran for an hour around Harrisonburg. Got a bit lost due to fog and ended outside city limits. We were all tired and had to catch up on shopping, email, sleep so we didn't end up getting on the road until 1pm. Made it only to Gettysburg. Got in about 6.30pm and went straight to the motel