Up in New England

I have finally begun the latest trek. In pursuit of the goal of photographing state capitols I  headed up to New England. I visited my long-time (old) friend Richard. It was a good visit. His 90 year old mom, Eleanor, barely stopped making food for us. Richard is still playing guitar and my plan to capture him on video was cut short by a dead battery plus a dead spare battery. Oops. But the brief bit I did get is quite entertaining. Witness:

Next stop: Trenton, NJ. 

I got to Hartford Saturday evening. Emily directed me faithfully to the Statehouse where hordes of people were heading to a jazz concert on the Commons. So with the streets full, I parked in a legally dubious spot four or five blocks away and hurried over to get some shots in the fading light. I ended up staying at Camp Walmart and got up at dawn for a morning reprise. 

From Hartford I was able to get to Providence and Boston the same day and have time to walk around a little and get shots of the capitols.

I made it to Concord on Monday. After Boston and Providence and Hartford, Concord seemed more like a county seat than a state capital. A nice town but I had to drive to a Starbucks more than two miles away to find an open café with internet. At 10 am.

From there I drove to the western side of the state to Charlestown where I visited Jimmy and Sharon McClammer. I stayed for a very wet week and was able to help build about a hundred feet of spite fence on their property. Good times. I parked Irv across the creek at a beautiful shaded spot near the Little Sugar River they call Louise’s. It reminded me of Pocopson. Jimmy and Sharon and I really did have a good time. 

I left the McClammer’s on a Monday and drove to Augusta. Another small town. And Montpelier, an even smaller town. Then on to Albany. That’s the last stop on the New England state capital/capitol tour. Albany is far from a small town. In addition to the 20th century buildings, it has a mixture of Victorian, Romanesque, Renaissance and Classical architecture with lots of spires and ornamentation that makes it look like a Disney fairytale town 

Thursday I made an appointment with a Mac genius. I thought I had allowed plenty of time to get from Bennington, VT where I was when I made the appointment to the Albany store but when I actually got on the road Emily had my arrival time as 12:16. My appointment was 12:15. Ug! I suddenly remembered that frantic feeling of 100% knowing you’re going to be late but hurrying anyway to try to minimize the problem. That was my feeling almost every day commuting into DC to work.

One thing I’ve learned on this road trip is that your ability to really make a dent in your arrival time is very limited. If your trip is many hours you can erase some time by speeding (a risky alternative) the whole time. But on an hour long drive, speeding can only pick up a few minutes. So the best thing is to drive sanely and just put it out of your mind. You’ll get there when you get there. 

I did have a reprieve though. More than halfway through the drive I realized that I had set the GPS to avoid highways, a nice option when you want to take the scenic route. Not so much when you want to make some time. Just by changing that setting I picked up 11 minutes and so made the appointment. The lesson? Plan better. Pay attention. Think.