Because Thomas, WV is so far up in the hills and so far away from everything I had to take a very leisurely drive on a state road to get to a freeway. I was in Maryland within 15 miles of leaving Thomas and another hour after that I made it to the freeway. Message to the state of Maryland: you might consider putting some rest stops on your freeways! Not all of your travelers are comfortable stopping at fast food restaurants and three hours is a very long time to drive without resting!
My only planned stop of the day was in Shippensburg, PA to try to see some of my mom’s relatives. Unfortunately they didn’t respond to my email or phone calls and weren’t home when I stopped by. I can take a hint :) Shippensburg is a pretty nice town. Shippensburg University is there and the downtown area was bustling. On the way back to the freeway I saw an Amish son and father in a horse drawn carriage heading in the opposite direction.
Some things have come up in Massachusetts that I need to get back for so Thomas sort of marked the end of my official vacation/drive across country. The rest is going to be “just get home.” In some ways I wish I could keep wandering forever but frankly also kind of tired of spending so much time in my car! And I miss riding my bike!
Right after Shippensburg I had to change freeways in Harrisburg and immediately saw a sign for Hershey. I’ve never been to the famous Hershey, PA though a college roommate’s boyfriend went and was psyched to be able to buy a piece of chocolate as large as his head! I may need to get home but how could I pass up the opportunity to see chocolate mecca?? Within 10 miles of turning off the freeway I was parking my car for Chocolate World.
The Hershey complex is enormous. There’s a sports arena, chocolate tour, outlet mall, amusement park and probably a million other things that I missed. I only wanted to take the time for the chocolate tour. It was a little disappointing. To be honest it was just like being on a Disney ride. You sit in a sleigh and are moved along and shown in a cartoon way the process of how chocolate is made at the Hershey factory. I’m sure kids love it. I’ve been on a couple of candy tours lately, Jelly Belly and Scharffenberger Chocolate to name a couple, and those were way more informative, educational and fun. There were a million people visiting the Hershey complex, more people in one place than I’ve seen since leaving LA. It was kind of overwhelming so after the tour I got the hell out of there and hit the road again.The 81 was under some major construction which totally foiled my plan for hauling ass across Pennsylvania. There was construction and then they took two lanes down to one for about 12 miles. It was a parking lot the entire way. It took an hour and a half to go maybe 15 miles. I got out of LA to avoid this sort of thing! I was hot, tired, grumpy, hungry and needed to stretch my legs in a huge way. I was totally miserable. By the time traffic started moving again I wanted to set my car on fire and just walk the rest of the way to Massachusetts. I persevered into New Jersey and then spent another hour pulling off at exit after exit that advertised hotels only to be completely flummoxed as to where they actually were! I couldn’t find any of the hotels that the signs swore were at the exits! New Jersey – argh!!! I am sure being tired and sick of driving for today did not help.
I should make it to Massachusetts tomorrow. Yikes!Total miles: 410.8
So I read
ReplyDelete"I’ve never been to the famous Hershey, PA though a college roommate’s boyfriend went and was psyched to be able to buy a piece of chocolate as large as his head!"
And I was like I remember him saying that over and over again. I even got a Hersheys pinwheel hat as a momento. I am not sure if I saved it when I moved. I did give him a call and tell him his comment about it being as big as his head stuck with more than just me.