Day 2: Kent State University and Hagerstown, Maryland

Today brought our first off-itinerary stop of the trip, the May 4 Memorial on the campus of Kent State University. If you look at one of the previous posts, you'll see the famous photo of Mary Ann Vecchio screaming over the lifeless body of Jeffery Miller, one of four students killed by National Guardsmen in a 13-second, 67-shot period of chaos.

I just happened to see the sign for Kent State on I-76 and remembered my history and we decided we wanted to see the campus. We found ourselves pulling into the very parking lot where the students were killed and stumbled upon a memorial and walking tour of the site. You could even call a phone number and punch in the number of the marker you were viewing as one of the survivors narrated. It was quite poignant and, of course, depressing.

Moving on from Kent State, we hit the road bound for Maryland via Pennsylvania. Not far from the PA border, my #1 arch-enemy of all time (not you, Sue DeBarry) reared its ugly head...the dreaded toll booth. It was then that Julia, my lovely and ever-so-supportive travel companion/passenger seat dozer, realized that I had forgotten my gallon-sized Ziplock of silver change to feed their voracious appetites. I hate them more than fire ants. Not that I'd trade another fire ant swarm to never pay another toll in my lifetime, but I'd give it some serious consideration.

I hate you toll booth plaza. More than you'll ever know.

Somewhere in PA, it rained like a banshee. I'm not sure how to define banshee rain, but this had to be it. And by the way PA, thanks for all of the road construction. That really messed with my timing. In the future, please consult me before making any rash road construction decisions. You should know by now that our road trip takes place each summer and while we may not necessarily travel within your borders, common courtesy insists that you run it by me first. Thanks.

Our hotel was actually in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles from Hagerstown. It's a Four Points by Sheraton, which I thought meant "awesome like last night's sweet suite" (see how I dropped that morsel of cleverness again?). It meant no such thing. What it really meant was, "4 points out of 10." Instead of saying, "Arrive at 4 Points on left," the GPS voice simply uttered, "See that Ruby Tuesday restaurant over there with the blue pointy roofline just beyond it and very little parking? Well that's it. Good luck with that, suckers." Methinks that our Four Points was a former Super 8 annexed by the evil Sheraton folks. It's basically the Super 8 with a heavenly bed. But you can't really complain when it's FREE. At least it's clean...relatively.

Okay, so onto the good stuff.

Departure time: 10 a.m. CST
Arrival time: 5:15 p.m. EST
Today's mileage: 339 miles
Total mileage: 918.2 miles (Makes me really question if we can manage 3,081.8 miles in the next 8 days!)
Tolls paid: $15.70
iPod Playlist: Songs That Make Dave Happy (59 more songs, for a total of 120 of 564 songs)
Playlist highlights (there were a bunch today):

• Tom Sawyer - Rush
• Homeless - Paul Simon & Ladysmith Black Mambazo
• In the House of Stone and Light - Martin Page
• Help is on its Way - Little River Band
• The Greatest - Kenny Rogers
• Nightswimming - REM
• Talking Loud and Clear - OMD
• Mystify - INXS
• Kiss (extended version) - Prince
• L'Enfant - Vangelis
• Thriller - Michael Jackson
• 8 Mile Road - Eminem
• Lies - Violent Femmes
• Ghost Train - Marc Cohn
• Baby Seat - Barenaked Ladies

Number of Times Bono has mocked us with a U2 song on the playlist: 5

Fun Photo of the Day:

To see the rest of the photos from Day 2, click HERE.

Next Stop: Day 3 takes us to the Big Apple for a Yankees game on Saturday and Harry Connick, Jr. on Broadway on Sunday sprinkled with a little bit of "whateva we want" the rest of the time.