Since our destination is far from Ottawa’s snowy climes, we
wore several light layers rather than humping our parkas and snowboots for the
few (we hope) miles that might involve the white stuff. There were a few flakes
drifting lazily down as the trip started, but nothing more than that.
In no time, we were inching forward to the border crossing
at the Thousand Islands bridge, and at the next turn, there were the Stars and
Stripes flapping on a nearby flagpole, welcoming us to the U S of A. When lunch
time rolled around, we’d nearly reached Scranton, where we found a welcoming
Cracker Barrel restaurant, complete with its signature rocking chairs out front
and crackling fire in the large stone fireplace inside. We indulged in the hot
biscuits and corn muffins along with our lunch, but managed to resist the
buttermilk strawberry pie.
Our biggest challenge heading down the Interstate 81 through
upstate New York and on into Pennsylvania was dodging potholes. Some parts were
so rough they reminded us of Newfoundland! Fortunately, traffic was relatively
light, so our serpentine moves didn’t bring us into the pathway of any semi tractor
trailers. And we did spot one highway crew dumping warm asphalt into some of
the craters, so maybe tomorrow’s drivers won’t have to do what we did – at least
for the mile and a half that was attended to today!
We arrived at Wilkes Barre shortly before five, which meant
we had time to find a cellphone service provider to hook us up to a US service.
We had a bit of a wait, since there were several customers ahead of us in the
queue, but we chatted with Sylvester, a plumber from Mississippi who was also
waiting his turn, and that helped pass the time. When our turn finally came,
the clerk knocked $20 off the cost because we’d had to wait so long! Bonus!
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