Day 1: "Pork Brisket and Engine Lights... an Ominous Start"
Sunday, Day 1
Miles driven: 695
Total Hours on Road: 11H 25m
States Driven Through:
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Ohio
Quotes/Notes:
- Engine Warning Lights are helpful but scary this early in the trip
- Michigan!
- Don’t buy Pork brisket in East A$$ Pennsylvania, no matter how much they tell you “It’s voted #1!”
- “Are you sure it’s Cleveland OHIO?”
Log of the Day.
Abi and I left Milton around 12:30 today, car filled to the brim and high in spirits.
Destination for the day: Cleveland… Ohio.
Abi drove all the way to Needham before she declared herself hungry. We stopped for a sandwich at Panera Bakery and I hopped behind the wheel so she could eat. Little did I know I’d be stuck there for the rest of the day. The Mass turnpike came and went without incident (surprisingly) and we settled in for the long day ahead. Abi plugged the coordinates of the hotel in Cleveland into “Mag” our Magellan GPS navigation unit.
Author’s note #1- A word about GPS units: They can be great tools when used properly, but always have a map and some common sense as a backup. We would see why later into the trip.
The first sign of trouble was around I-84, when Mag starting blipping and yelling, telling us that we HAD to take I-84 or a disaster of biblical proportions would befall us.. I swung over and took the exit perplexed as why we were headed on this more Southern route. Abi and I looked at each other and shrugged as if to say “What could go wrong?”. Turns out Mag hated us. We hit NYC traffic… not fun. Mag then re-routed us through the side streets of Hartford. .. Hmmm..
We made it through the rest of CT and into PA without further misdirection, making great time. Around 8:00 while most of the way through PA, Abi started making hungry sounds as we passed a sign proclaiming “The best BBQ!” As the exits were 15 miles apart at this stretch, I hopped off to refuel the car and our bellies.
As I turned off the exit, and left up the hill towards the gas station/diner/tire shop/hair salon, the car suddenly lost power and jerked its way up the hill like a rollercoaster headed for the top of the slope. The check engine light came on as we pulled into the gas station. “Uh Oh”, I thought as we parked. After ordering dinner food, I assigned myself the job of diagnosing what the problem was.
Author’s note #2: I’m fairly mechanically adept, but standing in the dark, in the rain, without my tools, and with a big plastic cowl covering most of the engine, I just couldn’t do too much. Dinner would have to wait.
We hopped back on the road, my sub staying warm by the heater vent and we went on our way, my eyes watching all the gauges as we drove along. Abi fairly diagnosed her pork brisket dinner lacking any sort of “#1” category, except for those I can’t mention because this blog is rated “PG”.
The engine problem came and went all the way through Ohio and up to Cleveland, but it wasn’t bad enough to pull over for. We finally got to the hotel and checked in. Thankfully, they had free wireless internet (our last for the trip) and we found that the closest VW dealer was about 6 miles away. Score!
I ate my sub, said a prayer the car gremlins would be sorted out quickly, and went to bed.