June 28
We left Connecticut early this morning, and it turns out that we had to go near to New York, after all; though we did not have to go through it, thankfully! It was the GPS's fault, really. It didn't say that it would be taking us into so much traffic! Oh! There were so many cars, and none of the drivers were happy to see us there (and I don't blame them). But neither would the other drivers let us over into the right lane so that we could actually get out of their way, so we ended up missing our turn and we got stuck going in the wrong direction!
We had to go miles out of our way before we could get turned around, but even then we blocked traffic! And there were so many horns blowing at us, and so many rude gestures! And I felt so bad for delaying everyone, though Thorin just honked and gestured back in kind. And I'm glad that the younger kids were occupied playing games on Gimli's iPad - because after how Frodo delighted in repeating the bad words I had said in my fright on the first part of our trip, he might have had a field day repeating what was yelled at us!
And worse, Fíli had forgotten to take his Dramamine before we headed out, so he had to spend most of the time with his head leaned back and his eyes shut. I thought it was odd that he'd be having so much motion sickness when we were basically sitting still, but I guess it might have been because of the other vehicles moving all around us. Either way, I am happy that he managed to not get too sick (we had ginger ale in the cooler in the car, and he sipped at that - so it might have helped).
Well, of course we finally got out of the traffic, and we got back on the road we needed to continue on south; but unfortunately when we went to get onto the New Jersey Turnpike, for some reason the ticket machine didn't work and we didn't get one! So at the end of the Turnpike we had to pay $45 for the toll because they charge you for the whole trip if you lose your ticket, and the price goes up depending on the number of axles you have!
But we are away from all that now, and I am so glad today is almost over! We're stopping at the Air Force base in Dover for the night, so hopefully there will be a bit more comfort this evening than there was today!