The longest day

Monday, July 2 (Day 7) — In contrast to yesterday's slog-fest through the crowds and traffic associated with the NASCAR race, today's adventure was relatively tame, even at more than 300 miles on the odometer. We departed Lowell and headed south on I-495 to hook up with Highway 2 heading west through Massachusetts' mountain region.

We departed the hotel after 10 a.m., stopping first for gas at the 7-Eleven in town and then breakfast at a Dunkin' Donuts. That chain is everywhere out here in New England. Folks really love their sugar treats, as well as their coffee fix. Roni got a bagel sandwich, while Ben and I had a couple of doughnuts.

Our drive on Highway 2 took us through Leominster, where we stopped at an information center off the highway for bathrooms and postcards. The town's claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Johnny Appleseed. From there we wound up in a small town called Erving, where we stopped at a place called Frieght House Antiques. They offered a wide array of statuary, some of which we hadn't seen before at our local garden centers, so we bought a couple of small concrete figures to hang on our outside walls back home. We are pretty sure they'll transport OK on the plane.

Our next stop was at a place called the Mohawk Trading Post in Shelburne, located off Highway 2 along the famous Mohawk Trail. Roni was interested in finding real maple syrup, and while they had some available it was Massachusetts syrup, not the Vermont stuff she was seeking. They did, however, have maple sugar candies, and we bought a small box to sample. Roni and I each got a piece before Ben polished off the rest of the box in less than 10 seconds. I guess it was pretty good.

We eventually connected with Highway 112, which took us on a 42-mile sidetrip north over the Vermont border by way of the town of Jacksonville, where we had hoped to get lunch. Trouble with that plan was that most of the "towns" in southern Vermont don't have much in the way of amenities. They all look pretty much the same, with scattered wood farm houses, a stately church or two, a general store, and that's about it. We stopped at the Jacksonville General Store, but only for a few snacks to tide us over until we found a real restaurant. Roni did finally manage to find her Vermont maple syrup in a little leaf-shaped glass bottle.

A few miles up the road we stopped at another general store, specifically to find postcards. I was successful in my quest, but the more interesting find was a historic marker right outside indicating the birthplace of Brigham Young, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You really begin to see how amazingly small the world is when you discover that a man of such notoriety for establishing Salt Lake City, Utah, was actually born in the middle of a podunk Vermont town that we just happened to stumble upon in our travels.

We followed the store clerk's directions to find the actual birthplace, just a few tenths of a mile up a hilly dirt road. There is a stone plaque planted in somebody's front lawn that sort of resembles a grave marker. The owners of the house have screened off their home from the marker with a half circle of trees. Obviously it would be a pain in the butt to have a bunch of tourists taking pictures of your house all the time, but guess it comes with the territory when you own property that is considered of historic significance.

Vermont was beautiful, of course. We regretted not having more time to see other parts of it, but it was already getting close to 3 p.m. and we had a long drive yet to go. We found our way back to Massachusetts along Highway 100 through the Green Mountain National Forest. As their slogan says, Vermont truly is the "green mountain state."

Rejoining Highway 2 at North Adams, Mass., we stopped for lunch at Friendly's restaurant, a chain not unlike Denny's. The food is about the same caliber, although their ice cream dishes looked pretty good. We ordered some fried items (note to self: Don't do that again if you can avoid it!) and drove on into New York. At the city of Troy we veered onto I-787 and followed that to I-87, better known as the New York Thruway — or as I dubbed it, the "New York Throw-away," as in throw away your money. Just another name for a turnpike, and this one stung us for $4.35 for the nearly 100-mile drive to around the border of New Jersey. Granted, it was some pretty country as we traveled the heavily forested region of the Catskills. We saw a couple of deer and an unusual bird or two. We stopped at a couple of service areas to stretch and pick up souvenirs, but it was already pressing 8:30 p.m. and we still had a bit of a drive to our hotel in Newark, N.J.

We stopped in a town whose name I now forget to pick up Subway sandwiches for our dinner. We were excited to get there at 8:45, 15 minutes before closing time. However, we found the doors locked and the clerks inside cleaning up. The only place to eat then was... Dunkin' Donuts. Yup, there's one on almost every street corner, it seems. This time I had the bagel, along with a big cup of iced hazelnut latte coffee, hoping that the caffeine would keep me awake to our destination. I was feeling pretty lightheaded from a long day of driving.

The good news was that once we got back on the road, Roni was able to guide me flawlessly to our exit in Newark. No hunting in the dark for hours to find the Courtyard by Marriott across from Newark International Airport. We are literally across the street. Surprisingly there is very little plane noise. We checked into Room 252 for a couple of nights. It will be our home base as we tour New York City tomorrow. We saw the skyline all lit up as we were coming into town. The top of the Chrysler Building is like a golden pyramid in the night sky. We can't see any of it from our room, unfortunately, but we'll see it up close (we hope) tomorrow.