Driven, nuts...

I'm in NJ right now at the parent's house for Thanksgiving. I took today off, and my employer gives both Thursday and Friday off (yeah for working in higher education), which gives me a nice 5-day weekend. I get along pretty well with my family, but because I live 3 states away I don't get to see them a whole lot, so it's nice to spend some time with them, get some good food, ect. I always feel a little pang of sadness and guilt that I don't see them more often when I'm there, but it's great to be able to spend some time.

I had an awful drive getting here. Unlike most people who make the Baltimore/NJ drive and take I-95/the NJ Turnpike, I take 83 North to 81 North to 78 east. It takes about the same time normally, but there are minimal tolls, better scenery, and cheaper gas.

The first sign that the drive was going to be bad was that it was raining. I hate driving in the rain. Part of this is because my first car, an '87 K-car, was horrible in the rain. It's inabliity to stop or resist hydroplaning in the rain, combined with teenage stupidity, have seared a dislike of driving in the rain into my mind despite being a better driver and having a car that has traction control, ABS, and all those other modern conviniences. The other thing about driving in the rain is that it seems everyone stinks at it - people either crawl along at insanely slow rates, or drive in the same crazy way they would in good weather.

There also was truck crash on I-83 that closed the road down. Traffic was diverted to the PA turnpike. I spent about an hour crawling about two miles up 83. When I got on the PA turnpike, there were no detour signs, so I had to guess where to go - luckily I guessed right.

There was more construction where 81 meets 78. Luckily, they had signs up suggesting an alternate route (222) and I decided to try it. It was very smooth - minimal traffic and nice scenery. It was exactly what the Liberals would refer to as "Jesusland" - farms, a few insustrial buildings, used car dealerships, unbranded gas stations, and lots of trees. It's interesting to see a huge (several football fields) wharehouse right accross from grazing cows.

It took me about 5 hours to get home, when it normally take me 3 and a half. Still, it's nice to be home. I've got some studying to do for a test next week, but other than that I plan on eating turkey, hitting the Black Friday morning sales (thanks to Target, I will be getting awoken at 4:30 by a robotic call from Heidi Klum. I'm going to visit a winery with my parents on Saturday, and driving back on Sunday. So don't expect a whole lot of blog posts....