Our First Day

We left Keuka Park this morning in the rain, almost as if the weather was mirroring some of our feelings!

 The thru-way took us to Albany (a route we have taken many times before) and then we headed cross-country through Vermont traveling past lovely towns including Bennington.  Our route took us into New Hampshire and we finally ended in Manchester at a Fairfield Inn.  Our total mileage was 370miles for the day.

The evening was young (we're retired, remember), so we decided to go to the movies.  Cowboys and Aliens opened tonight and we made it our selection.  I thought it would be a comedy.  Sort of a juxtaposition of the two genres.  However, it was a true science fiction movie and I found it sort of weird.

We head to St. John, New Brunswick tomorrow for our first stop in Canada.

Diane

It took us a while to get out of Penn Yan this morning, as we had to pack the car, and say some final good byes. Diane mentioned that the rain was symbolic that Penn Yan was crying to see us leave.

We then stopped in Syracuse at Charneys Tall Men's Shop to pick up some trousers I had bought and had altered.

The trip as far as Albany was uneventful, as I had driven that route many times before, as I went to Albany to meet with other New York private college presidents and then lobby the legislator in support of keeping state aid for students.

After Albany, we headed into some relatively new territory, as we drove North and East up Route 7 and then Route 9 and 101. We passed through Bennington, and this was the first time we had visited there. For the next few hours we drove East across the rugged mountains of both Vermont and then New Hampshire. Even though it rained on and off, we enjoyed the lush, green, rugged terrain of this exclusive, yet remote part of the Northeast.

We arrived in Manchester at about 5PM, so it was about 8 hours or so, including the stop in Syracuse. Gas cost us $3.69 a gallon in eastern and rural New Hampshire, which was about 6-7 cents cheaper than in the big cities (or in Penn Yan).

Throughout the trip we listened on NPR about the political battles and negotiations in Washington over the debt crisis, with 4 days remaining before time runs out. We talked a lot about how our political system had difficulty meeting this economic crisis, and speculating what would come next.

We also talked about our many friends and reflected on the years we were at Keuka College, and how the people we had met had greatly enriched our life. 

It was a great day for Diane and I to begin the next phase of our life!

Joe