Friday 19th March 2010 - I've Saved the Worst Bit till the End

          Dulcie ushers me straight back onto the toll road.  Women just love to spend money, don't they?

          But these toll roads (not all the Interstates are toll roads) are not at all what I've been used to.  Usually, every exit is preceded by a list of motels, gas stations, and restaurants.  But the toll roads have their own 'service plazas', with their very own franchisees, so they're not about to advertise the competition.  And there seems to be a sad lack of those 'meerkat' adverts which advised me everywhere else.

          I'm so determined to hang on till I see a franchise restaurant I like that I nearly run out of gas.  I have to turn off and do a ten mile detour to fill up.  Still without any sign of a restaurant: perhaps the toll road owners have some control of the zoning laws.  I finally give in to my stomach, and stop at a 'service plaza'.  I justify it on the basis that this one is called "Clyde".  But, in food terms, it sells only mortal sins, so I duly commit one.

          And when I get to today's destination, Montpelier (although they now pronounce it in American), the trip turns out to have cost $14, rather more than crossing Chesapeake Bay.

 

          Later that night, I drive south about 15 miles to a rather special 1950s diner, which cheered me up again.  It's not far from US-6, which runs to Chicago.  I wonder if that made Dulcie nervous.