Monday, June 25, 2012 — Day 31

Last night I slept in the most bizarre little motel room. It was the cheapest one available at the Econo Lodge in Manchester, NH. It was described on ChoiceHotels.com as a room with a queen bed. The man at the front desk, who I believe was the owner of the motel, warned me that it was a very small room with a “tiny queen bed.” I’ve never heard a queen bed called tiny before. I was too intrigued to pass it up. It was room 207, immediately to the right of the elevator. Picture a normal rectangular-ish motel room. Now picture an elevator. Now superimpose those images one on top of the other. Subtract that big chunk of space that the elevator takes up from the rectangular-ish motel room. What you’re left with is the most peculiar little L-shaped room with a bed that was either a twin or possibly smaller. It felt pretty small. I’m short, and I barely fit on it while stretched out.

view from the door

View from the head of the bed; the door is on your right

I went to bed last night earlier than I had been lately. Unfortunately, I woke up earlier, too. Like at 1:50am. It was good sleep, but not enough of it. I was able to get another hour of sleep around 8am-9am, but still…yawn.

I left Manchester this morning and headed toward Vermont. It was raining most of the way. I wasn’t able to get a QSO while in New Hampshire because the QSB was horrible. At one point this afternoon I heard a YL passing traffic on 14.345. She’d come in 10 over S9 for a few seconds and then be completely gone. It was quite neat, though, because at one point I heard her begin to pass a piece of traffic that was going to W9OV, somebody that I know personally. I didn’t hear any of the message, but it was just a neat small world type moment.

Vermont is beautiful, but there’s not much here. Pretty green mountains, an interstate or two, and that’s about it. Even the gas stations are 3 miles off the interstate. The lack of sleep, rainy weather, QSB, and boring drive all added up to a lackluster day. Issues with the motel in Vermont this evening didn’t help things. And tonight was laundry night, which is important, but not the most fun part of the trip.

I’m not sure today even deserves its own post on the blog, but I suppose this just proves that the trip isn’t all unicorns and rainbows. That’s okay, because it’s still mostly unicorns and rainbows. :-)

Tomorrow: Canada!!!!

Trip totals as of Day 31:

• Miles driven: 3812
• States**: 24
• Logged QSOs: 125
• Ounces of good decaf: 286
• Ounces of bad decaf: 72
• Tow trucks required: 1
• Big metal chickens: 5
• Concrete bunnies: 1
• Terra cotta pigs: 0
• Number of times I’ve heard “Somebodeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee That I Used To Know” by Gotye: 50 <~~ are you kidding me? They play this song way too much!

** “States” now includes states and the District of Columbia

73 de NR4CB, Connie