Today involved a 9 hour trip from Lexington, Kentucky to St. Marys, Pennsylvania. 9 hours with nothing more than the radio gave me more than enough time to think about the places I was driving through.
Kentucky: None of you can drive in the snow. None. We're not talking about a driving blizzard, but mere flurries, and still, accidents. On the other hand, you drive friendly and the only police officers I saw were helping with said accidents. Also, you have pretty horse farms and rolling hills on your side. Summary: Pretty in a Southern Way.
Ohio: Entering the state through Cincinnati, one might expect the entire state to be filled with picturesque cities nestled into a steeply hilly landscape. One would be wrong. The rest of your state is flat and rather ugly. Columbus, although it likely has many charming attributes and fun places to visit, just felt like exurbs, suburbs and despair from the highway through the snow. Your state troopers were out in force and pulled me over for going 70 in a 65, which is major negative points, but they are susceptible to flirting, for which they win some of these back. Summary: Flat.
Pennsylvania: I always imagine you to be a place of small, dignified northeastern-type farmsteads from the 1780's, the ones with small cleared fields bordered by dense, dark woods. In this case, you have not failed in the least. Perhaps these farms now have electricity and modern farming implements, but under the layer of snow and with a tiny bit of Photoshop, these western PA farms have it right, down to the neatly stacked firewood in the back and stacked stone walls surrounding the field. Your police officers were a pleasant mix of Kentucky's accident patrol and Ohio's speed patrol, proving that you are not too extremist. On the other hand, to contrast your prefect farms, I still haven't seen a city and you only had 15 exits in 101 miles of highway. Summary: There's nothing here.
I'm going to need to get used to this Pennsylvania is the middle of nowhere thing. I should also figure out a way to get around that stretch of heavily patrolled I-71 for the next few times I make the trip back and forth to Kentucky. I suppose they only give you a warning once.
1 Comments:
Ahhh, sorry, should have warned you. My solution: take advantage of the flatness. The emergency access (U-turn) roads are usually regularly spaced, so you can look really far ahead when it's about time for another one to keep an eye out for a state trooper.
Out of state plates might also be an issue... but I do speed regularly at home and have never been pulled over.
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