My Drive

Patriots Place/Gillette Stadium, Foxborough (wink wink), Ma.

If you're not new around here, you know I'm fairly fond of roads. I love a good road trip.

That being said, if you've ever gone with me, then you might know that I have a tendency to switch things up.

I went to Boston this weekend for the annual NENPA convention. It was a somewhat subdued weekend for me, not because I wasn't happy to be there, but because I dealt with some kind of sickness that made my Saturday a little lethargic.

Regarding the awards at the convention banquet, congrats to the winners, including Paul Silverfarb and my friends from the Darien Times among them, along with Aaron Marsh of the New Canaan Advertiser. Good, hardworking colleagues. Great journalists and editors.

Anyway, as I prepared to leave Boston, I decided that I wanted to shunpike my way home. In other words, I didn't want to give the Massachusetts Turnpike a dime (in part because I needed to update my credit card number on my EZ Pass account).

So I hit the road...heading south. Oh I could do 93 to 95 to 9 to 66 to 691 to 84. I could do 93 to 95 to 6 to 384 to 84. I could do 93 to 95 to 287 to the Taconic. I could do 93 to 95 to...

You get the idea.

Here's what I actually did.

I started on I-93 and took it to its very end at I-95 at the south end of what almost makes up a beltway around Boston. Then I took I-95 south, stopping off for gas and a quick visit to the home of the New England Cheatr...oops...the Super Bowl CHAMPION New England Patriots.

Very nice facility, by the way.

I stayed on US 1 and jumped on I-495 before going back to 95 long enough to exit 295 and enter Rhode Island (Destination: Quahog! GIGGIDY!).

I exited 295 at RI route 146, which crossed me BACK into Massachusetts. This is where I really got creative. I looked at my phone, examining different route options and decided to exit at MA route 16. I proceeded west on 16, passing through towns small and not-too-small. I passed the impossible-to-pronounce Lake Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (you call it corn, but I call it maize). According to Wikipedia, some call it Webster Lake, or Lake Chaubunagungamaug.

That led me to Webster and MA 12 for a short jaunt before proceeding onto MA 197, which took me into Connecticut. I stayed on CT 197 until I connected with CT 171, before finally pulling onto CT 190, which connected with Interstate 84. I behaved and drove the rest of the "real" way home.

Some consider me nuts. I am. But it was still nice to have a little fun. It's why I love to drive.