The Appalachians

Friday, 4 May 1999
Started: Baltimore, Maryland, 10:30am
Reached: Cleveland Heights, Ohio, 5:30pm
Miles: 378 (378 cumulative)
Route: 
	Maryland - Baltimore, Frederick, Hagerstown
	Pennsylvania - Bedford, Pittsburgh
	Ohio - Youngstown, Cleveland
Interstate highways: 695, 70, 76, 80, 480, 271

Before we start, let me give you a rough idea on the distances. The
total cross-country drive was 3744 miles or 5990 km. If you started
from Mumbai (Bombay) in India, and travelled East, you will cross the
entire India, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), most of China, and reach
somewhere near North Korea! If you travelled West, you will cross
India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordon, and might reach Suez canal in
Egypt! Yes, US is that big!

Started a little bit late from Baltimore since I had to take Prabhakar
to the social security office here. Packed myself with food and water
before starting. 

The first part was along I70 in Maryland. A very comfortable road, with no
traffic. There were lots of bugs.

Stopped at Midway, PA, for lunch. That rest area was one of the original
along the first long distance highway, built in 1940.  There were lots of
trucks on the road. There were small farms all along the road. The road
then entered Appalachian mountains. Even in the mountains, I could
maintain 60 mph (96 kmph). The road was very wide, there was not much of a
traffic, and my car was light. There was even a tunnel in the mountains.
These mountains are probably as high as the Sahyadris, or Western Ghats of
India. 

There was a lot of construction work going on in PA. Had to slow down at
numerous places. But fortunately, the men were at work. I have seen lots
of construction work in PA with nobody working there!

After the mountains, the road became gentler. Once I entered Ohio, the
road went up-and-down along gently sloping hills. Ohio is known as the
"roller-coaster" state! There were quite a few trucks now, but the road
was more or less straight. The ramps were much longer compared to Maryland.

My sunglasses proved to be very useful all along the road, and throughout
the trip. The sun was just too intense!

The state routes were indicated as numbers in an approximate rectangle. I
first thought that the painter made a mistake, and drew the rectangle
incorrect. Only later did I realize that the "rectangle" was actually the
shape of Ohio!

To reach Srinivas's place, I had to go on a small road called Cedar Road.
This road had so many pot-holes that even the roads in Dombivali (or the
road in front of IIT a few years ago) might have fewer pot-holes!

Reached Srinivas's place around 5:30pm. He had already shipped most of his
stuff via courier service. I thought of calling Shrikant Limaye, Sumedha's
Mama, and only then realized that I had forgotten my electronic diary in
Baltimore! I guessed there are not going to be lot of Limaye's in
Cleveland, so called up directory assistance. I got one number, and it
proved to be the correct one!

I talked to GeetaMami and got the directions. Reached their place around
7:50pm. First I met Sneha, their younger daughter, who is about 2 years
old. Later Purva, their elder daughter, who should be about 7, came home. 
I played a little bit of chess with Purva. Sneha helped, of course! Later
had dinner. The menu was Bharit, Pumpkin bhaji (which was surprisingly
good... I am not a pumpkin fan!), hot-off-the-flame chapatis, and kheer
full of saffron (or apple skin, according to Purva).

Came back to Srinivas's place around 11:00pm. Met his roommates: Atul and
Amitabh. Managed to drop an email to Sumedha, cacked with Srinivas, and 
slept.