Pennsylvania

Eight weeks on the road! I'll reset my odometer before I head out this morning, but I think I've been rocking 45mpg this past stretch. I've got less than 2 hours of driving to do today, but it looks like there are some tolls. Boo.

So! Yesterday! Got up at a respectable hour and Wilson took me to the Royal Restaurant, which is a diner that is his usual morning haunt. We talked matters of things that matter and took pictures with our phones and then we returned to the apartment. I packed up my stuff, got a tip on where a free air pump was nearby, and headed off. Wilson gave me the scenic route map, so that I could avoid the tools going up to Pennsylvania (i.e. by not driving through Washington DC).

So I took the scenic route across Maryland towards Gettysburg. I didn't stop at Gettysburg as I wanted to get to Marietta to meet Anne and Terry (Rainbow's parents) and say hi so they knew who I was as I'd be crashing at their place. So I arrived at 3ish and said hello and met Anne. Then I drove on down to the riverfront park and had a nice chat with Ma & Pa. Gotta call the parents every once and a while, ya know? Can't just blog into the void.

I got back to the house and Rainbow arrived soon after and it was awesome to see an old school pal! And I haven't seen her in longer than I have other people, because she graduated in 2009 and has been abroad working. She is the same delightful person though. She treated me to Chipotle and then we went to the park where a free summer concert was happening, the concert in question was 7 Bridges, an Eagles cover band where every member looked like they belonged in a different genre. I bought a funnel cake. There were people dancing in the front and I met Bob and Brooke and... uhh I forget the name of Bob's son, but Bob was a friend of Rainbows. We got a spot in the main seating area (it was pretty full). Unfortunately the concert ended early due to a storm coming in, but they got Hotel California out so that's something.

The thunderstorm coming in was beautiful. One side of the river would be dark, the other light from reflecting the remainder of the sky. Just such punctuating contrast and colors. Really nice.

We both retired to bed pretty early. Well I stayed up on my computer and mooching wifi, but I did get some sleep. Had the porch door open (I was in the guest bedroom which had a porch) to let the air circulate, because it was stuffy and hot. Still hot, but every now and again a breeze would come through. But there was also the lightning and rolling thunder. Very nice.

In the morning, Rainbow, her 7k+ skydiving jumps Dad, Chris, Maddy, and Maddy's mom and I met up for breakfast at Gus's. Maddy is maybe going off to college and got a barrage of advice about life decisions. It really is so complicated how many decisions have to be made at such a young age, and how much debt and stuff is foisted onto kids. It's not right. There should be more time between high school and college and it should be cheaper and accessible and all that.

Yeah.

So now I'm off towards Philadelphia! I've only got about 2 hours of driving, so that's nice.