Interstates are boring, but I found a little gift!
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
16
22
Trip End
Aug 09, 2008
Budd Lake,
New Jersey,
United States
Saturday, July 26, 2008
I saw one of the funniest sights of my trip so far: a Prius - undoubtedly bought by someone wanting their neighbours to know what an environmentally conscious person they are - being towed by the biggest frickin' tour bus of an RV I have ever seen! A family of 14 could comfortably live in it! At least their conscious is clean...
I passed into Illinois in the early afternoon and, just outside of Chicago, I found it!! A White Castle restaurant!!! Ok, for those of you who don't know what White Castle is, go rent the movie - Harold and Kumar will be happy to show you
In my head, a heavenly choir sang...
. If you don't wanna watch the movie, it's basically a fast food hamburger joint, but they serve the coolest little burgers...and I mean little! They are called sliders and they are no bigger than the palm of your hand. Three bites and they are gone. The best part is the way they are cooked - they spread a layer of onions on the grill, and then lay the little patties on top of the onions - the onions essentially steam cook the burgers (which have holes in them to allow the steam in cook them thoroughly. They then scoop the burger and onions right onto the bun, top it with a pickle, and viola! A slider! If you like fried onions (and who shouldn't, really?) you'd love a White Castle burger. I ate 6 before I left - and I smiled for hours afterward.Which brings me to my next point. I know we hear about it a lot, but MAN, are American ever FAT!!! I mean huge! It doesn't seem to matter where I go, at least half of the people I see are morbidly obese! It is really disgusting. And it's just the norm there now - nobody gives them a second glance. In fact, society is adapting to the obesity. Clothing sizes have gotten bigger there now: for women, what was a size 14, for example, would now be a 10. This way they can continue to swell but say "Wow, after all these years I'm still the same size I was in highschool!" I digress...
A Slider, with a quarter for size comparison
The I-80 merges with the I-90 and becomes a toll highway once you enter Indiana. I don't really mind the toll since the highways are fast and generally in a good state of repair with frequent rest stops complete with service centers (gas, food, washrooms, etc). What is the pain is when you exit the toll highway: you come to a self-serve toll booth. The first exit I took, at around 10:30pm when I was tired and sore and just wanted to crawl into bed, had the line at the single booth backed up about 12 vehicles. After 15 minutes, only 4 cars made it through. You do the math. So I left, think I would stop at the next exit. Unfortunately, there were no hotels at the next exit...or the 3 exits past that. About half an hour later I found a new exit, and this one had nobody at all at the booth. I rode up, took my ticket and put it in the slot as directed and...nothing. It wouldn't take the ticket. I tried another slot and still nothing. I screwed around with the stupid thing for 10 minutes and finally pressed the HELP button. And the help I got?? I got to sit and listen to a phone ring, unanswered, for another 5 minutes. Finally, at that point, another car came so I just rode around the barrier. I'll probably end up on America's Most Wanted.
Total mileage that day: 1269km, stayed in Howe, Indiana
Today was less exciting
Note the little onions and requsite pickle
. I left the hotel and rode to the nearest town which happened to be Sturgis. This is a pretty famous town among bikers and they have a huge motorcycle rally there every year. It's a cute little town, actually, very typical small town America. They even have some brick streets. Anyway, I had to find a pharmacy and buy sunscreen. Apparently my helmet visor doesn't completely block the UV rays and I now have a very attractive visor-shaped tan on my face. I am too sexy for this blog...The rest of the day was spent going fast on the highway, watching as Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania came and went. I have to say, I think Pennsylvania is one of the most beautiful states to drive through. Even on the highway, all you see are beautiful green forests, occasionally broken up by pastures. As you go through the mountains, you see tree tops stretching away for as far as you can see.
I passed into New Jersey at sundown and I still hold to my opinion - New Jersey drivers are the worst in America. I am still wound up from the tension of driving here - they go crazy fast (the only vehicles I passed where semi's and some, but not all, RVs), they don't signal, they don't shoulder check, it is just a free for all. I'm glad it was dark so that I couldn't see everything going on around me. I stopped for the night in Budd Lake, NJ.
Total mileage today: 1031km - Total for the trip: 12,006km
