I Hate Delaware

This "observations from the drive back" post has been in draft mode since Monday.

The drive back from NJ was rather... hellish. I left the house a little after 2pm, though I didn't get really get moving until 15 minutes later, that being the amount of time waiting in line for $2.03/gallon gas (12 cents cheaper than the station next door.)

Heading down on the NJ Turnpike, it started slowing down after the merge, as it typically does.

I passed the time by singing along with my Beltable Burn CD mix, which is composed of songs that I think I can sing -- there's a lot of Fountains of Wayne, Paul Simon, They Might Be Giants.

I used my phone earpiece to record myself, a kind of car karaoke experiment.

It turns out that those songs I think I can sing? Not so much.

I only had luck with a few songs from the Swingers soundtrack. I guess I'm not cut out for rock and roll.

Anyway, I tuned in to the turnpike traffic advisory radio & expected to hear about the usual delays at the Exit 1 tolls, with the usual alternate route suggestion of route 195 west to 295 south.

As alternates go, it's a pretty nice drive. Scenic, and never as crowded as the 2-lane southern stretch of the Turnpike.

I was kind of surprised to hear that because of big delays at the Delaware Memorial Bridge, they were routing people through Philly -- 195 west to 295 north.

295 north turns into 95 south, which is kind of confusing.

Anyway, Pennsylvania was pretty easy.

The lines at the Delaware tolls was brutal; since I had plenty of time to look at the map, I decided to bail and took 896 north to 2 west. This goes right through the University of Delaware.

It was pretty much all 2-lane at this point, so I settled back for a long, slow, dark drive on a succession of small roads through small towns.

Route 2 turned into 273, which takes you past Blue Ball Road (a road that I have travelled down many times), then to route 1 and the town of Rising Sun, which I have always wondered is as pretty as its name.

It's not, but that's okay.

Route 1 keeps going, through the town of Conowingo and across a hydroelectric dam of the same name.

It gradually heads towards Baltimore -- just head towards the pink sky from the city lights.

Eventually, it hits 695 around Baltimore (I like 695 around Baltimore, taking the Key Bridge, especially at night. The only thing is that there's still construction going on, so it's down to one lane in certain stretches. Really narrow one lane, which is fun when it's dark and raining. High pucker factor.), and then back into the rat race on 95.