I stayed in a hotel in Allentown, PA the night before. It was far enough outside of the city to get a good start for the last day of driving, but close enough to get a full night's sleep. Thankfully, it was also the cheapest place in a hundred mile radius on the trip route to get a hotel. Also, thankfully, checkout time was actually noon there.

For those of you who are familiar with "Wanna Get Down," I make a reference to Perkins. Well, this time, it wasn't late at night. It was probably the 5th time I'd ever had Perkins between the hours of 7 am and midnight. Around 2:30 PM or so, I kept looking for a sign to say "Welcome to West Virginia." Well, at 3:30, I pulled off to get gas, and I was in Maryland. Very confused, after getting gas, I looked at the map. I was in the right place, but I never saw a "Welcome to Maryland" sign either. That was the only thing of note until I got to Charleston. I arrived a couple hours before the sound guy to the Empty Glass (I took a picture of the building, but it didn't come out when I got it developed), so I went to find some food. I ending up having Rally's, at the only Rally's I've ever seen with a dining area. It also was the worst Rally's I've ever had.

I opened up for Noizbox, and got a few cheers, and some headbobs. They enjoyed my music, but were pretty laid back about it. Noizbox rocked, doing some very original covers of "She Bop" by Cyndi Lauper and "Material Girl" by Madonna. Hilarious. Their originals were excellent. I look forward to opening for them again at the Empty Glass sometime.

One of the guys from Noizbox gave me a huge compliment. He told me not to take offense, then said "you sound kind of like Bloodhound Gang mixed with Men Without Hats." I pumped my fist and swung me elbow down to my side and said "Yes" about 3 times. The ringer on my cell phone is "Safety Dance."

Onto to the final stretch, route 35 to route 32. About 100 miles from home, I got pulled over for going 76 in a 60. I was trying to stay at 70, but I was really ready to get home. A ticket for $121, and I was on my way home. At least he didn't cite me for having a headlight out (it burned out that night).

I finally got home at 6:07 am on Sunday, February 6th.

Total miles that day: 696.

Total trip miles: 1660.

It was worth every bit of driving. With luck, I'll go on even longer tours this year, and will tell you all about them as well.

Thanks for taking a trip with me - Mission Man

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