Side Quest: The Journey to Maine

 Still in Orlando...

I, apparently, am all for taking on side quests by request! Received a message saying a cousin of mine helped open up 2 restaurants in the area and did all of the artwork for them. I stopped at the Santiago Bodega in Altamonte Springs area on my way out of Orlando, but they were closed. Not to worry, they let me in before opening so I could explore the restaurant and all of the artwork that was up there. Enjoy this photo dump! All artwork was completed by Robert Thompson.

Very cool place!

I got as far as Fredricksburg, VA the first night, and walked into the hotel with my stuff about 2 seconds before the storm hit. Glad I was finally off the road - that storm had been following me, which caused a beautiful lightning storm for me to view, but the rest of my driving experience was not great. Lasik definitely affected my night vision because I have nothing helping with my astigmatism. Apparently not everyone sees cars like this? In the rain nonetheless? Probably in everyone's best interest I was off the road.

(This is not my pic, but this sure is what it looked like!)

Thought I was getting an early start on the day knowing I had DC and New York to get through, but these are just lies I told myself. 

Hi. I'm in Delaware. (This will never get old)

Let's talk about NYC. Specifically the George Washington Bridge. $17 to cross. Found myself in the hazard truck lane, which is fine except semi truck drivers are NOT empathetic when merging. After the toll, like 8 lanes of traffic merge into 3. With no wiggle room and traffic that wasn't moving. Crazy. Also: it was pouring - I couldn't even see the city. 

12 states in 24 hours. If this child ever questions the love of his mother I shall forever defer him to this blog.

Side Quest Lessons:
1. I will likely never eat a granola bar again. Pretty sure that has been my only meal. So much for low carb days when driving.
2. When you can't figure out the gas pump in Massachusetts, they will ask you if you are from New Jersey and you should just go with it. 
3. A 23 hr drive easily turned into 26 hours courtesy of New York. 26 hours is a long drive. I might be too old for this?
4. I could never drive I-95 again and be ok with it. 
5. Connecticut doesn't believe in merge lanes - it's just more of a punch it short ramp.

Up Next: 
Phase 3: Acadia

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