October 2006

The Pennsylvania Turnpike.




The Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I am a big road geek. I’ve always been fascinated by maps and roads, especially the interstate system. I’ve recently started studying to become a real traffic engineer, making my life long interest into my “final” career.

When I started out on my long trip yesterday, I had intended to drive down into Virginia and spend some time in *Pulaski, Va., since I had grown up near *Pulaski, N.Y. and I had always been curious as to what Pulaski, Va. was like. Due to traffic conditions and whatnot, I wouldn’t really have made it down there in time to do anything but drive through, wave a bit and then head back home along Interstate 81, with my expected arrival to be Sunday night around 8 p.m.

I must be getting old.

So when I got up this morning, I decided that I would take a different route and drive the entire length of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Earl and I have traveled on various portions of the “Nation’s First Superhighway”, especially the eastern end since his family lives just off the last exit of the turnpike, but I had never driven all the way to the western end where it crosses into Ohio and becomes the Ohio Turnpike. As a road geek and aspiring traffic engineer, I’ve always been quite fascinated by this road because a good share of it’s original design from the late 1930s is still in place and in use today.

So I drove from Carlisle, Pa. to the Ohio line (and beyond) along the Pennsylvania Turnpike today. And while it’s “just a road” to most, it’s a creation of civil engineering beauty to me. It’s very fun to drive in that there’s a lot of scenery, especially this time of year with the autumn colors painting the mountains, plus there’s curves and hills and straightaways and everything that makes driving the RSX on this roadway fun. Plus it has tunnels!

One of the things I especially like about the Turnpike is that it was built, for the most part, along an old railroad bed. So unlike it’s northern counterpart, the New York State Thruway, it passes close to civilization rather that far away from it. There’s things to see along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I was in road geek heaven today. The Pennsylvania Turnpike is officially my “favorite road”.

Here’s a very detailed history of the roadway, courtesy of fellow road geek Jeff Kitsko.

Here’s my blog entry from last year (complete with photos), from when I visited an abandoned portion of the original Turnpike (including an abandoned tunnel) near Breezewood, Pa.

And here’s the official site of The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

* The “ski” in Pulaski, Va. is like pronounced like a ski slope, and the “ski” in Pulaski, N.Y. is pronounced like the clear blue sky. Pulaski, N.Y. is the only one that does the odd pronounciation.

The Voices.

I was sound asleep and I was hearing voices. Loud voices. Voices loud enough to wake me out of my peaceful slumber. So I got up and padded around the hotel room. As I got out of bed, the voices stopped. I figured they were part of some quickly fading dream that I didn’t remember and quickly dismissed the insignificant experience.

As I started readying myself for the day, I started hearing these voices again. I peeked out the peep hole in the hotel room door, no one was out there. I cracked open the door, taking great pains to not expose my current state of undress and took a cautious glance up and down the hotel corridor. No one in sight in either direction.

And then the voices started getting louder. And angrier. Somewhere in my head, two people were arguing. Oddly enough, the voices were female. I confirmed that the television was off. I put my ear up to the common walls with the other rooms, no sounds from there.

But the voices persisted. Loud, angry, non-English voices. Accusatory tone. Somewhat shrill. “Is this how one goes mad in a hotel room in Maryland?”, I pondered. Do I have some Exorcist thing going on?

And then it dawned on me, the voices were coming out of the vent in the bathroom. Apparently somewhere in the hotel, some surly guests or the housekeeping staff were having some hellacious cat fight. They were still yammering and almost hissing at each other.

And they were broadcasting it over the “bathroom p.a. system.”

Edgewood, Md.

Well I’m settled in for the night just north of Baltimore in a town called Edgewood, Md. I love Hampton Inn. No matter where you go, there they are. I’ve checked in with Earl several times, who is en route to the Eagles game in Tampa with his brother. I have to admit that it is very odd (and in a way, somewhat depressing) for us to be having sort of separate vacations. This is one of the rare times that I can say that I’m glad I have a cell phone, because it allows my fingers to do the walking right to my partner, where I can hear his voice, anytime, anywhere and I don’t feel so quite alone.

I just went to the shopping plaza down the street, where they have a Wal*Mart and a Target Greatland in the same plaza. I found this to be quite odd. I walked around both.

Now I’m catching up on my blogs, fooling around with the digital camera a little bit and getting ready to call it a night. I’m still messing around with my route for tomorrow and Sunday; I guess only time will tell where I end up. I know that I’ll be home late Sunday afternoon so that I’m ready for work on Monday.

Only the fates know what lies on the path in the meantime.

Barnsboro, N. J.

After taking some back roads through the Hudson Valley, I decided around mid afternoon that if I was going to get anywhere, I would have to jump on the Thruway and head south (since the rain was heading north and east, sorry Karl.)

So I jumped on the New York State Thruway and headed for the Big Apple.

The traffic and rain were both heavy as I made my way south, so I opted to head for blue sky and jumped onto I-287 and headed into New Jersey.

Have I ever mentioned that I’m not a huge fan of New Jersey?

As I made my way down the interstate, the skies let loose with buckets of rain and lots of wind, leaving me to ask “What happened to the blue sky?” Leaves were blowing everywhere, sort of like a last minute attempt at autumn. But I kept heading south, with the plans of hitting Interstate 95 and trying to get to at least Washington, D.C. tonight.

The New Jersey Turnpike thought better.

The radio report on ‘New Jersey 101.5’ advised that there was a 15 mile backup southbound on the turnpike between exits 8A and 7A. Apparently that report was wrong, because the backup actually went all the way up to Exit 10 and was spilling onto I-287. So I jumped off and started the trek down the back roads.

Have I ever mentioned that I’m not a fan of driving in New Jersey? I’ve driven in 42 states. New Jersey is my least favorite of them. The problem is that any attempts at transportation progress has been nipped by “NIMBY” (Not In My Back Yard) organizations. That’s why I-95 follows the NJ Turnpike, it was originally suppose to be its own road. So I joined the other couple of thousand drivers that took to the back roads as well and waited at traffic light after light after light after light after light after light.

I was getting extremely tense as I was making my way down backroads through Jersey. I was not enjoying the drive at all when I came upon a little town called Barnsboro. It was getting close to six and I was needing to relax. Having twirled my beard the entire trip so far (it’s a bad habit I have), I decided that I would relax by settling into a barber chair and getting my beard shaved off. I know that sounds a little odd, but for those that have had such an experience, you know that women relax by going to the spa or nail salon and the closest thing a guy can get to that is a professional shave by a barber. Not wanting to explain to the barber why I was getting the shave, I told him I was in town to get together with family. I hated lying to the guy but I didn’t feel it would complicate things any.

So I was the last customer in this little barbershop and came out with a little stubble mustache and cheeks as smooth as a baby’s bottom. It’s a look I like and will probably compliment with a stubble goatee for a while. The most important thing was that I was relaxed after the experience (and great conversation with the young barber) and ready to continue my journey with a clear mind. So I pressed onward.

Saugerties, N.Y.




Saugerties, N.Y.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Today I began my three-day road trip by heading down through the Hudson Valley. A famous person once said that with the interstate system you could travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific and not see a thing in between.

I find that to be very true.

So I took back roads where I could today, with my first stop being in the charming village of Saugerties, N.Y.

Earl and I have passed through Saugerties a couple of times. It’s about 50 or so miles south of Albany along US 9W, on the western bank of the Hudson River. It gets it’s own Thruway exit.

Saugerties is a cool little village in that they have never succumbed to the “urban renewal” plans, often seen in Upstate N.Y. Instead of abandoning their little downtown area and favoring big box stores out by the freeway, Saugerties is home to a charming village area with coffee shops, locally owned restaurants and eateries, artsy type places and antique shops. Lots of antique shops.

I had lunch at a locally owned lunch counter called “Dallas Hot Weiners.” It’s a very busy place, even after 1:00 p.m. The lunch counter overlooks the grills and fryers, there’s a few booths scattered about. I had the “Dallas Cheeseburger Special with fries”, which meant my cheeseburger came with lettuce and tomato on the side and had a dollop of their special sauce which looked a little bit like Cincinnati chili but tasted much better.

The whole meal, including a can of pop, came to $5.60.

Sitting at this lunch counter and walking around this little retail district reminded me of what my hometown used to be like, before everyone decided the plaza out by the interstate would be a better location. Saugerties sets a fine example of what an Upstate New York village can be like, all it takes is a little bit of TLC. I look forward to going back soon, and bringing Earl along with me the next time.

We Are Just So Lucky.

Kylie Minogue is teaming up with her old production team of Stock, Aiken and Waterman for her next album. Stock, Aiken and Waterman were behind her early hits like “I Should Be So Lucky”, “Especially For You” and the remake of “The Locomotion”. Other tracks they produced include Rick Astley’s first album, including “Together Forever”, “That’s What Love Can Do” by Boy Krazy and Donna Summer’s “This Time I Know It’s For Real”.

“Kylie will never move away from her pop roots but her new tunes will be edgy and a bit dirtier, she is kind of updating pop so that her songs are catchy but not cheesy.”

Now’s that the kind of thing we cheesy DJs like to hear. That we’re obsolete.

Let The Sunshine In.

So my weekend roadtrip is not that far off and I still haven’t decided where I’m going to drive. I think I’m just going to search for sun. This weekend is suppose to be rather rainy up in these parts and I’m not really in the mood to watch it rain while Earl is hanging out in Tampa with his brother, so I think I’m going to find myself some sun. So I’m going to pack some clothes, grab the weather radio and drive in the direction of blue sky, with the intent on being back home Sunday evening so I can ready myself for work and be ready to tackle next week’s on-call head on without stress.

I think it’s going to be interesting and I’m looking forward to the adventure.

I will have my digital camera and PowerBook in tow, so I’ll be posting photos and blogging from the road. I think that’s my favorite aspect of blogging, letting others know that there’s a big, wide, wonderful world out there for everyone to enjoy.

Questions from the Floor.

I’ve installed a new commenting system on here so that I’m not bombarded with spam as I have been in the past. I’m not a huge fan of forcing readers to register in order to leave comments so that’s why I’m going with this new system.

In honor of the new commenting system, I’m inviting anyone that stops by to ask me *anything*. I’ve been commenting on other blogs about the merits of being an openly gay man and this is sort of a test to myself to see if I really am. So feel free to ask me anything. Anything at all.

I’ll answer all questions right here in the blog, for everyone else to see.

Almost Time.




Almost Time.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Bleary eyed and barely awake, I drove into work this morning in darkness. I’ve griped about how much I hate daylight saving time in the past, and I’m saving my latest rant for when we get closer to the change in a week and a half.

While I love “the dark”, there’s just something wrong about starting your day at work while it’s dark outside.