We got up and watched the news to see if Punxsutawney Phil would see his shadow ~ yep, he did; so 6 more weeks of winter. Ugh!
We left our Econo Lodge in Columbus, Ohio and headed for New England. Traffic wasn't too bad on any of the roads, so traveling was easy. I do have to say that traffic always seems a little heavy just north of Columbus on I-71. After a few miles, it thins out ~ I don't know if they need to add some lanes there or what the deal is, but I've been through there on a week day and it's crazy.
We headed up toward Akron and then hit I-76 over to I-80. We stopped at the little 'trucker mall' in Hubbard, Ohio. It's right across the street from the Flyin J and they've got a couple little restaurants, some gift shops, some game rooms, and an ATT/Cingular store. We walked around one of the gift shops and found a back and thigh massager for the truck seat on clearance for $15.00 (about half of what the regular price is). It plugs into the cigarette lighter in the truck and has a heat setting and massage settings for upper back, lower back, and thighs. Of course, I had to try it out immediately ~ yep, works and feels great!
We grabbed a light lunch at one of the little restaurants ~ I'm not sure what the name of it was. We both had soup and salad bar and it was actually pretty good. I stuck with a basalmic vinigrette salad dressing, just a sprinkle of cheese, and peaches, applesauce, and orange jello on the side. I also had about a half a cup of chicken and rice soup. Chris had the italian wedding soup with his salad and said it was really good. We enjoyed being able to walk around and do some shopping, take the time to sit and enjoy a nice, light lunch that didn't leave us wanting a nap.
Now, I have to say that we had good service and the food was good. However, I couldn't help overhear the conversation among a group of younger people and one young lady telling about her weekend partying and throwing up in a toilet. Not exactly what I want to hear while I'm eating. Imagine how I felt when this same young lady ended up being our cashier?! Very poor taste!
Sometime after that, the truck started cutting out a little bit. After stopping a few times and then adding some injector cleaner, it does fine as long as we keep the tow haul on and the gas pedal pushed just a little. When it does cut out, it acts like it's not getting fuel and blows black/gray smoke out the tailpipe ~ almost like it's coughing, then it'll kick in and run fine. Gonna have to get that seen about! Of course, I wanted to stop right then and there and find somewhere that would look at it. Not easy to find on a Saturday evening. But, I kept thinking we were going to get down the road a couple miles and it completely quit running out in the middle of nowhere, in 'the wilds' of Pennsylvania.
We kept moving though and it runs fine as long as we run it like it wants to be run ~ Chris says it must be a girl! HA
Sometime in the evening, Chris wanted me to find a hotel that had Pay Per View in the room so he could watch UFC 81. After several calls and a lot of searching the web, I found that I couldn't find one in that area that offered this amenity. A lot of hotels had in room movies, but it's more like a Blockbuster thing, with certain movies available that you could buy and watch. So, I'm putting that on my to-do list ~ what hotel chains offer in room Pay Per View?
We ended up staying at an Econo Lodge (yes, we have the Choice Hotels Rewards Program), in Bloomsburg, PA. With our military discount, we got the room for $69.?? (that's with tax). We thought that's kind of steep for an Econo Lodge, but in reality our room had a king size bed, full bathroom, refrigerator, coffee pot, blow dryer, TV with free HBO, couch, desk with leather chair ~ in other words, it was nice and we got what we paid for. I also have to say that the staff was very friendly and helpful.
We ordered supper from La Fontana (click here to see my post on La Fontana) and when the delivery guy arrived at the hotel, the front desk called to ask if it was okay to send him to our room. You don't expect that kind of courteous service and security at an Econo Lodge, so we were very impressed.
We got a good night's sleep and are headed out for further northeast ~ guess we'll listen to the Superbowl from the radio!
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