The 6900 Minute Journey

At approximately 10pm tonight, central time, I will begin the trek back to my beloved New York State.

Driving from Rochester to Batavia, IL isn't so bad. Leaving after class ending late on a Wednesday night (last Spring quarter) sucks a little bit though. After leaving my four-hour Usability Testing class, I'd hop in my car (already packed, BTW), and drive off to nearest I-90 onramp, hoping to catch a good song on the radio.

I'd fill up my tank at around mile 15 on my journey — the rest stop that is right after Exit 46 on the New York State Thruway, Westbound. From there, it was a mere 45 minutes to the beginning of Buffalo, and after that, an hour and 15 minutes more to land me on the NY/PA line.

Three and a half hours after I started, I'd arrive at the outskirts of Cleveland, ready to merge with I-80 traffic. If you, or someone you love has driven through Cleveland, ask them about the dual 90-degree turns set directly into the 10 lane highway ;)

Ohio... then Indiana... then CHICAGO. The boring states blur together, and then you somehow arrive in civilization shortly before Portage, IN when I have to get out of my "driving zone" and realize that I have to start paying attention to highway markers.

Tonight, however, will be a different story. I'm driving Eastbound, an even worse journey because of how bad driving through Pennsylvania sucks. At the end of my journey, I want to be stimulated and excited to arrive at my destination, and all PA does is make we want to fly through there and finally get to NYS.

Instead of driving into Rochester, I have to keep on truckin' for another two full hours to reach Utica, and by then, I'll be dead tired.

Driving at night is fun though, because contrary to popular belief, time goes by faster than it would if you were driving during the day. With nothing to look at I usually zone out and somehow arrive mentally in NY.