I have no idea where to start in talking about the trip, so I will talk about coming back instead.

This morning was the first time since Friday July 29 that I have woken up inside solid, airtight, light-blocking walls, and I have to say, it is freakin' weird, and deeply, deeply unnatural. (In fact I realized yesterday, just as I was packed up and about to drive off-site, that the only actual buildings I had been inside of since I arrived were the camp store and, once or twice, the bathhouse, neither of which really count, because they are always open to the outside.)

Also freakin' weird? Artificial light.

Sleeping in a place where I am constantly exposed to temperature changes, and to nothing but natural light, and am always aware by necessity of the cycles of the sun and moon, actually gets me on a consistent just-after-sunset to just-after-sunrise sleep schedule, and seems to be the only thing that does. Which sucks, because I actually like being a morning person, but it just doesn't happen anytime except camping.

And around here, I have to live in a sealed airtight box, because the minute I expose one square inch of skin to the outside world between last frost and first frost, it is entirely covered in mosquito bites. ): I have to say, for all that War is awesome in many ways, its main selling point for me going back repeatedly is two weeks when I can go outside and not be miserable.

So I decided to ease myself back into modern America by taking the scenic route home yesterday, and that was awesome, I sucessfully turned a five hour drive into a nine-and-a-half hour one - and still didn't really want it to end. I have finally discovered how to cross Western Maryland the fun way, which is to say, staying on the Old National Pike (which is a roadway that pre-dates White settlement) and avoiding limited-access interstate highways entirely: you stay on US Route 40 (scenic) when possible (which I have known for awhile), but when that gets sucked back into the interstate, you take MD Route 144 (which I learned last year, but only just field-tested), and when even 144 swerves back onto Interstate 70, you follow the marked bicycle route signs (which I only just figured out, and works wonderfully.)

I think you actually have no choice but to take 1-70 for about five miles just east of Hancock, because the interstate overwrites all other roads there, but I'm so glad I took 144 though the city, because it parallels Canal Street in Hancock, which also parallels the C&O Canal Towpath Trail and the Western Maryland Rail Trail. (What, you didn't think the extra 4.5 hours was spent driving, did you? Okay much of it was spent at Wonder Books in Hagerstown which is also right on US 40 and happened to be having a 2-for-$1 sidewalk sale, but anyway.)

The route of the old National Road is beautiful. It's shady, and has amazing views, and goes past all sorts of historical sites and wonderful old buildings, and parks, and things, and has basically no traffic even when you can look down and see the interstate, 1500 feet below you, crawling like a constipated anthill. And I can tell you, I always get sleepy while driving, but I did not get sleepy once on that road. I was going to stop at every interesting place to stop that I saw on the way, and then I was going to stop at every interesting place on my side of the road, but if I had done that, it would have turned in to more than a one-day trip, so I ended up limiting myself.

(Here is a google map of the route I took between Cumberland and Friendship, if anyone is interested, although I did it my the seat of my pants rather than with fancy electronics. Google Maps says the non-interstate route is 2 miles longer, and about half-an-hour more time, which is totally worth it.)

Anyway.

Another thing I have been away from for over two weeks: internets. This has become my yearly proof, for the various friends and family who think I need one, that yes, I am capable of living without the internet. (unlike the people who seriously missed the point and brought smartphones. Or the young gentleman who brought a cell modem and, in one of the most pitiful displays I have ever seen, played World of Warcraft for most of the first week.) I decided to post before even trying to catch up with y'all, because that is going to be an adventure. I got home and had rather the same reaction to internet that I did to the prospect of a real bed in a real bedroom: Do I have to, already? So I didn't. I am assured that the internet did not explode, nor did the world end, in my absence. (although another thing I have been without for two weeks is news of the wide world, other than what came to me thirdhand from people with smartphones. I suspect I will be happier while I remain ignorant.)

There may be photos and/or posting about actual Pennsic at some point, probably depending mostly on how unpacking vs. catching up on DW vs. doing nothing at all goes today.