On the road again...to Pittsburgh

Tomorrow I am heading to Pittsburgh. Much like I did last year in New Orleans, I am working at the annual conference hosted by the association that manages one of my journals. Though the conference does not start until Wednesday, I need to be in town Tuesday for a journal meeting. That means I need to hit the road tomorrow.

I could have flown but wanted to drive. I like driving. Plus, I have never been east of Chicago and thought it would be fun to cross Indiana and Ohio off my list of states I have yet to visit. (I will also be crossing off Pennsylvania, obviously, and may venture a few miles north of the Indiana Toll Road into Michigan.) I once endured a six-hour layover at the Cincinnati airport, which is across the Ohio River in Kentucky, but I do not count that. To me, airports do not count so I have never officially been east of Chicago, inside Eastern time zone, or been in Kentucky. Regardless, I will try to take pictures of each state’s welcome sign and post them tomorrow. I will also try to snag a newspaper from each state. (I may skip Indiana unless I can get a copy of the Indianapolis Star.)

Tomorrow my wallet will meet what I shall dub “The Great Eastern Toll System.” Toll roads are a rarity west of the Mississippi, but most Eastern states used tolls to help finance their portions of the Interstate System back in the day. Traversing the Tri-State Tollway, Indiana Toll Road, Ohio Turnpike, and Pennsylvania Turnpike, I will roughly pay $30 in tolls but will try to give an exact amount tomorrow.