Wanderlust is itchy

[pseydtonne]

You'll have to wait for more updates about Australia. I felt like the last entry was a crash-run through to establish some setting. I want the next piece to fill the gaps. I'll work on it tonight but it may not be ready by the time I leave work.

Mondays are the busy nights at work. Our plate is full when we arrive, empties by 2:30 and stays clean until the 4 o'clock builds start failing. I could use a nap before the road trip, so my only chance would be at 3 or 3:30.

When 8:30 arrives (about six hours from now) I will grab my bottle of ice water and my bag, drive to the gas station near I-495 and get ready to rev out of town. I'll consider it a flawless start if I can get to the Molly Pitcher Rest Area on the New Jersey Turnpike (between exits 8A and 8) before 2 p.m. and without stopping.

Why Molly Pitcher? Lamest reason ever -- it's got an Arthur Treacher's, one of my favorite fast foods from my childhood. If you're unfamiliar, it's like Long John Silver but they're usually darker inside and they don't bother with the crispy crap on the bottom of the plate -- just fish and chips and, for some reason, hush puppies. Arthur Treacher was the actor that played Jeeves in the 1930s film versions of "Jeeves and Wooster", the P.G. Wodehouse tales of trust fund twits in the 1920s. This is not Stephen Fry, who played Jeeves alongside Hugh Laurie playing Bertie Wooster in the 1990s. For you that don't know: the star of "House" is very English -- it's not lupus. Christ, how many of you don't recognize him from Black Adder?

I'm also mapping out White Castles in New Jersey because they trump the old butler. Mmmm... greasy sliders and bullet-proof glass. I wonder whether the White Castles in the Midwest have bullet-proof glass at the counters. Then again, which schmuck holds up a restaurant that handles more pennies than singles, let alone twenties?

Wodehouse moved to America from Britain, hoping to become a writer. He tried to write pulp westerns but the publishers never dug them. Publishers would say "write what you know" and he finally realized all he knew were ineffectual upper-class bachelors and the butlers that babysat them. As soon as he started writing those tales, he never had to worry about money.

Mitch Hedberg once said, "Otto, you have lupus." Therefore, Otto is not a character on House (except that one episode where it actually was lupus but I think that was a girl so it's still not Otto).

Let's trace the threads back to the topic -- lupus, House, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, fried food -- nope, too fast. Stephen Fry, P.G. Wodehouse, Arthur Treacher, then fried food, sliders, expressways of the eastern seaboard... and we're back.

I've made a spreadsheet from my gas receipts. The price doesn't interest me: the MPG variances do. When I am taking only interstates, I get 30.6 miles per gallon. When I have to drive in the city, it can drop to 24. My weekly commute is averaging 27 MPG, which is fine. I like having my own raw data which I can mine as I get interested in SQL.

It's 288 miles from work in Andover to the Molly Pitcher Service Area if I take the Tappan Zee. Why does Google think anyone should take the Cross Bronx to the GW if one is not stopping in the City? So what if it's an extra 12 miles? Those are a dozen non-stop miles, a dozen miles that will take ten or fifteen minutes instead of the extra forty minutes trying to get to the same place. Gah.

I just saw some work show up. Gotta go.

-it's still not lupus, Ps/d

Comments

[tckma.livejournal.com]

Do you prefer to take 295 or the Turnpike in southern New Jersey? I generally use 295, but that's because the I-95 corridor has way too many tolls.

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

I've never taken 295 through Jersey. I used to take the crazy truck route: Tappan Zee to 287 south, US 202 to NJ-31 through Ringoes to Ewing, then I-95 south to the free crossing into Pennsylvania. However this only makes sense when I'm going to Philly itself, I have learned.

I've only driven beyond Philly three or four times. I prefer the New Jersey Turnpike only because it's 65 MPH instead of 55, it's got fewer trucks and because gas costs so much more than the tolls now.

When I drove the routes back in the Nineties and I made a fifth of what I do now, I shunpiked like crazy and I still have all of those routes in my mind. Some of the shortcuts no longer make sense because they become traffic jams or they eat more in gas than the tolled route.

The big exception is when I go to or through Albany. The free section of I-90 is a mile shorter than the Thruway section, saves a $1.05 and avoids the jam of NYC traffic. That's not involved in today's trip.

I'll tell you more when I see you. But yeah, Fast Lane slash EZPass has made me more toll booth friendly. I'm still tempted to skip the damn $4 toll through Delaware but...

[tckma.livejournal.com]

I tried to skip that one and promptly got lost, because the entrance I'd planned to take back onto 95 was closed for construction.

I tried to skip the $5 toll in Maryland once but ended up at another $5 toll on US-40. Upon further research, it looks like you have to go all the way up to US-1 to avoid it. I'll do that next time I drive up.

[hakamadare.livejournal.com]

bravo!

s/butler/valet/g - a butler manages a house, a valet manages an individual :)

-steve

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

Does that mean cars are considered individuals instead of property?

[hakamadare.livejournal.com]

worse than that - it means pants are considered individuals!!!11!!

-steve

[felisdemens.livejournal.com]

Arthur Treacher's! I approve.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Me, too! I used to love that place as a kid and am a bit annoyed I haven't found any in this area...

Bon appetit!