[garysanfran]

Days 5&6...

I am still unable to upload photos...Getting an error message.

Rt. 50 through Illinois and Indiana went through a lot of small towns. Some quaint, neatly packaged and well maintained, and some that made you wonder...People chose to live here? (Not unique to here, in every state this was the case). Makes you wonder... For what reason could they not escape? The visuals of local life were a bit offset by the 30 mph zones. But, it forces you to slow down. But some of the local life would have definitely been missed on the BIG highway.

Western Maryland was an amazing place. Lots of gentle mountains. AND the fastest drivers I saw. At 90, I was one of the slowest on the road. Easily past many times much in excess of 100 mph. I got to a toll booth, somewhere, and there was a very nice self-contained upscale camper towing a McLaren. I would like to know who was towing that car!

Larry Elison owned (owns?) a MCLaren. Bought a secure building to store it in in Foster City, CA and hired a full-time guard to "look over the toy". Bought for over $1mm.

Rt. 50 then became a non-eventful drive through NJ and then I hit NY...OMG! I want to never drive through NY or CT again. Maybe I'm ignorant of how to get around a $15 toll on the Geo. Washington Brige. The insult was, it took forever to get across the thing. 1st gear all the way...When I wasn't stopped in netrual waiting for more progress.

Then I hit CT and remember growing up with a New England phenom of traffic going along at 75-80 and then coming to a grinding halt for no reason. Five mph for the next 2 miles and a gradual increase in speed back to 75-80 with no sign of what caused it...And then it happens again, and again. In one instance, the braking was very hard and with my weight, I was a little slow in stopping and had to go into the median to avoid a rear-ender. And it was raining.

I spent the night with family in Orange, MA...A very nice area. AND THEN...Da-de-dada-da DAHHH! I headed north and entered New Hampshire through the Keane area.

This is an area of New Hampshire not familiar to me. I was astonished at the beauty all the way to 93.

I started in California on Wed., April 17 and went through the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, W. Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and into New Hampshire. In my life I have visited all US states, except for Alaska and North Dakota.

Many years ago I chose to live in San Francisco, California for many reasons at that time. Today I step over waste products, and shop at markets for things I can't find in New Hampshire easily. Within an easy 8 blocks of where I live, every...EVERY, ethnicity of restaurant is available, and most of them deliver when I'm lazy. I can buy rabbit for $3.79/lb, octopus for $5.95/lb, goat, pheasant, elk, buffalo, conch, dungeouness crab, a live chicken and Maine lobster...often cheaper per/lb. than Hannaford in Meredith and etc.

Flylady was right, it's not a 3rd world country at all. It's a misguided state of confused definition of compassion...I digress.

California is diverse, beautiful and a bit unreal. Nevada, Utah have a charm. Colorado, except for Alaska, probably has the reputation for the beauty queen, and everyone loves Florida.

I'd like to share the state I feel has the most beauty and charm I have ever visited. This is in my most humble opinion with respect and acceptance for those who disagree. We all have reasons for where we chose to live, and our reasons are varied, diverse and sometimes hard to understand by others. I hope my choice is not disappointing...Now, in a grand exodus from this thread, I will announce it tommorow...

Night all...Time for a rest.