States Covered: DC, VA, MD, PA, NY

Our trip started with me picking up John at Dulles Airport as he deplaned from a cross-country flight from San Francisco. Conventional wisdom would have suggested that we wait until Saturday the 2nd to get going on our trip, give the poor man a chance to catch his breath, etc. Nothing doing. I was hell-bent on getting on the road as soon as possible. Americans don’t get enough vacation time, I was going to make every minute count.

By about 4:00 pm we were headed up Route 15. Although the road was only two lanes and little slow, I was overjoyed to avoid the I-95 corridor. The drive in Virginia also passed through some beautiful, rolling hills with horse pastures, vineyards and for a bit, a minimum of sprawl. It was nice to have pretty stuff to look at seeing as John had a little trouble separating himself from his work. He spent the first hour of the trip on his Blackberry tying up a whole lot of loose ends. Later we went through beautful farm country in Maryland and equally beautiful landscapes in Pennsylvania before it got too dark to see anything.

We cheered as we crossed the Mason-Dixon Line. A Yankee at heart (and by birth) it felt good to be heading north. (I don’t care much where my ashes are sprinkled when I die, but I must admit that my will makes it clear that it should be in a state or territory that fought on the side of the Union.)

We made great time stopping at Dairy Queen along the way and making Ithaca by about 11:40 pm. As every American must know it ain’t a road trip until you stop at the DQ. Also, having no DQs in DC (why?!) it is hard for me to pass one up…