As I pulled into the driveway of my friends’ house near Lake Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania, about half past midnight or so, the thought occurred to me: “Damn, I just got in my car and drove for eight hours straight!”

Which sounds ridiculous, but I’ve done it so many times it doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment anymore. It’s not even close to my record (14.5 hours), but still — that’s a lot of driving, especially by myself, left to my own amusement. I am apparently quite easily amused.

The drive normally takes just over six hours, but the traffic was so heavy it took ONE HOUR to drive 20 miles (32 kms), from my house to Hamilton. It took me two hours just to reach the border, and ordinarily it’s about 1.25 hours (73.5 miles, or 118 kms)! I was making good time until I hit Syracuse, which is usually a breeze to drive through, but I got caught for nearly half an hour in a snarl caused by a horrendous crash involving at least two vehicles — which no longer resemble cars but twisted pieces of strewn metal mixed with glass. When you see a collision like that, you automatically slow down and put both hands on the wheel.

Today started rather early: I took the car for an auto emission test. I found a facility close enough to me that I could roll out of bed 20 minutes before the car was due (I love my neighbourhood, it has everything!), and I tried out a breakfast and crepe (and breakfast crepe) place while the car was getting tested.

I even used a local coin-operated manual car wash facility to tackle the big job of washing the exterior and vacuuming out the interior, which hadn’t been done since before my last round of road trips. It was embarrassingly awful, the state of my car, it took me about an hour. But you know, David treated the car as his office and personal dumping ground, so it has a long legacy of neglect. I’d send it to the car valet for one thorough spa treatment, but they’d probably refuse to take it.

Anyway, the car’s pretty clean and running well, what more could I ask for?

How about an easy time at the Niagara Falls border?

Amazingly, I got it. I was a little worried because there were virtually no lines, yet the car that was two ahead of me was stopped for AGES. The officers were inspecting vehicle plates and delaying people for unusual lengths of time.

But I got it easy for once. And this is where I’ll shut up before I jinx myself.

[Except to say that I don't know if I'm flying in the morning... I hope to find out soon!]