As previously mentioned, my sister-in-law moved from NH to Alaska last month and I agreed to drive her Subaru Forester up for her, just for the fun of doing it. My friend Joe, having the same warped sense of adventure, agreed to accompany me.

We left from Joe’s at about 8:30am, heading west to the Mass Pike, hoping to make Buffalo or Niagara Falls, Canada by nightfall. Sunday traffic was light most all of the way.

We stopped for lunch in Syracuse at Zebb’s mostly because it said “deluxe” in the name and there were cars out front. A non-ironic version of Johnny Rockets diner motif, the food was good and cheap and there were lots of colorful local folks watching about six sports events on big TVs.

Syracuse seemed a bit seedy, but we really only visited this single neighborhood so my opinion is totally subjective and possibly inaccurate. We pushed on to Buffalo.

We drove straight through Buffalo and it seemed to justify its negative image, but again, this was a small sample size. We decided not to stop and pushed on to the outskirts, where we checked into the fabulous Red Carpet Inn in Amherst for about $70.

Joe checked for bedbugs and we moved in.

Tomorrow: Canada!