Stefan's Shipping off to Boston: Day 5

Of course, the last night has to be the difficult one. Apparently I didn't book my hotel right last night. I don't know how it happened, but I had really crappy internet in the Chicago hotel, so it may be that, or I just might be an idiot. Anyway, so when I got to my hotel, there was no reservation, and they were really full, because apparently its tourist season in Erie. I'm also not exactly IN Erie, as all the hotels were super expensive, so I'm a bit north of Erie too.
Anyway, I'm in a small smoking room in this Super 8. It doesn't smell too bad, and I have all the fans on. I should be alright for just tonight, and then I'm going to bail early in the morning.
Well, lets start at the beginning then.
I stayed longer in Chicago that I have in other cities. This was because I went out to lunch with my friend Lana. We went to a cool little pizza place in a suburb of Chicago. It was tasty and fun.
Anyway, this caused me to leave Chicago pretty late, like 1pm. The drive today wasn't that long, distance-wise, under 500 miles, but it felt like forever. It was also oddly expensive. There were quite a few toll roads between Chicago and Pennsylvania. All of Ohio was one big toll road that cost me like 10 bucks. And then there was another one as I left Chicago. It was uncool. I also realize that that is backwards geographically.
Anyway, the entire drive it looked like it was going to rain, but it never did. Maybe I'll catch up to that storm front tomorrow.
There was also a giant ton of road construction on the drive today. I would estimate at least a third of it was construction, which is stressful because you have to watch your speed and the roads are all messed up and super annoying.

On a completely different note, I made an observation about truckers today. I feel I've passed several hundred of them on the road this trip, so I feel uniquely qualified to make this completely unscientific judgement.
One the back of nearly all of the trucks are advertisements for employment at whatever trucking company they are working for. Sometimes they will be little witty saying or something, but mainly they are just like, “You should work for x company, we will pay you.”
So I started thinking about this. Who are these ads targeting? It can't be people like me, who are on long road trips, because if you are driving across the country or something like that, you have something going on. People don't drive to look for a job. People who are on short trips probably aren’t looking for a job driving long distances.
So these must be for other trucks. But this would mean that truckers jump ship enough to warrant massive advertisement.
So now I have a mental picture of truckers as road-bound mercenaries, always looking for a better deal. This is how this scene plays out in my head:

Its an office, shot in black and while like old film noir. The Venetian Blinds cast horizontal shadows across the mahogany desk where the overweight boss is sitting, smoking a cigar and sipping a glass of scotch. He goes to put the scotch down, but his desk is covered with paper and files. He finally decides on the least important stack of papers, and sets down his glass, and leans back in his high-back leather chair. It is at this point that our trucker hero bursts into the room. He wears dark jeans, a leather jacket, a 3 day old beard, and a trucker hat pulled low.
“Hey boss-man,” he grunts
The boss nods, “Whadda want?”
“Alright Boss, here's the deal” [At this point he goes on and lists a bunch of things that annoy truckers. I really don't know what this would be, but probably lots of drives through Kansas or something like that.]
“Yea so?” The boss-man replies indignantly, he takes another long puff of his cigar, and lets the smoke hang over the small office.
“So I'm leaving. Got a new gig. Payin' me more.”
“The hell did you find a new job? You don't even know any other companies.”
“The back of another truck. It had a number, gave 'em a call. They're paying more.”
“You son-of-a-bitch. You know I can't compete with truck-back advertising.”
“Damn straight. I'll see you around.”

And with that, he pulls out a pack of cigarettes, puts one in his mouth. Grabs a pack of matches, lights his cigarettes with one, and tosses the match into the glass of scotch.
He then turns and walks out the door.

The boss, visibly angry, throws his cigar into the glass as well.

[And Scene]


Milage today was 467, and I haven't gotten gas yet today. So no MPG yet again.
The plan for tomorrow is to drive through upstate New York, then cut down through Massachusetts and then into Connecticut where my trip is done!