Drive to Vermont, Day 2.

First, technology is amazing.  These pictures were just uploaded to the internets from my cabin in the Vermont woods, via an iphone tethered to my laptop.  Amazing.

The morning of the second day, we woke up in a hotel room with no windows to the outside, but it did open onto an atrium-type covered courtyard.  Two indoor pools, a playground, arcade games, miniature golf course, pool an ping pong tables.  I don't know what they place is geared towards; right off the Ohio turnpike, it was mostly empty the night we stopped.

The kids had a good chunk of play time before strapping back into the car.

One of my favorit flics of all time.  Snipes/Stallone/Bullock.  Classic.  I considered trying to buy this for a few seconds.

Rest stop #??  (Why are there rest stops in the north but not so much in the south?  Is it pure economics?  Population density?  I would think private businesses would like the traffic int he northern towns as much as they do in the south.)

They watched three movies on the first day of the trip, which bought me 4.5 hours of relative quiet driving out of the 16 or so we did.  Day #2, I set up the first movie, and didn't get through the opening credits before the batteries died.  I somehow lost the car charger for the dvd player, and the $30 replacement I bought at a gas station didn't work.


Luckily the kids are awesome traveling companions, so we soldiered on.


They took a short nap first thing instead of the movie.  That little girl will be asleep in less than a minute.

I cheated for lunch.  Thanks to Louise Penny and Inspector Gamache, the Tim Horton sign makes me want to stop for donuts and coffee.  I never drink coffee, but if Louise does one thing well, she makes food sound great.  I didn't get a double double, instead I got a small coffee with cream, and the kids got to pick their own donuts out.

Lunch was followed by an excellent 2+ hour nap.  I on the other hand was buzzing on a caffeine high, (all you coffee drinkers, I hope you know what drug addicts you are,) and dealing with a mind on super-drive.  Sitting in traffic I designed a road paving machine that would effectively liquify the existing ground surface to a depth below the local frost line, imbed the cables required to direct automated vehicles, and cool and texture the surface.  It might only move at 5 miles a day, and require an onboard nuclear power plant to generate the required heat, but it would be the answer to so many roadway problems.  

I took this picture to make sure the day was actually this crystal clear, and I wasn't just tripping on the coffee.

That teddy bear was a birthday present from Auntie Eliza.  The kid has been sleeping with it since.

Vermont!

Safely at my parents house in time for a home cooked dinner.

A couple things:


 I'm very impressed with our Tundra.  We're coming up on 200,000 miles, and she didn't blink at being loaded well beyond her published weight capacity, pointed north, and driven for 16-ish hours straight two days in a row.


I'm interested in understanding the premium placed on all things in the north, in terms of cost.  Filling up in northern Tennessee I paid $3.20 pr gallon and the roads were toll free.  By the time I was in New York, I was paying close to $4 for gas, and paid $18 in tolls before getting out of the state.  This difference in cost applies to everything, food, clothes, utilities...


The economies of scale blow all the usual excuses.  I don't want to believe it's simply greed and collusion.  Does anyone have a logical, reasonable explanation that isn't so depressing?