12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 8th Annual Gathering of the Gargoyles Montreal, Quebec, Canada August 6-8, 2004 As seen through mine eyes. Thursday, August 5, 2004 The plan was to drive to Montreal with a couple of friends that I would pick up along the way. With MapQuest directions in hand, I was on the road by 6:30am. The road trip would take about 10 hours or so. So first top: Bronx, NY to pick up Vaskoda and Sean. I was in the Bronx a little after 10am and making pretty good time. Having picked up Vash and Sean we navigated the various parkways of the Bronx and found our way onto the I-87. This would take us across the Hudson via the Tappan Zee bridge and straight up to the border. As we neared Albany we noticed that the road signs showed Buffalo farther away than Montreal and made a couple lighthearted jokes about it. As we entered Albany there was a split or exit or something that would continue to take us north on I-87. I absolutely did not see it. None of us did. And so we continued west on I-90. Of course I saw the I-90 signs, but thought that the I-90 and I-87 just shared this stretch of road. Also, Montreal no longer appeared on any road signs, and Buffalo was getting closer, but at that point I had stopped paying attention. We made it about 200 miles west of Albany before Vash recognized we were slightly off course. After stopping at a rest area to confirm our situation, and to let it sink in, we decided to turn around and head back to Albany and pick the I-87 back up. One small problem with this idea is that the I-90 is a toll highway. Every exit has toll booths where we'd have to pay to get off. Then we'd turn around, get yet another toll ticket, and have to pay again when we hit Albany. That's $10 each way. Feh. We pulled of the highway and got in line for the toll station. That line gave me enough time to process the $20 price tag on our situation (on top of the gas). Seeing the off and onramps weren't separated by any kind of median, and being a bit annoyed at that point, I pulled a U-turn right in front of the toll station and headed back east on I-90. Turns out this isn't exactly legal. So I turned on and blasted some "running from the cops" music as we made our way east. After about 20 miles we decided we weren't being chased and calmed down. The ticket stated "unauthorized u-turns" would result in the toll for the most distant exit from where we entered. No biggie, that'd be $10, and that's half of what we had been facing. About 6 hours and 360 miles after our minor navigational error, we made it back into Albany and found the exit onto I-87. I pulled up to the toll booth with $10 in hand. The guy charged me $3.65! About a penny a mile for our little adventure. A small consolation prize, but I was looking for anything at that point. Note: The corn is good. Shiny, deep green stalks surrounded our journey west. If nothing else, I bring back from this detour with first-hand knowledge that the corn from upstate New York will be most excellent and I highly recommend you pick some up when the season's right. We hit the border a little after 11pm and had no troubles getting through. Montreal was about 30 more miles ahead of us, as were our beds, which is all I was thinking about at that point. After navigating the various autoroutes around Montreal, we got to the hotel just before midnight. 15+ hours of driving. I was dead. We found a few early-bird night-owls in the lobby including Wingless and IRC Goliath. We talked for a little bit but I was in dire need of sleep, and once we got to the room it came very quickly.