$12.00?!!!! I want my $12.00!!!!!

DAY TEN ~ 377.7 miles Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I have reached the fabled land of the toll. Where I come from tolls come when going over bodies of water not just to get on a nice normal highway!

I finished my Confederate trek with a stop at the Petersburg Battlefield. This was one of the final major battles of the Civil War, in which Grant encircled Lee’s men around the railway stop outside the Confederate capital of Richmond. In this campaign that lasted over nine months both sides began to use rudimentary trench warfare, foreshadowing World War I in 1914. At this battle the Union also tried to dig under the Confederate lines and set off a massive explosion known as the Battle of the Crater that went horribly wrong for the African-American soldiers selected to lead the attack.

I love this stuff and found it just fascinating. As I drove in last night it was great driving past places like Mechanicsvile, Sharpsburg, Appomattox, places that you read about but finally get to see! I also loved having the battlefield to myself like at Antietam!

From Petersburg I decided to take the scenic route up to Philly through the back roads and then up the coast, entering into the land of the toll!

As I got to the toll booth for the Chesepeake Bridge the woman says “12.00 please.”
Me: TWELVE DOLLARS?!”
Lady: “Yes, it is a really long bridge.”
Me: “TWELVE DOLLARS?! Is it a bridge to Canada?!”
Yes it was a really long freaking bridge but so not worth $12.00!

It was a long drive through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I wish I had stopped for crab in Maryland but I really think I am pretty much done with driving, and I just wanted to get to Philly. Delaware is pretty poor and there is not much to see whilst driving through.  Apparently according to the guidebook there is a lot to see, but I certainly couldn't find it.  I also drove on the New Jersey Turnpike - uneventful before making it into the city of Brotherly Love.

I am staying with my dear friend Kara who I met about five years ago when we both did a summer program at Oxford.  Kara is one of my most favorite Irish bullshitters and can tell a story with the best of them!  We went to a fantastic Mexican dive for the best tacos I have had on the East Coast before hanging out with a few of Kara's friends.  Kara had won a prestigious grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is spending the summer at Cambridge, and is leaving tomorrow afternoon.

Off to Boston...

Miles Traveled So Far: 4451.3

Movies: The Happening

Best Sign of the Day: Welcome to Franklin please don’t drive like hell through it!