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2001-06-28 (flashback) - 11:19 p.m.

Northeast Odyssey: Home can be the Pennsylvania Turnpike

JUNE 28, WASHINGTON, PA.

Hyannis � Cape Cod � Fall River � Providence � New London � Waterbury � New Haven � Westchester � New Jersey � Montclair � Flemington � Pennsylvania � Allentown � Carlisle � Somerset � Washington. Train � U2 � Bon Jovi � David Gray � Guster � �Road Trip� � Billy Joel � Johnny Cash.

Though I�d become slightly �Nantucketized� � used to early (earlier) wakeups and long, active days � the 6:45 a.m. alarm was tough to answer. After showering and trying to carry on a conversation with Pat (I�m not a morning person), I stand out on the front porch for a few minutes to enjoy the morning before Dave drives Jess and me to the dock, Jaime along for the ride. We say our goodbyes on the wharf and board the Grey Lady II for the 7:50 cruise back to the mainland. By 9:15 we are on the road home as I drive to southwestern Rhode Island and Jess finishes the stint to the Brookdale South rest area near Parkway mile marker 151.

Dad is there to pick Jess up and I shoot down the Parkway and onto I-78 with the �Road Trip� soundtrack as my own. When that ends, I put in Billy Joel�s Greatest Hits Vol. II, the one with �Allentown� � and my pace just so happens to have me cruising around the city as the song begins.

When I reach the Pennsylvania Turnpike outside Carlisle, it seems prettier to me today, nicer and more welcoming than the last few times I�ve ridden it. Maybe it�s what lies at the end of the road, maybe it�s the varying routes � 78, 81, Turnpike, 70 � I take, maybe I�m coming to like Pa. better. Reading the exit signs and town and county border markers on the roadside, I feel comfortable, almost at home. Pennsylvania town names are interesting � unique and puzzling yet common and unoriginal as well, often on the same sign. There�s Allentown, Kutztown, Carlisle, Burnt Cabins, Breezewood, Valley-Hi. But then there are the confusing ones � California, Indiana, Washington, Jersey Shore, Oklahoma, Yukon. And Pennsylvania must have more �-towns� and �-burgs� than any state � Pittsburgh (of course), Shippensburg, Hamburg (mmmmm...), Fredericksburg, Harrisburg, Newburg, Fannetsburg, Kecksburg, Lewisburg ... Greensburg. But what Pa. needs is a town called Road Work, because it must be the state�s largest industry. I doubt there�s a major highway not under construction in the entire state during the summer.

I drive west into the late afternoon, the sun slowly sinking into the haze. The Appalachian and then Allegheny Mountains are layered in the distance before me, each hill a lighter shade of blue-gray as they recede in the distance. In between CDs, I search the radio a little, mixing some NPR, random country and even �Friends� on 87.7 FM (a TV simulcast) in with Billy, a mix CD and Johnny Cash. I also wonder why so many country stations begin with �Y� � I know of Y105, Y106, Y107 and Y108 all between New York and Pittsburgh.

As the sun sets, I alternate wearing my sunglasses and removing them on stretches when the mountains cast the road in shade. As I round bends and see the peach glow on oncoming trucks or the median, I know to put my shades back on before rounding the curve and staring down the sun. As I cross the Monongahela near Belle Vernon, the sun shimmers off the water where the river is wide as it winds down toward Morgantown.

Seeing a billboard for a $35.99 Motel 6 room at exit 7A off I-70, I give it a shot but can�t find it, so I continue on to exit 4 as planned, finding the Days Inn just off the interstate on U.S. 40 � the old National Pike. The hotel is clean and refurbished � and sits behind a Chinese restaurant that�s either defunct or not popular at 9 p.m., and a Taco Bell. My room is nice enough � with sliding doors facing the brick wall that I assume encircles the pool. But the bathroom has the world�s most confusing bathroom light switch � a tiny, narrow sliver above the outlet; at first I think it�s the reset switch.

But I�ve got Showtime and the Mets on TBS, so I can�t complain � unless they lose.

The Days Inn Guest Services brochure is quite informative, providing history of the area. Washington County and the town (the county seat) are named for General George, who owned land here long ago, when Pa. and Virginia argued over ownership. U.S. 40, the National Road that Washington helped lobby for, runs west from here to the West Virginia border, and will be my road out of here for a while tomorrow, just for a little historical change.

My phone call to Casey catches her at a bar with friends and I tell her to call me when she returns. But before we hang up, she is sure to thank me for the package, and then she asks to come visit NJ the weekend of July 20, using her USAir voucher.

I'm elated and I hang up and lie on the bed, my heart pounding, reminiscent of grade school crush feelings. I need to tell someone, so I call Heather, and after she finishes with Doug (on the phone), she calls me and we talk for a while. "You sound good," she says, "that's good to hear."

Casey calls while I�m on the phone with Heather � my phone lets me know of a message at the desk � and I call her back and we talk until 1:45, more than an hour. It�s a real conversation � I haven�t read her diary nor updated mine. And it�s a fun, pleasant chat. I wonder what, exactly, Casey thinks of me � how she defines our relationship, both to herself and the friends she tells. She doesn�t talk about me much in her journal, but her late-night phone calls, her emotion and enthusiasm � and her invitations to visit and desire to come to NJ � all suggest she thinks somewhat highly of me. Heather and I discuss this a little and it�s nice to hear how excited she is for me.

When Casey calls, one of the things she mentions is how I�ve been reading through her older entries. She tells me not to in a half-joking/playful but definitely half-serious way. I guess there's something she doesn�t want me reading about, which I take to mean as a sign of interest. It'll be tough to honor her request, but it will be hard because I can�t get enough of her.

Home can be the Pennsylvania Turnpike
Indiana's early morning dew
High up in the hills of California
Home is just another word for you

� "You're My Home," Billy Joel

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Yeah, sorry I have to be all legal on you here, but unless otherwise indicated, all that you read here is mine, mine, mine. But feel free to quote me or make fun of me or borrow what I write and send it out as an e-mail forward to all your friends, family and coworkers. Just don't say it's yours, you know?