December 10: Lawrenceville, New Jersey, to Chichester, New Hampshire

Because of the pain in my side, I had a difficult time sleeping. I kept waking up when I moved in the bed. At 5:30 am I awoke the third or fourth time and decided to get on the road. I figured that I would do better navigating the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway around New York City in the early morning hours instead of during morning rush hour.

In the dark I took a back road from Princeton to the NJ Turnpike. Then I switched onto the Garden State Parkway just as the sun began to rise and stayed on it all the way north on the west side of the Hudson River until it joins I-87 in New York state. I followed I-87 east over the Tappan Zee Bridge, then got on Saw Mill River Parkway going north and eventually on I-84 in Brewster, New York. From there I stayed on the route and Kate and I have driven many, many times, Her parents' home, the home where she grew up, was in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. I had driven that route for many Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays and at other times over the years. So I drove east on I-84 to Hartford, Connecticut, then north on I-91 through Springfield and Holyoke, Masachusetts, to Brattleboro, Vermont. In Brattleboro, I rejoined the route that I had taken on the fist day of the trip - but in the opposite direction. I arrived home in the early afternoon.

Hooray!  The trip was over! It was so great to get home and give Kate a big hug! I had covered 7,261 miles in 30 days from November 10 through December 10 and had passed through 27 states.

The end of the trip was only marred by the pains I continued to have in my side. I had telephoned Kate ahead and she had arranged for me to see a physician assistant at the Epsom Family Health Care Center at 3:30.