Tuesday, June 19 – Thursday, June 21, 2012 — Days 25 – 27

Tuesday afternoon I arrived in Mystic, CT. I chose it because it had the cheapest hotel available between W1AW and Boston. I was looking for a place to stay for two nights so that I could catch up on sleep before my brother’s wedding weekend.

Mystic, CT

I didn’t realize how cute of a little resort town it was, and I was clueless that a Julia Roberts movie was set here. I live under a rock. I really only booked it because of the cheap motel. The town was just adorable, and I found a cute place for dinner that sold pretty much everything. I had a caprese panini. (Panino? The singular form of the word just sounds wrong.)

nom!

On Wednesday, I slept a lot, and unfortunately I missed a pretty important phone call from my dad. He left me a message, but I didn’t receive the message until a full day later. He was also heading to my brother’s wedding in Boston, and he had decided to stop in to the ARRL headquarters and operate W1AW. He said later that he only made a couple of contacts; the band conditions still weren’t great after the recent CMEs. If I’d known, I’d have gone out to the car to see if I could get him from my mobile rig, and I’d have tweeted it so you guys could work him, too. I suppose that’s what I get for turning the phone off and catching up on sleep.

I spent some time doing laundry and straightening the car on Wednesday afternoon, but mostly my stay in Mystic was about sleep, sleep, and more sleep.

Thursday I left Connecticut and headed to Boston. I passed through Rhode Island on the way to Massachusetts. I got to the Boston Cambridge Marriott right around noon on Thursday.

I kind of wish somebody could’ve snapped a picture of me up on my tiptoes struggling to be tall enough to pull the whip down off the Opek and then opening the rear passenger door and climbing up inside the car to get up high enough to pull down the magmount for 2m phone off the roof. It’s probably not what that hotel is used to seeing happen in front of their hotel before people head into the parking garage. The fact that I was in old denim shorts and a sleeveless shirt made it funnier (to me anyway). I can fit in at Motel 6 or the five-star resorts I booked (and stayed at!) when I was a travel agent. Generally speaking, though, I prefer to dress for the location; I just didn’t feel like wearing anything warmer than what I did because the heat wave that was sweeping a good part of the nation was pushing temperatures into the high 90s and even past 100°F. It had been 99°F in Mystic the day before. I know I’m from Florida, and I can handle the heat, but I didn’t expect this kind of heat in New England.

Trip totals as of noon on Day 27:

• Miles driven: 3507
• States**: 21
• Logged QSOs: 121
• Ounces of good decaf: 204
• Ounces of bad decaf: 64
• 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:

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

73 de NR4CB, Connie