On the Road to Newfoundland – the First Two Days

I am starting my third day on the road to Newfoundland.  The first day I put a lot of miles on the car and many of them were not by choice.  I had planned to get as far as New Jersey or Connecticut and find a nice spot to stay the night.  You know, a small town where I could be away from some of the hustle and bustle.

I was making good time so I didn’t stop in New Jersey.  I kept gong until I passed through New York and into Connecticut.  Traffic on I-95 in Connecticut is notoriously slow where you often find yourself crawling along.  This time was much the same.  It makes you wonder why I-95 isn’t either made larger there or another parallel Interstate isn’t created.   This was after 6:30 in the evening, mind you, and should have been long past rush hour.

So I made it past New Haven in the hopes that things would thin out, plus I knew there were many nice small towns along the route that normally would have some pleasant options for sleeping and dining.  Not this time.

I had neglected to factor in the effect of hurricane Irene.  This hurricane had also hit the coast of North Carolina and had produced a lot of wind and rain, but I never lost power.  They did in Connecticut. 

Every town I stopped in was in pretty much the same shape.  There were many trees down and power was very spotty.  Every hotel and motel was booked solid.  Half the guests were companies that were taking care of downed trees and power lines and the rest were people without power.

I ended up driving to Mystic where I finally found a room for the night.  I had been driving far longer than I wanted and was grateful for just about any bed.

I woke up and got started on the early side.  I had gotten a GPS for the car and I punched in North Conway, NH.  My route pointed me toward Providence, RI, and on through Boston, MA.  On the way to Providence I stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for a bit of breakfast. 

Rhode Island is a small state and it did not take long to get to the Massachusetts border.  Not much farther and I was in Boston heading north.

Beyond was the trail to New Hampshire.  I was making progress.