After the end of my most recent contracting job at the end of May, I took a couple of weeks off before setting out for the East Coast on June 18. Well, more accurately, at the very beginning of June 18th. As usual for the summer, I wanted to leave San Diego early enough to get through the hottest part of Arizona before it got too late in the morning. Driving overnight left little traffic, so the drive was uneventful east on Interstate 8 to Interstate 10; I got past Tucson around 6 am or so (local Arizona time) and stopped at a rest area an hour or so south and east of there:
The real challenge of the drive that day was the end of it: West Texas. It was really hot and I wasn't used to being in a car in the 100-degree heat that started somewhere around the Las Cruces / El Paso area and continued for the rest of the afternoon. On this trip, I took a slightly different route, which was to take Interstate 20 east all the way into Alabama and to Birmingham and from there drive to Chattanooga and then Knoxville where I would take Interstate 81 north all the way to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. After stopping that first evening short of Midland, Texas, I got up early again and drove from there overnight through Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, before stopping in Alabama between Birmingham and Chattanooga, Tennessee on Interstate 59. After stopping for the afternoon and evening, I got up early and drove all the way to the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Doylestown where I spent the rest of the day with Stacey and Dave and the girls before heading up to Boston; there was some fun with the girls and the digital camera trying to get a "self-portrait":
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The next day, June 21, I started off for Boston at around lunch and got as far as just outside the Hartford area before traffic convinced me to stop for the night. On the 22nd, I got up and finished the drive into the Boston area and then up and around to Swampscott where Nico and Leigh are living. Swampscott is on the coast north of Boston near Salem.
I was there for the weekend; Nico and Leigh were thinking about moving closer to Boston, and I was happy to tag along with them while they navigated through the city looking at different places. We also stopped at Fenway to exchange Red Sox tickets and they indulged my tourist itch when we went up into the Prudential building:
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I left Boston Sunday night, the 23rd to get a jump on the city traffic; the next day I drove from the same place outside Hartford down to Annapolis to visit with Henry, Leo, Sophie, and Lily. Gigi was out of town that week on a vacation with some friends, and it turned out to be an eventful couple of days while I was there. Leo just graduated from high school and he was accepted to an AmeriCorps program in Palm Beach, Florida on the day I arrived. The next day, the 25th, Gigi was offered a new job with the city of Annapolis, even while she was out of town.
The next stop was then back to Doylestown for Kelsie's sixth birthday; speaking of events, did I mention that Dave and Stacey are expecting their third? You can see all three (well, sort of) here:
Here are a couple of pictures from Kelsie's party on the 30th:
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Last Revised: 18 July 2002
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