The title of this report is "Locklear crosses the Delaware."
I picked up my Craiglist rider for my southern journey in Rutland, Vermont. He was waiting for me at a very interesting cafe called "Back Home Again." He thought he had become friends with the owner of the cafe, and was staying in a nearby hostel, after doing a month of backpacking on a remote trail in the Green Mountains. He seemed like a normal 19 year old guy. The owners of the cafe rolled out the red carpet for me, and said I could have anything on their expensive menu for free, but I declined and just accepted a juice. But they kept insisting, and gave me a homemade loaf of bread and a very delicious made-from-scratch blueberry muffin. After we got in the car, the kid explained to me that the restaurant was run buy a strict religious cult, and they had been trying for over a week to induct him into their community lifestyle. We looked at the map for our route towards Allentown, PA. I told the young man, that if the trip went well and he had the money, I would drop him off on the side of the road in Trenton, New Jersey, which was slightly out of my way. He said that was awesome, and would pay me extra money for getting him to Trenton. But just down the road, after stopping to fill up, the guy only had $ 40. I told him that would only get him to Allentown, and he said not to worry that when his dad, met us, that his dad would pay the rest. I had a pretty good hunch something would get fubared on that deal. The plan was relatively simple - continue due south to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and then swing over to the Taconic State Parkway going south in New York, and look for 3 places to cross the Hudson River going east over to Interstate 87. I chose this route in order to see different scenery than I had on the way up. He was driving, and we were getting along well and enjoying the scenic drive and listening to my cassette radio. I eventually fell asleep. All I know is, when I woke up we were in the Bronx heading straight to Hell. I wanted to cuss the idiot out, and ask how could he have made such a f*ck up. He said he was from California and never driven on the east coast before. ( I think to many puffs of THC have hurt his navigational skills. ) I immediately took over the wheel. Fortunately for me, I had been thru Hell before and just 3 days ago, so I had a pretty good idea where we were, which was approaching The Gates of Hell, and if we didn't immediately get across the Hudson, that we were going to be driving thru the Fire and Brimstone and potentially get lost in The Inferno for eternity, ( well at least several hours ). We crossed the George Washington Bridge and headed for Newark, which was way off course from my intended route thru Allentown. I was quite relieved to see the Empire State Building in my rear-view mirror on the opposite side of the Hudson River from us. We started looking for Interstate 95 to Trenton, NJ. We were in some serious traffic in an place I had no familiarity with or maps. I tried my best to get on I-95 south, but ended up on the New Jersey Turnpike ( maybe same thing there ?? ). That worked out o.k. and we ended up just 30 miles from Trenton. So not being in my right frame of mind, I turned the wheel back over to the guy. I fell completely asleep, and when I woke up, the dumb*ss had completely driven the entire turnpike across the entire state of New Jersey and we were about to enter Wilimington, Delaware. The tollway fee ate up most of my remaining cash. I wanted to pull out my hair and just scream at the top of my lungs. Not having a clue where we were, and not having any idea what route I would need to take to get back on my route, I was a bit pi**ed off. We waited what seemed like an hour for the guy's dad to come and get him. His dad gave me the rest of the money, but it didn't cover all the tollway expenses I was going to encounter getting back on my route. After crossing the Delaware River, I continued westward. I spent the night at a road-side tourist rest area as I entered Maryland. I got a couple of hours of sleep and studied the map. My route was completely fubared. I don't see any easy way to get around Baltimore, and Washington D.C. and back to the I-81 in Virginia, where I had hope to tour some commercial caves. I just crossed the bridge over the very scenic Susquehanna River. So now I sit here, about an hour northeast of Baltimore on I-95 trying to decide where to go. It looks like I will just have to get in the traffic and pay some tollways. I am still nearly 1,600 miles from my warm bed back home, and have slept in my mini-van 6 nights in a row. Hopefully, I will find a tour cave to visit or at least something noteworthy, late this afternoon. I really need to find another Craiglist rider to help with the gas. But after the 1st 3 failures, it doesn't seem like such a good idea. To be continued... David Locklear --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
