Drove another 6-7 hours this afternoon and on in to the evening. Really hadn't planned to go as far today, but the 1st rest area I pulled into was full of truckers sleeping, so it was another two hours before the next one came up. This time I didn't make the same mistake of going into the side labeled trucks and trailers, but went on into the auto side and just pulled all the way through before pulling over. Plenty of open space tonight and I should be out of here early enough in the morning that there won't be any problems. Plus the worst that could probably happen is that some one would wake me up and kick me out, but I really don't see that as happening.

    So here I am somewhere just south of Hershey Pennsylvania. Only a bit more than 100 miles yet to go before my next stop near Fredrick, Maryland. Other than the torrential rain early this afternoon it has been a pretty easy travel day. The weather finally began to break a couple of hours ago and it looks like it might actually be a clear day in the morning.

    A couple of interesting things from today. The first is that I heard the term 'Road Gator' for the first time while standing in line at the truck stop. Knew immediately what it was referring to even though I hadn't heard any context along with the term. Having had to dodge hundreds, if not thousands, while driving the last couple of years it seemed pretty obvious they were talking about shredded up big rig tires. Who knew there was an actual term for them?


    The other thing was thinking about town names I have heard over the years in idle conversations or while reading and then never bothered to think about too much more or even think to look up where they actually were. I see a lot of those town names on my travels these days. Today's list include the towns of Mystic, Groton, Poughkeepsie, and Hershey. I wonder what names tomorrow will bring?

   And finally today a bit of family news: Seems my nephew Keven managed to get himself a nice cow elk while hunting in Colorado this year. My Brother-in-law Mark got a nice, once in a lifetime bull elk in Nebraska and my sister Kathy got a nice antelope. Still some time left during hunting season so there may be more to come. It does make me a little sad that I'm not out in the woods right now myself, but this seems to feel right to me at this moment.

   Also talked to my mom last night, the family clearing house for news. She sounded good, though tired after a full day out and about with my sister-in-law Cheryl. At 89 she still seems to do okay most days.