Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Thanksgiving Trip - Day 1

[Thanksgiving with Katie - up around 0500 - finished packing - drove to ATM, got gas for Explorer (0605 - right when pumps opened, slow) - went to Giant (0625) to pick up snack foods - already raining... - drove to Nicky's and swapped out cars (cleaned up Chrysler before we left) - packed the girls, on the road by 0700 - left and drove on I-495 to I-95 - traffic good (just some slow downs due to weather) - took I-695 around Baltimore (avoiding most tolls) - back on I-95 through Maryland (toll at 0910), Delaware (toll at 0930) - used I-295 to cross Delaware River and stayed on it through the first half of New Jersey until met up with I-95 again (Jersey Turnpike) - made pretty good time (snow falling) and crossed into New York around 1145 - crossed George Washington Bridge (NYC) at noon and continued on I-95 into Connecticut - then the traffic slowed down to crawl - snow falling, but main reason was NYC commuters and construction all the way to I-91 - actually, traffic looked much worse going south on I-95 all the way... - when we finally got moving again, we had to stop for bathroom break and gas (Branford, CT - 1430) - back on I-95, traffic thinned out and we made good time all the way until reaching Rhode Island - then, the snow began to affect us: I-295 around Providence did not appear to have been plowed and there were some dicey ice/slush moments - plus, it got dark - we finally made it into Massachusetts, where the plows were driving along either side of us as we drove north of Attleboro - decided to get off the Interstate early and drove through Stoughton and Brockton on backroads (weather degrading by the minute) until reaching Katie's house in Hanover - check engine light came on right when we stopped for the night (whew) - it took about 10 hours, all told... - it was great to see Katie and her family! - we raced to get all of the bags in from the car as the snow kept falling - had a great dinner and then got settled for the night - I was tired, so I went to bed before the kids...]