28 March

I awoke this morning to my internal alarm, at 5:45 and put myself on snooze, finally arising at 6:30. Then it was down for breakfast at 7, but NO TOAST! After finishing packing everything, I reflected that the cost of a room was in no way related to its quality, fittings and services. This room, with the second-lowest price so far, was a real suite with microwave, fridge, bench, sink, TV, table, couch and easily accessible power points. The highest cost room so far was the one with the least facilities.
I loaded up the car (once I could find it – a white car under white snow is not the easiest to recognise) and found how to open the back – DON’T open the boot, just the doors, and then the whole back can be opened. Then after checking out I headed off, slowly at first. Once on the Interstate, I opened it up but – I found out that sudden lane changes or steering alterations were a no-no as the whole car sways noticeably. Also, sudden braking causes a whole soggy forward movement and a hop if sudden enough. I’ve seen it before, but it’s the first time I’ve experienced it.
I called in at the Massachusetts Visitor Centre on the I-90 and ran into the most lethargic personnel so far. They may be good and they may have knowledge, but enthusiasm and activity were not in evidence. I got some material and resolved to visit Boston. Then I went to fill up with petrol and my credit card didn’t work. This was peculiar as I had just paid for my accommodation. I used my Amex and that was okay, but I didn’t have the time to try to resolve the problem there. If the same thing happened when I booked in that evening, I would try to fix in then.
When I started off, I found the predicted range had increased dramatically. This was similar to in the Pontiac, so it looks as though my driving style was very different from the previous driver. The cost is still significantly higher than I again budgeted on, but I will see how things pan out.
By now I was on a toll road. There are a number of states who have managed to put tolls onto the Interstates, so I wonder whether or not they do not receive any federal funding. If they do, then I cannot see why they can legally and morally impose a toll.
I decided by this time I would not have sufficient time to do Boston justice, so I detoured off to Plymouth. Here I ran into some interesting women at the Tourist Bureau. One was trying to find the words to “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree …” and so I was able to help her out with the old and new words. The other was an ex-teacher who retired on 80% of her FAS – I couldn’t believe it, as that would have put me into a quite well-off bracket – the most Victorian teachers retire on is normally 67% of FAS. After discussing conditions between systems (they only do 180 teaching days a year) I found out I couldn’t see Plymouth Rock – the surroundings were under maintenance and the rock was under a box! I could visit the Mayflower II (I did) and then the Plimouth Museum (which I had to do quickly, but I got a good look around).
Then it was off to Cape Cod, where I found a place to stay at Days Inn at Hyannis. After booking in I had some tea and wanted to head off to Providencetown, but it was getting dark, I was getting tired and I wasn’t sure where the bridge to Chappaquiddik Island was, so I returned to the hotel and did the usual computer work and tried to get to sleep early so I could be up early and visit the original landing place of the Pilgrim Fathers (before they went to Plymouth).