Providence Trip - Day 5

With work completed in Providence, it was time to return to my Nomad Life.  The weekend had nearly arrived and some pressure was off - it felt good!  I'd earlier failed in my attempts to plan a get together with family in Massachusetts so had, instead, coordinated with my Notre Dame friends, Kelly and Steve, to meet up in the Hartford area.  Before that, though, I had some more telework to do.  I was awake (without alarm) by 0630.  I spent some time reading, working on Duolingo and doing puzzles before finally starting work at 0730.  An hour later, I took a break and went to breakfast in the Lobby of the Holiday Inn Express (Warwick).  After that, I worked out in the Fitness Center (from 0900 to 1015) and got one hour of walking on the treadmill (3 miles) and 15 minutes on the "spinning machine" (3 miles).  The same little boy from yesterday was there and he had lots of news and questions to share.  I might have stayed in the gym a bit longer but my time in the hotel was running short.  This was emphasized when I tried to use my room key after leaving the Fitness Center - it didn't work at first and I had to return to the lobby to reset it.  With one hour of work already completed, two hours allocated for my return travel (post business trip) and a healthily leave balance, I decided to call it a day.  After double checking that I had no open actions on my work computer, I checked out of the hotel (1200).  By then, it was snowing lightly - fortunately, the temps were at 36 F.  To reach Connecticut, I got on I-95 and headed south.  There were some tough driving conditions and I was VERY careful as I drove on the Interstate.  This caution was even more essential when I exited on to RI-102 and followed that road to RI-165.  Before long (1225), I crossed into Rhode Island and transitioned to CT-165.  This road merged with CT-138 and I followed that until I reached Griswold - there, I got on the Griswold Expressway and used it to join I-395.  For a while, I followed the Interstate (fair road conditions)and crossed the Shetucket River at 1245.  At that point, the light snow turned to sleet and temps had dropped to 32 F.  Understandably, there were lots of cops patrolling the roads - the crazy drivers were severely tempting the road conditions!  Somehow, I think I missed an exit because I never saw a lane to transition to CT-2.  The end result was that Apple Maps took me through three-quarters of a full cloverleaf loop at the junction of I-395 and CT-2!  From there, though, I was treated to a nice four lane that continue towards Hartford.  My map app indicated I'd complete the trip in about 90 minutes and I was feeling good - until I suddenly noticed lots of flashing lights in the distance.  I decided to edge over towards an approaching exit lane - this turned out to be fortuitous because I next heard "road closure ahead" from Apple Maps.  By then, though, I had already exited the freeway.  Using a parallel side street, I followed a snow plow around the obstruction (I assume it was an accident because I'd already passed a few of those) and was soon back on CT-2.  The rest of the drive was uneventful and I exited the highway (near the town of Glastonbury) on to CT-83.  From there, I used surface streets to reach Kelly & Steve's home (arrived at 1330).  The last time I was there (August 2025), the weather had been totally different - this time, the roads and yards were covered with a thick layer of snow.  As I was parking, I realized that his was the first time I revisited a friend's home during my Nomad Life.  And, like last time, I felt very welcomed immediately.  Kelly offered me lots of food and drink but I was still full from breakfast.  In the end, I skipped lunch.  With no more work planned, I spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with Kelly.  We shared lots of news because her family isn't really into social media.  Meanwhile, we watched a lot of the "live" Winter Olympics coverage (mostly skiing).  Later, we started watching the USA Men's Hockey team playing Slovakia.  Steve arrived soon after that and immediately got into the game.  There was time for more visiting but our main focus ended up being the ominous weather reports of a big snow storm coming.  The USA won their game, setting up a major match with Canada a few days later - Steve and Kelly were clearly very excited.  At 1900), we ate dinner (Kelly had made delicious pumpkin spice pancakes) and had a nice time talking.  Beyond the evening meal, we spent the rest of the night watching TV and ended up getting deeply involved in a UCONN v BC (Men's) hockey game).  I did my best to keep up with their passionate hockey fan-dom.  However, by 2145, I was feeling tired and said goodnight.  I spent about 30 minutes reading in the guest room and finally went to bed at 2300.  Very glad to have successfully completed my work trip but even happier to have immediately resumed by wonderful Nomad Life!