Thanksgiving Trip - Day 1

My daughters and I had been planning to go to Ashville for Thanksgiving after learning that much of our extended family would be there too.  It was going to be the first time we'd see many of the relatives since before COVID-19 and it was so close that I told them I'd drive everyone.  Last night, I did my packing and then got up VERY early this morning to start my work day.  I teleworked until 1400 and then walked to the bus stop at the bottom of the hill. Next, I used Blue and Red AT lines to reach the Beverage King in West Lebanon and continued on foot to the Airport.  I picked up my rental car at 1500 and drove back to my condo.  Finishing my telework day, I cleaned up the house and double checked I had all of my stuff packed in the car.  I was able to leave Hanover at 1615 and used I-89 and I-91 to reach Deerfield (MA).  There, I got off the Interstate and drove east on MA-116.  Fortunately, the traffic wasn't too bad.  Listened to audiobooks on the way.  It soon got dark but there was no precipitation.  I arrived at Friendly's in Hadley (on MA-9, near UMASS) by 1740.  Since my nephew, Johnny, was at band practice until 1815, I ordered dinner (Pastrami SuperMelt) and was done eating by the time he arrived.  Wanting to visit for a while, I did get some ice cream while Johnny ate dinner himself.  I gave him some items I'd brought from home so he could take them to his parents the next day.  After a nice visit, we said goodbye and, at 1850, I headed south on MA-9.  Before long, I was able to get back on I-91 and followed it until CT-15 (south of Hartford).  There was much more traffic, it was dark and there was a LOT of construction (ugh).  I entertained myself with more audiobooks so the time passed pretty quickly.  Just before reaching the New York border, I stopped for bathroom break.  Next, I took CT-15 all the way to the Cross Westchester Expressway (I-287), which took me to I-87.  Ultimately, I got on I-95 and crossed the George Washington Bridge.  In NJ, I missed my turn for NY-17 and ended up on I-80 for a little while.  After that, Google Maps took me on a series of roads (NY-21, the Garden State Parkway and surface streets) and I ended up going right through the middle of Newark (and some other towns on the east side of New Jersey).  Along the way, I encountered so much construction delays that the drive got very frustrating.  At one point, I got so annoyed with the directions that I just stayed on US-22 (despite Google's protests).  Later, I changed to US-202 and followed it until I was able to get on NJ-31 (near Trenton).  To cross the Delaware River, I took back roads (NJ-579, NJ-546) to the south and entered Pennsylvania at Washington's Crossing.  On some of these roads, I encountered a lot of annoying traffic and began to tire of the drive.  I made it onto I-295 just after midnight but made a stop at a rest area (for a break).  I tried to make a hotel reservation but was unable to do it online - when I called the hotel, however, I learned that they had rooms (I hoped they might be willing to accept the online rate but wasn't sure).  For this reason, I got back in the car (more I-295, US-1 and Street Road) and made my way to the Sleep Inn in Bensalem, PA (arrived at 0015).  When I went inside, the rate the manager could give me was almost double what was online (that I hadn't been able to get).  He suggested I call the Choice Rewards phone number and, by following his advice, I was able to get a Reward Night instead (1230).  By 1245, I was in my room.  It took a while to wind down after my driving experiences and the room was kind of loud.  As a result, I didn't really get to sleep until 0130.  Still, I'm glad I made so much progress today - tomorrow will be a lot easier...