not driving to Idaho... this week...

Today I broke 156,000 miles on my car. That's about 7,500 for the year so far and well over 65,000 since I bought my sweet little automobile about four years ago.

This is what I drove over the weekend:

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On Saturday, when I was at camp, I was talking with a few people about how my thesis revisions were going, and some goals I'd set for myself to finish (which I've since renegotiated with myself, thank you). My boss said, "Yeah, but you know you have a friend in Idaho who will call you this week and say, 'Come visit this afternoon!' and you'll be like, 'ok!'" and I said no, I didn't know anyone in Idaho. (Which is only sort of true-- I know Josh Ritter is from Idaho, but he lives in NYC now anyway.)

Anyway, Friday I spent some time attempting said revisions and then floated down to Allentown to help kick off a big event to raise money for VIP's work in Malawi. It was great to see the people I traveled with last summer and to be part of such an exciting thing. Also, because I was driving to camp afterward, it prompted me to try a new route, which ended up adding an extra half hour to my journey because 206 is a very slow, traffic light-ful road through Trenton.

This weekend was Spruce Up Day at Johnsonburg, a good time of fellowship and site preparation. My Sunday morning church visit was to Pluckemin, where one of our board members is currently serving as an interim pastor. It was, as always, a wonderful visit. The church itself is a little more than a century and a half old, a lovely sanctuary that was different from all of the others I've visited in that it had no stained glass. While at first that seemed strange, I realized that I really liked how bright it was as a result of being all regular plain panes.

Pluckemin is a tiny historic town along the now well-traveled Route 206. I had barely touched that road until I began taking it to camp last summer as a short cut between I-287 and I-80. While it's hilly and mostly single lane, it actually cuts a good 20 minutes of the drive from Toms River to camp. Well, since taking this newest position at camp, I have gone up and down 206 several times. I think I've seen all of that road now.

I made it home for Mothers Day and have attempted to take a short respite from crazy marathon driving since then, though I did go to Rutgers today, and will be visiting Morris Plains this Sunday...