12:40 PM Maryland; 141024 Miles.

I was driving on I-68, which is a very scenic road through some low rolling hills. Occasionally, there are great views of the road curving around the hills. I took a few pictures of the road there (while driving). I have seen several interesting landscapes and hilarious signs on the roads of the lower 48 states. One sign, seen in Oklahoma, was particularly hilarious (see the entry for the last day in Oklahoma -- April 15). I drove by that sign too quickly to take a picture. Missing several other signs like that one prompted me to just put my camera within easy reach while driving. By this month (June), I was starting to put the camera in the glove compartment of the car -- just for moments like these.

At 1:30, my "two hours of continuous driving" were over. This meant a rest break for the car and a delay for me. I was nearing the town of Cumberland, and I stopped there in front of a "Wendys" restaurant. I did not eat there -- just sat in the car for a half hour looking at all the townspeople going about their business. Cumberland is a nice small town -- the kind of town where everyone knows everyone else. As I was sitting and watching, I saw several people
meeting each other on the street and stopping to chat, or going inside the restaurant -- not to eat, but to talk! I had been to a lot of these kind of towns in my travels, but I never really realized it until now. Little did I know that I (and Sachin) would be seeing a lot more of these kinds of places within the next month.

I left Cumberland at 2:00 PM, then arrived in Hagerstown an hour later. Hagerstown is another one of those "small towns where everybody knows everybody else". Had lunch at a McDonalds there, then continued driving East towards Baltimore on I-70.

I-70 comes to an end at Baltimore. At 4:30, I came to the end of I-70 in Baltimore, making this another one of those freeways of which I have been to both ends. (This one goes from I-15 in Utah to I-695 in Baltimore, MD). This was Thursday (a weekday) at 4:30 PM (rush hour).

Cumberland and Hagerstown are both small towns. Baltimore is anything but a small town! Being stuck in rush hour traffic was a rude awakening. It reminded me of two months ago, when I was home. Then it hit me -- TWO MONTHS! This was longer than my first trip! This was the longest time I had been away from home. My birthday was coming up, and this would also be my first birthday away from home. Driving through Baltimore during rush hour was the first time on this trip that I got homesick, because everything that I was going through (or rather, NOT going through), reminded me of Los Angeles.

It took me almost an hour to get out of the Baltimore metropolitan area -- another indication of the size of this city.

5:50 PM Delaware; 141255 Miles.

By the time I got up to Wilmington, I realized it was too late to go to Philadelphia. Instead, I decided to go to Atlantic City that night, then go to Philadelphia the next morning. It had been a long day and the sun was already starting to go down, but my day was far from over!

6:10 PM Entered New Jersey; 141270 Miles. Immediately got lost. This time (unlike all the other times I got lost), it wasn't really my fault. Driving in New Jersey reminded me of my first trip's driving adventures in Dallas, TX. In Dallas, there were some roads where the direction of traffic in each lane depended on the time of the day, with each adjacent lane always having opposing traffic. This did not make any sense to me whatsoever, and I got lost several times in all the driving confusion. New Jersey was slightly different, but just as bad. The first time I realized the small details of driving in New Jersey, I wondered how many more places in this country would be so bizarre when it came to driving there! As it turned out, the city of Dallas, Texas and the state of New Jersey were the only two places in this country that had these ridiculously idiotic driving laws! This was New Jersey:

If I wanted to make a left turn (or a U-turn), I had to turn RIGHT!

Now maybe it is just me, but that does not make any sense. At first, I thought this was the case EVERYWHERE. So I would get in the right lane to make a left turn. Unfortunately, that did not always work either. At some places, THE LEFT LANE IS ACTUALLY USED TO MAKE LEFT TURNS! At other places, you have to turn right to make a left turn. This was what got me confused. Sometimes it would be normal; other times it would be idiotic! If it was idiotic all the time, at least I would always know where to go!

Anyway, I was lost for quite a long time, then finally drove down to the Atlantic City area and checked in at a Super 8 Motel in Absecon, NJ (after getting lost again there). This was at 8:00 PM.

9:30 PM Left the motel for Atlantic City.

9:50 PM Parked at Trump Taj Mahal Casino parking lot.

I had always assumed that Atlantic City would be the same as Las Vegas. That is not the case. In Las Vegas, the casinos do not charge for parking. The Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City charged me five bucks to park there. Las Vegas has beautiful night lights. It looks just as bright at night as it does in the daytime. The casinos in Atlantic City, although they have lights, are nothing compared to the ones in Vegas. Vegas has a lot more of them a lot closer together, which makes the light show spectacular. The Atlantic City "Boardwalk" was quite disappointing by comparison.

I went inside and withdrew $80 from one of the many ATM machines that they have. Then I went to the slot machines. That was a mistake. I lost $21 there. All down the drain. Since the slots were simply not working out to my advantage, I sat at a Blackjack table. I had been to Las Vegas twice after my 21st birthday, and both times, I had done far better playing Blackjack than pushing coins down a slot machine. I hoped my luck would be the same as in Las Vegas and I would get back the $21 that I had already lost within the first ten minutes.

My luck was not just good -- it was excellent. Before I even knew what was going on, I had several tall stacks of chips on the table in front of me. At about midnight, I thought "enough is enough" and went to their window to cash in my winnings. It was then that I found out I had won about one hundred and ten dollars in Blackjack -- more than five times what I had lost in the slot machines! I also found out something else...

I was playing Blackjack for almost two hours, and I did not even realize the passing of time. What if I had gotten greedy and kept on playing?

After leaving the casino, I walked along the Boardwalk in search of the night lights. I walked for about an hour, but I never saw them. I came back to the car and started driving back to Absecon at 1:15 AM. I had a hundred dollar bill in my wallet, and another eighty dollars in small bills. The small bills would disappear soon, but the hundred dollar note would stay in my wallet for weeks to come.

There is a Dennys restaurant across the street from the Super 8 Motel in Absecon. I wanted to eat there (the casino did not have any cheap restaurants, and Dennys was the only place that was open at this time of night). As I was coming from Atlantic City to Absecon, the Super 8 Motel was on the right side of the road. The Dennys restaurant was on the left side of the road. To get to the Dennys (then back to the Super 8 Motel), I had to do the following:

I passed the Super 8 Motel, driving in the right lane. Just before the next traffic signal, I turned right onto a small road. That road turned left, then ended at the major cross-street. I turned left on the cross-street (from the left lane). Then I got in the left lane and turned left again on the road I was on before (this was the road from Atlantic City). Then I turned right at the Dennys. After eating dinner, I turned right on that road, then right again just before the next traffic signal, then left on that cross-street, then left again on the road I was on before, then right into the Super 8 motel.

At 2:14 AM, I was utterly frustrated driving in the state of New Jersey.

At 2:15 AM, I came back to my motel room.

Miscellaneous:

Lake:	Cheat Lake, WV
Road:	Pigs Ear Road, MD
Town:	Flintstone, MD
Town:	Northeast, MD

License Plates:

IOWA-75	CT	Honda Civic
SSBABY	WV	Chrysler LeBaron
TREE 87	MD	Chevrolet truck
PUPEEDG	MD	Buick
SHY	MD	Mazda Protegé
STACIES	MD	Buick
SMAZER	MD	Toyota Supra

Expenses:

$54.41	Chase	Holiday Inn	Morgantown, WV
$2	Cash	Lunch -- McDonalds	Hargerstown, MD
$2	Cash	Toll -- I-95 in Maryland	Craigtown, MD
$1	Cash	Toll -- I-95 in Delaware	Newark, DE
$11	Cash	Gas	Woodstown, NJ
$80	CB	Cash Withdrawal -- Trump Taj Mahal	Atlantic City, NJ
$21	Cash	Lost in slot machines -- Trump Taj Mahal	Atlantic City, NJ
-$110	Cash	Won in Blackjack -- Trump Taj Mahal	Atlantic City, NJ
$7	Cash	Dinner -- Dennys	Absecon, NJ

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