Judy P's Tickle Trunk

…….or Leaving Winter Behind. Or not, as the case may be.

New York Interstate.

Some random notes from the next 2 days of travel; November 11 and 12.

1. Ivey’s Motor Lodge in Houlton, Maine, rocks. Great spacious room, clean and comfortable, breakfast bar included in price. It was there, when I had to loosen the button on my pants, that I decided to set a dietary goal for the coming weeks of travel. Nothing rash, just decided it would be prudent to cut back on starches so I fore-went the waffles and toast and cinnamon buns but it meant that I had to put maple syrup on my bacon and sausages. Ivey’s actually had the best motel coffee I have ever had. Spent the evening watching vintage television where the stars had little lips and big hips and what was it with Valentino’s googly eyes?

2. Rural Maine is, well, rural. Frequently no cell service and miles and miles of forest. The snowbanks put a little weight in the foot on the gas as we were keen to leave the bitter cold behind.

3. Beguiled the tedium by reading aloud from this year’s Giller prize novel, Us Conductors by Sean Michaels. Here’s a section which took my fancy and is a good example of Michael’s style: “A kind face, square and well-formed, with blue irises like chips of stone. A kind face, and an ogre’s back and shoulders, as if his body foresaw circumstances that demanded something more than clear, quick handsome eyes.”

4. Sturbridge Super 8’s complimentary breakfast doesn’t hold a candle to Ivey’s, who had lots of black pepper added to the fat and filler in their sausages. Super 8’s appeared to be made of ground up paper towel and left-over chip fat so I had to add a little extra maple flavoured syrup. For evening tv theThe evening we spent there I watched Bones because I like the recurring scenic shots of DC and their running debate of science versus religion . I then watched CSI New York just for the thirty second glimpse of Robert Joy at the end. I used to have the worst crush on him back in my acting days, especially the day he was playing the Flamenco dancer when we were shooting The Adventures of Faustus Bidgood.

5. The further south we drove the less of winter we saw. There were still a few leaves on the trees in New York State and no snowbanks. (Yet. All I can say as I type this is “I’m glad I’m not in Buffalo tonight.”)

Stay tuned – more adventures coming your way soon.

© Judy Parsons 2014