From the highway department: I discovered the existence of a ``Welcome To Connecticut'' information center which was over 30 miles by highway from the nearest land border of Connecticut, suggesting they are either open to Namor's armies invading and then getting on the Interstate, or else somebody at the Connecticut Department of Transportation hiccoughed while drawing the dots for tourist information centers. At one rest stop I heard a person explaining on the phone, ``No, no, it goes through three boroughs. That's why it's called the Triborough Bridge.'' (That may seem obvious, but it was a revelation moment to me years ago when I realized the name was literally correct.)
Also much closer to the New York border I saw a sign that read, simply, ``Bruce Museum -- Exit 3.'' I am going to imagine that is a room filled with Monty Python tribute groups playing Australians, and I cherish that image so greatly that I will never go there and risk spoiling my impressions with a potentially sadder and more practical reality.
While driving along I saw a small transparent trash bag filled with the sorts of crumpled cartons that you see in movie scenes where trash bags have to be spilled open. It was blowing around the highway but moving out of my lane, so I slowed a bit and watched it. It sailed right into the grill of a van, which exploded the trash bag and sent loose papery debris all over the place. The van, I noticed, was labelled ``Environmental Testing and Balancing.'' This doesn't mean anything, but it amused me.
Miscellaneous amusements following my arrival: While trying to figure out which of the several Mission: Impossible movies we'd seen brief scenes from, my uncle asked his son: ``Which Mission: Impossible movie was the second one?'' His son answered, ``Mission: Impossible II.'' It's comforting to know freshmen aren't getting any less smart as I age. We also observed from a few minutes of Rocky IV that it was really very nice of Rocky to set this one musical montage to every 1980s song ever made -- I swear he was driving KITT -- and determined that my cousin was unable to describe the plot of Conan the Barbarian succinctly in a way that let us tell he was talking about that rather than Gladiator.
Trivia: In 1795, sailing ship service gave round-trip Albany-to-New York City trips in as little as seven days. Source: Joseph Henry, Albert E Moyer.
Currently Reading: Roman Britain and Early England, 55 BC - AD 871, Peter Hunter Blair.