Day 1: Bedford to Canton, OH

Miles driven: 676
States visited: 6
Inexplicable traffic jams on I-80 in Central Pennsylvania: 4
Soda bottles filled with urine seen on side of road during said traffic jams: 2
Decapitated deer seen on side of road being eaten by vultures: 1


We got off to a great start this morning - well, half an hour later than Steve had wanted to be on the road but that seemed pretty good given everything we had to do to get out the door. It was a beautiful day and Mom took pictures of us and the car before we left (Dad had left for a business trip the night before so we had said our goodbyes earlier). It was sad to leave, but we were excited to be on our way!

I (Ali) drove the first 5 hours through Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and into Pennsylvania. Steve had chosen a place for lunch in the small town of White Haven, PA from his “Roadfood” book (I’m sure you’ll hear more about that book later) but unfortunately we arrived just before they closed. Foiled at stop #1! We had a good meal across the street at Hannah’s Ugly Mug restaurant, though, and Steve took over behind the wheel.

After a couple of hours on I-80, we hit some serious traffic, the kind where people get out of their cars and mill around. It was frustrating since there was no apparent reason for the hold up. Who would have thought that Central and Western Pennsylvania traffic would cause us to be a couple of hours behind schedule?

As Steve was driving through the mountains of Pennsylvania, he commented how underrated he thought the terrain of this state is. It was quite a beautiful ride at times. In an article he had recently read about (crazy) people who actually spend a few months running across the country, several runners had commented that while you would expect the Rocky Mountains to be the most challenging area to run through, they actually found the hills of Pennsylvania to be the toughest part. I wonder if they ever experienced traffic jams on I-80 . . .

We’re staying in Canton tonight and will head to the Pro Football Hall of Fame tomorrow morning. Then it is on to Louisville, KY.



The inside of the car is nice and clean, at least for now



Damn you I-80!!!!!



Here is our car's air freshener!