Highland Park, NJ
726 miles (I think. I forgot to check before coming in)

Ah, had my first Starbucks in days today. I was jonesing for a grande nonfat iced latte with light vanilla, but I couldn't find one anywhere. In North Dakota, I had Adam look up to see where there was a Starbucks in Bismarck or Fargo. That would be nowhere. How can there be a state with no Starbucks? The day before I left town, I called Adam at work. "I'm downtown. Want to meet for a coffee? We can meet at the Starbucks across the street from Nordstrom." Thank goodness he spotted me as I was walking and called to me. "What are you doing here?" I asked him. He looked confused and pointed at the Starbucks. "Oooh," I said. "Right. I meant the other Starbucks across the street from Nordstrom." And North Dakota gets none. Doesn't seem right.

You can barely read my front license plate for all the bugs.

I've entered the land of manicured lawns and frizzy hair. In Seattle, I had a wild lawn and very neat hair (well, relatively so). Don't you just love humidity?

When the road curves right, I tend to panic a bit and I always lean with the car as I'm curving. Which is odd, because I have absolutely no problem with left curves. Yeah, I know, it's weird. Whatever.

Ohio has the most amazing rest stops anywhere. They're huge, with food courts and shops and nice bathrooms. Of course, I paid $8.30 for the pleasure of driving on their highway, but at least there I know where the money is going. Unlike Illinois where I paid out for crappy roads. Speaking of tolls, what's the deal with the East Coast and tolls? Are there any tolls in the West? I can't think of a single one. There was one in Tacoma, but they stopped charging the toll once the road was paid off, which seems logical to me. These are freeways. Free. What is so hard to get about that?

My head must have been in the clouds because at two of the pit stops I made today, I said "hi" to the folks next to me as I got out of the car. They looked at me oddly. I forgot it's now time to stop being friendly.

At the Tweedle Twirp's I was waiting to use the computer and lying on her bed, as that's the only place that has a breeze coming in:
Me: "Oh, a short-necked swan," I said, holding up a stuffed animal.
TT: "It's a duck. Aurora."
Me: "Why Aurora?"
TT: "Aurora means Dawn. That's the Duck of the Dawn. And next to you is Northrop Bumps the seal, Gray Bear, and Clearance Monkey."
Me to Gray Bear: "Guess she didn't feel very creative the day she got you." To TT: "Why Clarence?"
TT: "Not Clarence. Clearance Monkey. We bought him on clearance."
So pragmatic, that Tweedle Twirp. I brought up the fact that one of the Dakotas wants to drop the directional and just be Dakota.
TT: "Oh, it's North Dakota. Definitely North Dakota. South Dakota has no problems with its directional. Although, what they should do, since both their populations are dropping, is to just combine into one state called Dakota. And actually, that would be good, because while people say that Puerto Rico shouldn't become a state for cultural reasons and whatnot, really, a lot of people don't want it because it would make 51 states. 50 is such a good easy number. But 51 states? So if the Dakotas combined, you could add Puerto Rico and still have 50 states, so it would really work out best for everyone."
I just read the above to TT to make sure I hadn't misquoted her, and she said, "Just cut off the part about 'best for everyone' because I'm not sure statehood for Puerto Rico is best for everyone." So scratch that from the record.

I played the A3 song "Woke Up This Morning" at top volume as I crossed into New Jersey and I pretended I was Tony Soprano. Hey, it was a long day.