This is a short post simply to report my safe arrival at the CVI once again; I remain ever grateful to Lee and family for their willingness to let me moochdock here, particularly since they allow me to avail myself of full hookups as well. Their kindness means that I will be able to park in Cincinnati with empty tanks, a huge benefit. And of course it’s always great to be with family again!

I was just starting to feel smug about safely navigating the traffic through Worcester, Springfield, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Erie and Cleveland when I exited the Ohio Turnpike for the final time, drove to the EZ-Pass checkpoint — and the gate refused to open! So there I was, stuck in the lane with the Little Guy hitched on, unable to back out and find another lane and unable to proceed through the exit, either.

I got out of the truck, walked back into traffic to try to get an attendant’s attention (since there was nobody in the gatehouse for my lane), and then noticed that there was an intercom system at the gatehouse. So I returned to the gatehouse and pushed the “call button”; fortunately a guy replied, informing me that I had taken the wrong lane and should have been in the lane with pay tickets. “You’re in the EZPass lane, you should be in a ticketed lane”. “But”, I replied, “I have an EZPass!”. “Is it working?”, he asked. “I don’t know, I thought so”, I replied. “Read me the EZPass number”, he says.

So I climb back in the truck, rip the EZPass thingy off the windshield, and read him the 16-or-so-digit number on the back of it. And………………..the gate opens. And so off I go, chastened for my hubris.

I’ll stay at the CVI through the weekend and then post again once I arrive in Cincinnati. Thanks for following along!