Captains Log
Day 2, 3/30/10.
We're up a little before our 8:30am alarm and then head downstairs to the free continental breakfast.
Its quite a spread! Juice, coffee, waffles, eggs, biscuits and gravy and more!! We fill our bellies full and then head back to our room to get ready for the day.
10:07am: We leave the hotel and stop at the gas station next door to fill up. $14.01. Gas is $2.69 a gallon here. We discover that the Amex gift cards we were given should not be swiped at the pump for gas. If you swipe a gift card at the pump, the gas station will put a hold on THE ENTIRE AMOUNT OF THE CARD! They also won't release the hold for 3-7 business days. Both of our gift cards are now unusable for the next 3-7 days. They were worth $150. We are absolutely furious at Amex for this.
Paula sees a sign for Cleveland not long after we head out and screams "Hello Cleveland!"
She had to do it.
10:22am: We get our ticket for the Ohio turnpike.
10:32am: Did our algebraic computations for the day and developed a fairly accurate formula. Paula is impressed by my formula skills. I am impressed at the fact she can do all this math in her head.
11:10am: Stop at the service plaza for lozenges for my cough and a coffee. $7.35
1:37pm: Paid a toll of $13.50 to the Ohio turnpike and arrived in Indiana. Toll ticket here as well.
1:47pm: Stopped for gas. Put in $20.00 to fill it and it was $3.09 a gallon. I almost cried. We also got some snacks, $11.00.
2:46pm: Hit 300 miles done so far for the day. That's a little less than half our daily goal for the rest of the trip.
3:05pm: Crossed the time zone border. We are now in Central Standard Time and it is now 2:05pm. We are both equally weirded out by this.
2:45pm: Paid the Indiana toll ticket of 6.75, though we are still in Indiana. I learned that it is the Hoosier state.
2:52pm: After discovering a CD with a song I love on it by the band 7 Year Bitch, I conclude that Paula MUST see the movie Mad Love. I am shocked she has never seen it. Will remedy when we get to L.A. Mental note was made.
2:55pm: Entered Illinois.
3:02pm: Paid a $0.60 toll to enter Illinois. Paula is shocked at how inexpensive this one is. I believe this is the last toll we will see.
3:45pm: Had to stop for gas AGAIN! My Prius is averaging about 35MPH. There are a lot of inclines which lowers my gas mileage. Also the car is packed very heavily and we are traveling at a high, but safe, speed. This is upsetting me. I am very anxious for the flat lands of the country.
Gas was $19.27. Around $2.99 a gallon.
?pm: Somewhere between the previous time and the next, I decided to secretly videotape Paula driving. I caught her almost driving off the road and breaking out in dance. Then she caught me. It was totally worth it. We also saw someone burning their crop fields and Paula is amazed at this process.
Paula is also shocked at how flat this part of the country is. I cannot wait to see her reaction to the Rocky Mountains. Those NY'ers don't know what a mountain is.
5:25pm: We FINALLY arrive in Iowa. It has felt like it took forever to get out of Illinois. I don't know what it was but it seemed like it just never ended. We also are very excited because gay marriage is legal here in Iowa. Yay for gays!
6:45pm: Stopped for the night in Coralville, IA at a hotel that has a fantastic breakfast to look forward too. We tried twice to stop at rest areas to get the hotel coupons and they were completely out of them. Tonight's room was $61.55 with tax.
We went out to dinner at Country Buffet and stuffed ourselves till we thought we'd be sick. Our plan for this trip by the way, is to eat the free breakfast, spend as little money on snacks as possible but not stop for lunch, and then have a nice dinner. Its working so far. Dinner was $25.
Thank god Paula realized that TV in CST is different. Lost was on at 8, instead of 9. I almost missed it!
Total mileage for Day 1: 620 miles
Total Driving Time for Day 1: 9 hours (without the time change. With it, only 8)
Total cost for Day 1: $168.03 (We bought 3 tanks of gas today, whereas yesterday we started off with an almost full tank from a few days prior and only had to buy 1 tank of gas the whole day)
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
And away we go.....
Captains Log
Day 1, 3/29/10.
We get up around 8am and start packing the car. We definitely were a little too optimistic about what could fit in our Toyota Prius. The fact that both of us have horrible depth perception didn't help matters.
We quickly realized that all of our stuff was not going to fit. Paula went through two huge containers and took only what was necessary and left the rest. I got rid of about 10 pairs of shoes, all our board games except for one, as well as my longboard. I also left my PA system. It was the PA or our clothes. Clothes won. Paula took her guitars, but had to leave the cases. In the process of removing the guitars from the cases, her Gibson fell and a tuning peg broke off. This halted our progress for awhile as there was a lot of screaming and yelling. I broke down in tears several times as the packing of the car was taking quite a toll on me.
Also, it was pouring rain on Long Island. So we were frustrated, upset, soaking wet and about to change our lives forever. What a great start.
Paula's BFF Lisa came over to say goodbye and thank god she was there. She helped us both calm down and relax. Lisa decided she was going to mail us everything we had to leave behind and sell the PA system for us. She was an angel from heaven! That made us feel LOADS better and in no time we were ready to head out.
We made one last trip to the bank and then headed over to our favorite neighborhood bagel store to get our last New York bagel. Who knows when we will get to have another one!
After we got our bagel's and coffee, we were off.
10:48am: We start to leave Long Island with our bellies full.
We decided to take the Southern State to the Throgs Neck Bridge. Then take I95 to I80.
Southern State moved quickly but we were horribly delayed once we got to the Bronx.
It cost $5.50 to cross the bridge and then we were on I95.
12:11pm: We cross the GWB (George Washington Bridge for you non-New Yorkers) for free and head into NJ.
skip ahead, skip ahead, skip ahead
1:32pm: We spend $0.75 to leave NJ and head into Pennsylvania
2:00pm: We stop for gas at a WaWa in whoknowswhere, PA. Cost: $22.
Where the hell can I find a red slushie?! It's all I want in the world.
2:51pm: Listening to our CD mix that Lisa made us. We rapped. These are the times we think we should have our own reality show. We're quite entertaining.
4:00pm: Stopped for drinks and a snack. $4.85
5:45pm: Did algebraic computations and tried to come up with a formula for how long it would take us to get where we were going.
6:22pm: Finally arrive in Ohio!! This is where we decide to stop for the night. It's been a long day and we hardly slept the night before.
We checked into a hotel around Youngstown, OH and walked over to the Roadhouse for dinner and a much needed beer. We thought it was too awesome that we were at Roadhouse and couldn't stop saying it.
Our waiter continued to stand there and talk to us while we tried to eat and tell us about his Muy Thai fighting. Paula thinks he was hitting on me. We decide from now on we will make up a fake story about ourselves.
Dinner was dirt cheap. I was amazed that a beer was only $2.50. Total cost for dinner with appetizers, beer and entrees, plus tip...$30.00.
We had a coupon for our hotel as well which helped a bit with the cost. Our total for the hotel was $59.60. We know we could have stayed somewhere even cheaper, but we'd like to not have to worry about our room getting broken into and we'd like to enjoy a comfortable night sleep.
We're back in the room just in time to watch 24.
Total mileage for Day 2: 436 miles.
Total Driving Time for Day 2: 7 1/2 hours, roughly. That traffic in NJ ruined us.
Total cost for Day 2: $125.70
Day 1, 3/29/10.
We get up around 8am and start packing the car. We definitely were a little too optimistic about what could fit in our Toyota Prius. The fact that both of us have horrible depth perception didn't help matters.
We quickly realized that all of our stuff was not going to fit. Paula went through two huge containers and took only what was necessary and left the rest. I got rid of about 10 pairs of shoes, all our board games except for one, as well as my longboard. I also left my PA system. It was the PA or our clothes. Clothes won. Paula took her guitars, but had to leave the cases. In the process of removing the guitars from the cases, her Gibson fell and a tuning peg broke off. This halted our progress for awhile as there was a lot of screaming and yelling. I broke down in tears several times as the packing of the car was taking quite a toll on me.
Also, it was pouring rain on Long Island. So we were frustrated, upset, soaking wet and about to change our lives forever. What a great start.
Paula's BFF Lisa came over to say goodbye and thank god she was there. She helped us both calm down and relax. Lisa decided she was going to mail us everything we had to leave behind and sell the PA system for us. She was an angel from heaven! That made us feel LOADS better and in no time we were ready to head out.
We made one last trip to the bank and then headed over to our favorite neighborhood bagel store to get our last New York bagel. Who knows when we will get to have another one!
After we got our bagel's and coffee, we were off.
10:48am: We start to leave Long Island with our bellies full.
We decided to take the Southern State to the Throgs Neck Bridge. Then take I95 to I80.
Southern State moved quickly but we were horribly delayed once we got to the Bronx.
It cost $5.50 to cross the bridge and then we were on I95.
12:11pm: We cross the GWB (George Washington Bridge for you non-New Yorkers) for free and head into NJ.
skip ahead, skip ahead, skip ahead
1:32pm: We spend $0.75 to leave NJ and head into Pennsylvania
2:00pm: We stop for gas at a WaWa in whoknowswhere, PA. Cost: $22.
Where the hell can I find a red slushie?! It's all I want in the world.
2:51pm: Listening to our CD mix that Lisa made us. We rapped. These are the times we think we should have our own reality show. We're quite entertaining.
4:00pm: Stopped for drinks and a snack. $4.85
5:45pm: Did algebraic computations and tried to come up with a formula for how long it would take us to get where we were going.
6:22pm: Finally arrive in Ohio!! This is where we decide to stop for the night. It's been a long day and we hardly slept the night before.
We checked into a hotel around Youngstown, OH and walked over to the Roadhouse for dinner and a much needed beer. We thought it was too awesome that we were at Roadhouse and couldn't stop saying it.
Our waiter continued to stand there and talk to us while we tried to eat and tell us about his Muy Thai fighting. Paula thinks he was hitting on me. We decide from now on we will make up a fake story about ourselves.
Dinner was dirt cheap. I was amazed that a beer was only $2.50. Total cost for dinner with appetizers, beer and entrees, plus tip...$30.00.
We had a coupon for our hotel as well which helped a bit with the cost. Our total for the hotel was $59.60. We know we could have stayed somewhere even cheaper, but we'd like to not have to worry about our room getting broken into and we'd like to enjoy a comfortable night sleep.
We're back in the room just in time to watch 24.
Total mileage for Day 2: 436 miles.
Total Driving Time for Day 2: 7 1/2 hours, roughly. That traffic in NJ ruined us.
Total cost for Day 2: $125.70
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