Philosopher and I have been on quite the whirlwind road trip!  From D.C. to NYC to Boston and everything in between, we’ve seen quite a bit of the east coast.  Along the way, this is what we learned:

1. Toll roads – there a LOT of these!  Trying to avoid them means some extra driving and countless small roads, but after getting hit with $3, $4, $6, $8.80, $0.90, and $12 from Maryland to New Jersey, we were pretty scarred for life.  On our way back, we detoured through Pennsylvania to make sure we minimized any tolls and it turned out great!  It only cost us $1 as we entered PA.
2. Left exits – there are also a ton of these, for whatever reason.  It definitely threw me off a few times as I merged right to prepare to exit only to find my exit was on the left.  Thankfully traffic generally allowed for these mistakes and it was easy enough to get back into the left lane.  I’m guessing there are more of these because the terrain is harder to work around.
3. Honkers – plenty of this going on.  Is it just us or are east coasters (particularly New Englanders) more impatient and horn-happy than most?  We kind of expected it from New Yorkers, but Bostonians too?  I don’t recall hearing so much honking when I used to go into these cities.
4. Speed crazy drivers – I thought LA drivers drove fast, but then I watched as cars zoomed by me going 75 in a 55 zone, and nearly 90 in a 65 zone.  It seems that less people get caught so they are far more brazen.
5. Full service gas stations – I went to my first one of these ever, only because we had been looking for a gas station for ages and this was the only one that came up.  It was weird to sit in the car and talk to some high school kid to let him know how much gas and what kind we wanted.  As I later found out, this is the law in NJ – what a weird state.
6. We hate NJ.  On our way to New York, we made the mistake of taking the New Jersey turnpike.  Not only was it the most boring stretch of road ever, there were only like two exits within the first 30-40 miles!  Not being able to exit if I wanted made me feel strangely claustrophobic.  There was no escape!!!!  And when we finally did exit they pounded us with a toll charge.  Great.

This was the first time I’d driven long distances on the east coast, since I moved right after learning how to drive 10 years ago.  A decade later, I found I was basically a complete stranger to the way of the roads around here.  It was madness, but definitely a rich learning lesson (actually lesson upon lesson upon lesson) and we came out with a lot of stories/anecdotes to share and reminisce on.  Oh, and I was also constantly reminded of how spoiled I had gotten with automatic doors and windows.  I kept forgetting my key didn’t have a button to lock the doors of the rental car we had, so I’d close the door only to have to open it again to manually lock it.  And I kept trying to roll the window the wrong way.  What a trip!