2500 Miles and Counting

Last week I drove to New York. I left South Jordan on Tuesday morning at 5am with "clear" directions from my mother on how to arrive safely at Robert's Arts and Crafts. One wrong turn and next thing I know I am paying toll fees to a toothless man named Joe outside of Buffalo. What happened in between is still a bit foggy. Perhaps as I type it out the memories will come back.

Ah yes, on Tuesday I drove 1,040 miles, finally stopping somewhere in Iowa at the lovely, and suprisingly affordable, Saturn Motel. After a brisk morning temperature near zero, I hurried on down to Nauvoo to see the sites and sights. New Years Eve at tourist spots has some advantages, I had the visitor center and the temple grounds to myself.

I stayed the night in the Chief Motel of Keokuk, just south of Nauvoo, and got up early to drive to South Bend, Indiana, home of everyones favorite underdog, Rudy. A nice lady named Latisha let me park in the lot reserved for the pastors and fathers that spend their day in the famed Basilica of the Sacred Heart. After high fiving touch down jesus and sitting on a bench where an actor who portrayed Rudy sat, I was off to Ohio. Ironically, I found another Saturn Motel for the same price as before and spend the night there. Extremely convenient but a bit drafty.

At sun-up I made my way through the back roads of Ohio(this is what men call the scenic route and women call lost) to the Kirtland Temple for a quick photo op. Next stop...Erie, PA. Erie, to put is nicely, is an apauling dump heap filled the most deplorable rubbish imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knots. Really, once you get approximately .02 "i-see"s away from the freeway, the scenery turns decidely sour. So I stuck to the motel room with was on the good side of town and crashed until morning.

Morning came and so did the realization that I better hurry if I wanted to make it to the Prometric Testing Center on time to the GRE. Three hours of pure testing bliss later, I left with two whose meaning I hadn't slightest idea. Fast forward 3.5 hours and $6.75 in tolls, I rolled into Syracuse in one, tired piece. To be continued...