Visitors to the United States make note of how big the entire country is. Some states are bigger or smaller than others. Rhode Island, for instance, is small enough that you may not realize you’re in it until you’re out of it.
Next door to me is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on the larger side of our 48 contiguous parcels. It’s called a Commonwealth because the founding fathers preferred it to “State,” which is interchangeable; however, their ties to England before independence was a big reason for the nomenclature. It’s a horizontally huge plot of land big enough that it takes over four hours to cross by car. Which is what I did this weekend.
The turnpike is an enjoyable ride, passing by acres of farmland, touring the insides of four mountain tunnels, and seeing the development of county after county as housing sprouts up all over. The authority in charge of the toll road have made it a clean and smooth drive for everybody.
I’m not sure how good their cable or radio reception is in the far reaches of farm country (I used satellite radio for the trip, and it only blacked out in the mountain tunnels). I attended an event at a location far enough away to necessitate the trip across hill and dale to appear live. And it’s not just me: people visit from Ohio and New York as well.
I drove the four hours straight out, with just a bottle of water by my side and Eighties tunes for entertainment. My car’s direction feature didn’t work (I spoke with support), so while I waiting for them to reboot my system, I turned to maps on my phone to get the directions to what was a twisty trip into the mountains via winding skinny roads to the site of the event. The standby method didn’t let me down, and I arrived safe and sound. The shopping was intense, and I came out of it with quite a haul. I won’t go into detail, because I included holiday shopping in my trip.
After spending a third of the past two days driving, however, I’m a bit beat. The benefits of driving the route are exhilarating enough to make me do it again, for the peace and steady rhythm of the road, as well as the feelings of independence which eventually escape our capabilities as we age.
For now, I’ll make shorter trips to the corner market.
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