Three states...in Three hours

All,

My travels have taken me to Rehoboth Beach, DE. This is a pretty impressive area, I think, as there is water all around, yet farm land still scatters the region, too. I took the Cape May (NJ) Ferry yesterday to get here, saving me 4-5 hours of driving had I driven around the Delaware Bay. This was fun as I'd never taken a "drive on" ferry before. It was about a 75 minute ride and, though it was very cold as we left the bay and entered the Atlantic, I enjoyed the experience. Once we made it back on land, my hotel was only about 10 minutes away. I'm staying about 2 miles from the beach, so last night, after eating the best crab cakes I've ever tasted, I drove over to the ocean to hang out for a little bit. It was cold so I didn't stay very long, but I enjoyed looking out over the Atlantic, and realizing that this job had literally taken me coast to coast, as I did the same thing in Huntington Beach, CA a few months earlier!

Today, the day began in Ocean City, MD, before then heading even further south into the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the unique sliver of Commonwealth not physically connected to any other part of Virginia (except for the man-made bridge to Norfolk). I find this to be a pretty cool piece of trivia! Consequently, I realized by about 9:30 this morning that I had already been in 3 states! Pretty funny.

After work tomorrow, I'm off to Wilmington, DE where I'll stay for the night. Then, I'm driving to NYC where I'll spend time with friends and stay the night in Manhattan Saturday night. Sunday, I'll drive the rest of the way to Portland, ME, where I'll kick things off on Monday. Tuesday night, I'll be going to the Boston Red Sox-Tampa Bay Rays game at Fenway, which will fullfill a lifetime goal of mine to see a game at this baseball shrine! It will be a work event with customers, but still, I can't WAIT for this!

Well, my hotel room smells like wet paint and I'm starting to get dizzy looking at the computer screen, so I guess that's all for now.

Hope you're all well! Thanks for reading.

On the road,

Matt

Long Weekend in Philly

Friends,

Life has been moving a little slower since I left you in New York City. What an awesome rush that was! I've spent the last several days in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area. This has been cool because though I've been in central and western PA at length this year, I haven't spent much time in Philly until now.

This weekend was great as my dad was able to fly into town to spend Memorial Day with me. One of the cool perks of his job as a commercial pilot is he can "jumpseat" (Jumpseat = pilot-speak for free ride) fairly easily, so he hitchhiked an outbound flight from Louisville to Philly and I picked him up Saturday morning. We stayed downtown, right around the corner from the William Penn building on Juniper St. This allowed us to walk everywhere; we saw Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Battleship New Jersey on the Delaware River. The best stop of the weekend by far, though, was Geno's Steaks in South Philly. As you guys know, Philly is known for cheesesteaks, but there are two places in particular that are the best: Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks, two places that are across the street from each other and have had a rivalry for years! My dad and I got steaks (with provolone, not "whiz" like the locals) and both of us agreed they were as good as billed! All in all, it was a great weekend. It's awesome that I get to see loved ones while traveling for work!

Tonight I'm in Atlantic City, along the Jersey shore. My hotel has a nice view of the strip as you can see in the picture above. It's a little hazy here, but you get the idea. I don't know if I'll do any gambling tonight, but as luck would have it, a college buddy of mine, Colin, is meeting up with me later since he's in the area this week, too! If we didn't both have work to do tomorrow, we'd probably have a LOT of fun giving our money to the casinos!

Anyway, hopefully you all had nice long weekends and are in good health. Thanks for reading.

On the road,

Matt

If you can drive it here, you'll drive it anywhere...

Friends,

Well, I survived New York City. Not only that, I made it through my tour in the Big Apple without so much as a parking ticket or a fender bender! Last time we chatted, I was in Long Island getting ready to head out of town for the weekend. I had a blast in Charlotte over the weekend, and after finally making it back to New York in the wee hours of Monday morning following two delays, I was excited for the adventure. Monday was pretty tame as I was out in eastern Long Island where the traffic was light. Monday night was spent in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. This area was awesome, surrounded by great restaurants and culture. I'm told that some of the blocks in this 'hood are more pricey than those in Manhattan! Tuesday morning got started early, as I spent most of the morning in Brooklyn, double parked with fingers crossed that I wouldn't get rear ended or handed a ticket. Through lunch, it was so far, so good! Then it was on to Manhattan, one of the most notorious areas to drive in the entire country for a compact car, let alone a 3/4 ton full size truck + 18 ft. trailer! Nevertheless, I was excited and ready, despite an afternoon of steady rain and fog! Believe it or not, driving in Manhattan was not as bad as I expected. Everybody drives so crazy there that a big truck with its hazards on in the delivery lane is not really an uncommon occurence!

I've included some pictures of the experience just to confirm that I was actually there and it wasn't just a crazy dream!

Last night I made it safely to Newark, NJ, where I spent the night and all day today working. I'm in the northern Jersey suburb of Fairfield tonight, not far from Montclair, where my brother lived right after he graduated from college. I'll be in New Jersey the rest of the week, making my way south towards Philly, where I'll spend the weekend. It'll be a fun long weekend as my dad will be joining me. He's catching a jumpseat (pilot-speak for a free ride!) from Louisville, so we're going to stay downtown and see the sights and maybe head to the shore for one of the days. Should be fun.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and all the continued support!

On the road,

Matt

What a difference a week makes...

Friends,

Last time we chatted, I was wrapping up my stint in Pennsylvania. Specifically, I was in the heart of Amish country, driving through back roads in small towns scattered through the middle of the state. Some of the roads in these towns weren't paved, but the real kicker is that some of the accounts I visited didn't have indoor plumbing. They run vibrant, busy stores with a lot of customer traffic, but if you need to use the restroom while you're there, you need to head for the outhouse. Seriously. I know this because I used it.

I bring up this unpleasant detail because I now find myself in New York City just two days later. This is an eye-opening realization for me. My job has given me the opportunity to basically interact with people and cultures at each extreme end of the spectrum. From communities in Pennsylvania that don't use electricity and basically live life pre-1900, to New York City, arguably the center of the world! At the risk of being cheesy, this is a pretty cool thing.

Last night I spent the night in Danbury, CT, and this afternoon I made my way from West Chester, NY, over the Hudson and through the Bronx and Queens to my hotel in Westbury, NY, in southern Long Island. It was a beautiful drive, but a little stressful. The next several days will be spent in greater NY metro, so I'll be gripping the wheel a little tighter than usual...

Tomorrow I'll spend time in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island before flying to Charlotte for the weekend out of JFK. I hope you're all well and thanks for reading!

On the road,
Matt

What I'll miss about Pennsylvania

Friends,

Since I've stayed in Pennsylvania a lot the past couple months, I thought it was appropriate to recognize my two favorite things about the Keystone State. As some of you may know, I'm a huge fan of soft pretzels. Not the SuperPretzels you buy at a baseball game, but the genuine, bakery-fresh twists of salty dough you can only find at your local pretzel shop. Lucky for me, since I'm in the pretzel capital of America, there are bakeries like this everywhere. Back home in Dayton, we had a pretzel shop downtown and they provided the local schools with pretzels once a week. I still remember pretzel days on Wednesdays being one of the highlights of my elementary school years. ...Pathetic, huh? Anyway, long story short, this weekend while in Lancaster, PA, I sought out a pretzel shop and got my soft pretzel fix.

The next Pennsylvania contribution I will miss is Sheetz gas stations. Though I've never even filled up my truck's tank at Sheetz, I've eaten here countless times this year! They have a unique system that operates leaps and bounds better than any other gas station convenience store out there. They have an automated, touch screen order-taking system that eliminates humans from the transaction. You just walk up to the kiosks (shown in the picture) place your order, then the people in the kitchen make your sandwich. The stuff is quality. These places are all over PA, and they're trickling over into NE Ohio and down the east coast. It's fast. It's cheap. It's tasty.

Anyway, that's my pitch on what I like about Pennsylvania.

This week I'll be in Lancaster through Tuesday, then heading North to Hazleton, PA. Thursday I'm in Danbury, CT and I'll finish the week in Long Island, NY. Friday afternoon I'll be flying out of JFK to spend the weekend in Charlotte.

To all the mothers reading this blog, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great week.

On the road,

Matt

Deja Vu

Friends,

It's funny, when I think about the places I would like to go and spend extended periods of time, central Pennsylvania is not one of them. Alas, here I am, spending the next 6 days and nights in this region, again. Fortunately, I'm in the same hotel until Tuesday, which is HUGE!!

Today, I spent time in the rolling hills of the upper Appalacian mountain range. Despite the pot holes and road construction, there were some amazing views of rolling farmland with mountains in the distance, but I couldn't exactly pull over and take a picture, so you'll have to take my word for it.

One cool thing about today was getting to meet customers in Pottsville, PA. This town is the home of America's oldest brewery, Yuengling. Most of you have probably enjoyed this fine lager, but for those who haven't, it's a good one.

On a side note, I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate my brother and his new fiancee Amber on their ENGAGEMENT! I'm so happy for you guys and can't wait to celebrate with you!

On the road,

Matt

Yes, I'm still alive...

Friends,

I know, it's been almost two weeks since my last post. Sorry for the drought. I spent last week relaxing in the Carolinas with Steph, visiting Charleston one weekend, while hanging out in Charlotte for the remainder of the week. We went to the Jimmy Buffett concert on Tuesday, which was pretty cool, especially considering we came upon the tickets at the last minute! It really didn't sink in until we saw all the crazy parrotheads dancing in the parking lot! It was an awesome week off, though, and it felt really good to get my mind off work and the truck off the road.

This week I'm back at it, having spent the last couple days in Western Pennsylvania. Monday, I was in Pittsburgh and today I spent most of the day in and around Somerset, PA. Today I saw some interesting places, well off the beaten track. I drove by the farm where Jeff Hostetler grew up (He was an NFL quarterback in the 90s, adding to the list of QB greats from western PA...Joe Montana, Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Marc Bulger, Terrelle Pryor.....and the list goes on); I passed by the first Arnold Palmer-designed golf course (He's from nearby Latrobe, PA, also home of Rolling Rock); The most moving place I saw today, though, was the crash site of United Flight 93 that went down valiantly on September 11th. As you all remember, this plane, destined for Washington, D.C., crashed in a Pennsylvania field that day, outside Somerset in the city of Shanksville. It was on the way to my hotel this afternoon, so after work, I felt it was necessary to stop and pay respects to this hallowed ground where true patriots gave their lives.

On a lighter note, tonight I'm staying in Harrisburg, and the next four or five days will be spent around Lancaster, PA, which is nice for me because it allows me to stay in the same hotel for consecutive nights. Little things like this make my life a lot easier!

Anyway, it's late and I'm very tired, but I wanted to bring you all up to speed on the happenings in my life these days. I sincerely appreciate your thoughts and prayers while I'm out on the road, and I'm thankful that you take the time to read about what I'm doing. I couldn't do it without you guys!

On the road,

Matt