Day 2: We Had Enough Of Everything (Except Snow)

 Last Night's parking spot wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best either. 

         Restart Day 2 New Hampshire

Traffic noise lasted most through the night and towards the morning a ridiculous sweeping machine was racing around the parking lot. So at 5am we called it a night and got up. After breakfast and coffee we got ready for the road. First daylight had started to show, when we hit the Interstate 95. We knew we would get "some" rain today. And sure enough, we were approaching Worcester, MA, when really dark clouds appeared. We were afraid of strong winds and rolled into town, where we found a totally empty, abandoned mall. 

Sitting in the trailer we did some more research on the weather and concluded with, that it was better to hit the coming weather head-on rather than sitting there most of the day. 

So, finally we reached Hartford, CT and got into a stop-and-go. Road construction was to blame. But it didn't last too long and we were moving again. 

Then, at one point, we rolled into a serious rain front. "Rain" isn't really the correct word for it. 

No Sir, it was pouring so hard against our windshield that the wipers had trouble of clearing off the water. It was an incredible strain on my eyes to keep the rig between the white lines. On top of that, traffic was super heavy. Wind had picked up as well and pretty soon we saw the first major accident on the east-bound lane, 2 jack-knifed semis with a passenger car was involved as well, The resulting line-up behind that accident was at least 30miles long, as far as we could estimate it.

But the weather had caused more accidents along I-84. All of them in the east-bound lane. 

When the rain subsided, and it looked like we got west of it, we stopped in a rest area for a lunch break. And before we knew it, the sun peeked out and a remarkably blue sky appeared. It was like a wonder.

We had another couple of hours to Scranton, PA and could enjoy this pleasant part of the day. The plan was to ride down the I-81 towards Harrisburg,PA, but it was past 4pm now and we though of trying to find a Walmart in Wilkes Barre. The Walmart was easy to find, but overnight parking was not allowed there, a sign read at the entry. So we called Lowes in town - and got the same answer. So onwards we went - back to the I-81. 

And here we learned something I will never forget: The I-81 has to be the very worst highway in the entire U.S. Never had I to drive such a run-down road. It was a constant bumpedi-bump that I had to go down to 40mph, in order not to fly into the ditch. NEVER EVER try to drive this road. The I-81 is over 40 yrs old and obviously it is a super heavy traffic connection. The trouble for us now is that there is really no good way to get to Harrisburg and further south than to follow this torture highway. There are no rest areas before you come down to Harrisburg either. 

We have to figure this out while we are parked in a very quiet Walmart parking lot for the night.