We each have a small suitcase and another even small, just like we were going to the airport. But we also have a cooler, a bag filled with bags of home made granola (enough to feed 9 people four breakfasts) and some packages we will mail from somewhere Tuesday morning. I set up the phone via Bluetooth to listen to 45 minutes of Tammy Wynette to honor our getting halfway through Tammy and George last night. We discovered that we like Jessica Chastain’s Tammy better than Tammy herself.

Surprise, surprise. We saw no traffic on Labor Day. We left home at about ten yesterday morning. There is always traffic on I-270, especially when the lanes narrow to two after Clarksburg. You expect everything to move forward in short spurts and lengthy halts all the way to Frederick and where I-270 feeds into I-70 heading west you certainly expect it on Labor Day. But, no. There was no traffic and we zipped right into the Catoctin Mountains in no time at all.

So we zipped past Thurmont and Emmitsburg and even Gettysburg without slowing down, staying in Route 15. And then we found ourselves in Dillsburg (where?) and at Baker’s “newly renovated” diner. While wondering what to order, we decided to learn a little bit about where we were. Dillsburg was named after its founding citizen over 200 years ago. A man named Dill. And even today, he is remembered every year when Dillsburg (I kid you not) holds it’s annual Pickle Festival, where you can get old-fashioned pickle soup. Yes, old-fashioned. Old-fashioned if you happen to be in Poland.

We then assumed that the Dillsburg high school teams would be the Pickles, but lo!, they are the Polar Bears. Go figure.

Just by the way, Baker’s Diner should be avoided. A large pleasant place it is. But the food we ordered was below par. Edie got a Greek salad, where each ingredient was separated so that none touched each other. And, oh yes, she had to ask for the dressing.

And my chicken croquette? Well, you’ll have ask Edie about that. (By the way, the price was okay. On the Senior menu, I got chicken croquettes, mashed potatoes, pickled beets, a large salad and chocolate pudding, all for $12.99.

We then made a radical decision . We would go the rest of the way to our first destination – Scranton by avoiding major highways. Yes, we learned how change a four hour trip into one that lasted over six.

Part of the next 3 hours we’re passed in nice, hilly country, and the other part in areas where all they did was fix cars and sell pizza. We went through a number of old towns, most of which were new to us. Of course, we did know we were in Pennsylvania, because no one had a front lawn. As we drove by some, we could have reached out the window and knocked on the door.

A couple of surprises . Had we ever heard of Tamaqua PA? It’s fairly sizable and has its founder’s 1800 log cabin still in place. And we drove through Hazelton which looked like it was doing okay.

Then we skirted Wilkes Barre, where my Aunt Lee was born and got to Scranton. A large-ish city, birthplace of Joe Biden, its downtown is fairly compact, built around a square with some impressive public buildings, with the old equally impressive Lackawanna railway station a block or so away. This is now a Radisson Hotel and very impressive and well maintained. But how many people come to stay in downtown Scranton? And there is a large Hilton ,(not as impressive) just down the street.

What we did not know is that we were coming the last night of the Italian food festival which ringed the downtown square with maybe 40 or so places selling pizza, pasta, and Italian desserts. A bit overwhelming, we walked through it, as the festival which began Friday was ending at 8 on Monday and the vendors were beginning their cleanup. But we didn’t really feel like eating pizza or pasta and sitting on the grass, so we grabbed something to eat at the hotel bar.

That was Day 1. Tomorrow we continue to Saratoga Springs to meet our 7 old friends.