Great Barrington, MA (USA)

All week, I'd been expecting to spend time with Mollie.  However, she ended up going with her mother and sisters to Williamsburg and I found myself with a "free weekend."  I checked the weather and it looked pretty good in New England.  Starting my day this morning, I teleworked for several hours.  After packing my car, I left my house at 1230 and used Beltway to reach I-270.  I encountered construction slow downs all the way to US-15.  Reached PA-581, switched to I-83 and eventually made it through Harrisburg with some traffic delays (ughhh).  Finally on I-81 and realized I needed gas.  Got off the Interstate near Ravine but the cost of gas was too high - ended up driving on side roads until I reached US-209.  Continued on that road, looking for another gas station, for many miles.  Eventually got the "low fuel light" and was really worried about running out of gas.  Fortunately, I made it to a Turkey Hill in Pottsville at 1530.  All the driving around by that point, along with the delays in getting back to the Interstate (via PA-61) got me way behind schedule.  Then, when I reached Scranton on I-81, I encountered more slow downs for construction.  By 1700, I realized I was not going to be able to hike (grrr...).  Finally on I-84 , cross the Hudson River and reached the Taconic Parkway.  Decided to use NY-23 to get into Massachusetts.  The first place I checked for a room (near the NY/MA border) was so expensive ($150!) and the owner mentioned there was a festival in the area.  This alarmed me a bit and I stopped several more times (through Great Barrington) with no success there was either no vacancy or it was prohibitively expensive).  I even looked around to the south of town (where AT crossed US-7) and made calls to places I'd stayed before in Lenox and Lee (no luck).  Eventually called Heart of the Berkshires in Pittsfield and found out they had a room.  I wasn't happy at how far I had to drive to reach the hotel, though...  I arrived at the hotel at around 2015 and, after I got settled, went on a walk to try to get in some more steps.  It took a lot of effort, but I made it into the Berkshires... Had hoped to hike near the CT/MA border this weekend but there is a huge festival going on in that area.  It looks like I'd be wise to continue hiking in a zone farther north.  Feeling exhausted after my long drive, I went to bed at around 2200.