DAY 2
FINISH:
miles
Painesville, OH
475.7
Albany International Airport to pick up my rental car. Knowing that I was about to go
on a 16-day journey covering 8400 miles, I figured my best bet would be to rent a car
rather than put all of those miles on my own car. In fact, the 8400-mile figure I had
originally come up with was a very low estimate; I would go on to put well over 10,000
miles on the car. When I picked up the rental car, a dark green 2000 Pontiac Grand
Am, it only had 5900 miles on it. 16 days later, that very same car had over 16,000
miles to its credit.
Day 1 is probably tied with Day 16 as the least eventful day on my journey. The
exciting than Day 16 is that on Day 1,
I had 15 more days to look forward to.
The itinerary for Day 1 included roads
which I have already traveled half a
dozen times before. Leaving Albany, I
hopped onto Interstate 88 and traveled
the entire 118-mile long highway to
Binghamton. In Binghamton, I got
2000 Pontiac Grand Am (Dark Green)
If you look carefully, you can see that I also used the vehicle as a traveling billboard for the company I work for (note the sign in the driver's side rear window).
new name is/will be Interstate 86. West of Elmira, the signage includes sheilds for both
Interstate 86 and Route 17; east of Elmira, it is still simply Route 17, though there are
signs along the highway which read "Future Interstate 86." I drove along Route 17/I-86
through Elmira, Corning, Bath and Jamestown until it ends about 7 miles into
Pennsylvania, when it reaches Interstate 90. Once on I-90, I headed west, as the
highway goes past Erie and into Ohio. I exited I-90 at Exit 200 - Painesville (about 1/2
hour east of Cleveland). This is the hometown of my sister and her husband, who
provided me with free lodging and pleasant conversation - a treat I would be able to
take advantage of 2 weeks later as I passed through on my way home.