April 30 - May 1, Superior WI - Scranton PA
Wednesday morning started in Superior. After breakfast at Hardees, we headed back out on US-2 as we had been for the past several days. Michigan's upper peninsula came quicker than I expected but it went on longer than it seemed like it would. I had hoped to eat at the Stonehouse in Escanaba for either lunch or dinner but we arrived too late for lunch and too early for dinner. Escanaba was originally the planned stopping point for that night but since we were ahead the night before by getting to Superior, we pushed Wednesday's stopping point out until Mackinaw City MI. Mackinaw is a beautiful spot with a legendary bridge and sparkling Lake Michigan water on 2 sides. We ended up staying at Holiday Inn Express which was nice but not someplace I collect points at or am a frequent guest at. Dinner was from Audie's just across I-75 from the hotel (walkable thanks to an underpass). We shared chicken alfredo which came with beans and a salad. We also had raspberry pie. It was a nice dinner but we had to eat in our room because the Holiday Inn Express had a detailed 2 page sheet of pet rules and fines and leaving the room unguarded with Splash in it wasn't allowed. Like almost every night of the trip we had to get our order in ASAP because Audie's was only open until 8:30 at this time of year.
Thursday took us down through Michigan on I-75 and US 127 (the latter was a beautifully maintained road through very rural and attractive scenery) and then through rural Ohio on OH-2 and across Cleveland on I-90 until we finally arrived at Monitor, OH. The hotel (Best Western Lawnfield) was outstanding and we had amazing service and tasty food in the on site pub. The chocolate mousse (me) and apple cobbler (Brian) were big hits in little dishes.
Friday was the last day and took us all the way into Scranton. It also had some of the worst roads of the trip. Interstate 86/NY 17 through southern NY was horrendous. On the way into Scranton we had arranged to be able to ditch the car trailer so that we had at least some hope of finding and being able to navigate into a parking spot at the apartment complex. The first TWO addresses we found for Scranton Penske locations were old and we wasted a lot of stressful time driving around trying to get rid of the trailer. We eventually got that done.
We were relieved to finally make it to the apartment. Piloting the truck around the apartment parking lots was difficult and at one point I was turning around in a seemingly reasonable spot but it required a two point turn and when I went to reverse the truck at an angle it was also on a bit of a steep slope. The Penske truck has an accelerator brake interlock thing that prevents you from having ANY above idle revs on the motor if your foot is off the brake. The only other remotely feasible way to keep the truck for lurching forward might have been the parking brake but it was a lever that required so much force to operate that I had no hope of wrestling that thing on the floor and steering. So sure enough the truck lunged forward while I waited for enough revs to develop to make reverse actually go in reverse against the hill. I was probably a fraction of a second from having the truck bounce over the curb and down the slope towards one of the apartment buildings. The scariest moment of the entire trip for me.
This entry sat for a long time unfinished so forgive the lack of detail towards the end.
Thursday took us down through Michigan on I-75 and US 127 (the latter was a beautifully maintained road through very rural and attractive scenery) and then through rural Ohio on OH-2 and across Cleveland on I-90 until we finally arrived at Monitor, OH. The hotel (Best Western Lawnfield) was outstanding and we had amazing service and tasty food in the on site pub. The chocolate mousse (me) and apple cobbler (Brian) were big hits in little dishes.
Friday was the last day and took us all the way into Scranton. It also had some of the worst roads of the trip. Interstate 86/NY 17 through southern NY was horrendous. On the way into Scranton we had arranged to be able to ditch the car trailer so that we had at least some hope of finding and being able to navigate into a parking spot at the apartment complex. The first TWO addresses we found for Scranton Penske locations were old and we wasted a lot of stressful time driving around trying to get rid of the trailer. We eventually got that done.
We were relieved to finally make it to the apartment. Piloting the truck around the apartment parking lots was difficult and at one point I was turning around in a seemingly reasonable spot but it required a two point turn and when I went to reverse the truck at an angle it was also on a bit of a steep slope. The Penske truck has an accelerator brake interlock thing that prevents you from having ANY above idle revs on the motor if your foot is off the brake. The only other remotely feasible way to keep the truck for lurching forward might have been the parking brake but it was a lever that required so much force to operate that I had no hope of wrestling that thing on the floor and steering. So sure enough the truck lunged forward while I waited for enough revs to develop to make reverse actually go in reverse against the hill. I was probably a fraction of a second from having the truck bounce over the curb and down the slope towards one of the apartment buildings. The scariest moment of the entire trip for me.
This entry sat for a long time unfinished so forgive the lack of detail towards the end.
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