In west Philadelphia, born and raised...

So, at around 10am local time I packed my bags, filled up the windscreen skooshers and set off on my long journey to Pennsylvania from Boston. I booked a motel last night using an Internet in Nadya and Mark's house.

See how I parked the car on the street with the drivers door at the kerb?  That's illegal and I got a $30 fine last night.  Land of the free?  I LOLed.

Leaving Boston on the Massachusetts Turnpike I headed along I90 to I84 and then headed south.  With some trepidation I filled up with Gas somewhere outside Charlton, MA.  Trepidation, firstly because I hadn't ever used a US petrol pump, much less a US self-service one (these are pretty new concept in the UK) before today and secondly because I hadn't ever used a my credit card abroad before and I'm slightly paranoid that they'll decide that because it's never been used outside the UK, they'll just not authorise any purchases I make while I am away.

Thankfully the banking system in the US doesn't seem to be as joined up as it is at home, so the card was authorised.  Sadly, the pump had 2 nozzles available for use, green and black and the green one which I lifted was for diesel.

I noticed before I began pumping, but even after I replaced the diesel nozzle, the screen still displayed that I was buying Diesel while I pumped.

I took the opportunity while I was stopped to unpack my tape adaptor to allow me to play MP3s from some source or other and the charger for the iPhone which will be running my Satnav for the trip. 

Car stereo gets my seal of approval.  Despite only 1 of 4 speakers working, several knobs missing and a susceptibility to mobile phone interference not experienced since my friend Blair was given an already ancient car in 1998, it has a 'METAL' button, so it must be good.


Observations:
iPhone gets very hot while playing MP3s and running the Tomtom app.  It also doesn't charge very quickly.  For the 5hrs or so it was on charge today, it went from 73% to 85%.

New England has a LOT of trees.

I relaxed as I whizzed along the Highways of Connecticut and New Jersey.

Manhattan Skyline from George Washington Bridge

My trepidations returned as I approached New York City.  Worried that I might meet the fate of Patrick Swayze (shot in a dark alley - not pancreatic cancer) in Ghost, I avoided eye contact with all of the homeless people skipping through the traffic jam with cardboard sob stories in the Bronx.  I do quite fancy having a go with a potter's wheel one day though.

 New York City is right behind that hill - honest!

I sang  'America' by Simon & Garfunkel on the New Jersey Turnpike.

New Jersey Turnpike is very long and very wide and very straight and in some places very under construction.

Camry and I made it to the Motel.  Hurrah!

My Motel room.  Very comfortable.  Thank you Expedia.com!

I don't know much about Pennsylvania, however one thing I was expecting for some reason was spooky graveyard sunsets.  I think it's from playing World of Warcraft.  Anyway, I wasn't disappointed.  This was taken from my Motel next to Roosevelt Cemetery on Street Road..

Special thanks to Nadya who not only lent me a bed in her wonderful home, but also gave plenty of advice, encouraged me to stay longer in Boston (which I am so glad I did) and made me a rather awesome packed lunch with Avocado/cheese/sausage/tapenade sandwiches this morning.