Syracuse, NY

I've been driving alone now since I started this trip, and I'm not afraid to say that it's getting to be pretty lonely. There's times when I have to get creative when it comes to entertaining myself on the road. The songs on my iPod have been lacking in their entertainment value, and I'm having a hard time connecting with random strangers anywhere. It's hard to know where to start in a conversation with people. It's hard to know where their coming from, and nearly everything/everyone I've encountered now has had some connection to spending money. If I don't spend money, I don't feel justified to start a conversation with anyone, or have any type of human connectedness. There seems to be something wrong with that.

Going from couch surfing host to host has been getting awkward lately. The conversations are difficult. I don't seem to have much in common with some people. I'm not a big drinker and that tends to be the central theme with most hosts. If I don't drink, then it's even more difficult to engage in conversation.

When I got to Syracuse, I got a phone call from Kat, who found my post on the Syracuse Group page of Couch Surfing. She was nice enough to meet up with me in Syracuse and have coffee. Kat just turned 21 in April, and goes to the State University of New York (SUNY). I forgot which campus she attends. She's studying photography and plans on heading to Hong Kong for the Fall semester. She gave me a little tour of the town, showing me the happening areas of Syracuse. She stopped a few times to take some random photos of things she found interesting, like a dark abandoned street.

After hanging out with Kat, I drove around town to find another hotel room. I'm really not feeling like camping much lately. I've been addicted to the internet and writing in these blogs, so comfortability is playing a larger role in where I've been choosing to sleep.

And speaking of comfortability, I stayed at a Motel 6 last night. Again, I don't know why I picked that place, other than it was cheap. And again, the cheaper these places get, the more I realize how much of a mistake they are to stay at. I payed separately for internet access, and, of course, the service is limited in my room, so I had to come out to the lobby to access it. The night attendant was reluctant to offer any conversation, nor was she willing to offer sympathy toward any of the patron's needs. Her responses were short and rude and she had an apathetic demeanor.

She hung out in the lobby with someone who seemed like her friend but he didn't seem to be renting a room. He was waring a backwards Angels baseball cap, with a white t-shirt, sagging shorts, his socks pulled up to his knees, and his shoe laces untied. He walked with a limp although he didn't seem to have anything wrong with his legs. Occasionally he got up and energetically perused the hallways only to return and chat with the night attendant. For a while he was sitting next to me in the lobby while on his cell phone to, who I imagine was, his girlfriend based on the content of the conversation.

I woke up at four o'clock this morning to the sound of an argument in the room next to me. A lady was banging on the door next to me and yelling at who ever was inside to open the door. It lasted for about twenty minutes. I didn't go to sleep for another hour. My experience from that night, and previous nights at other hotels, has completely changed my willingness to sacrifice quality for value. This will be the last time I will ever sleep at a Motel 6 in my entire life. I know probably sounds like an exaggeration, and it probably is, but I will be more selective in my hotel choices, regardless of the extra costs.

I'm currently at a rest stop in Albany, NY. I think I'm only a few hours away from Boston. I plan on staying there until Saturday, and then head back to San Diego by going south through the eastern coast, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., North Carolina, Georgia, and then across the southern states, Louisiana, Texas and Arizona.

I didn't take pictures in Syracuse, cause there wasn't much to take a pictures of, but when I get to Boston, I'll be sure to have some you.