Day eight on the road, one long, 1,100 mile slog back to Athens. Near Shartlesville, Pennsylvania, the light broke through the clouds.

An odd thing to see outside of a hockey rink, complete with unnecessary quotes.

Probably drafty this time of year … Carlisle, New York, en route to lunch with another friend in Cherry Valley.

This trip has a lot of east-west-east driving, seeing friends here and relatives there and more friends over yonder. On the edges of Amherst, Massachusetts, after a grand lunch with a dear friend.

Spent the evening at my nephew’s hockey practice. The bracing nature of the air inside hockey arenas was familiar from my days covering hockey, but not comforting.

An evening in Syracuse, gorging myself at the Dinosaur with old friends, telling stories about auto adventures … it was a good night.

Morning brought a little dusting and that crisp light I only see here. Bitter, biting, just like the air.

The journey started late, but lunch came in South Carolina, dinner in Virginia (which a Christmas Cake chaser) and a caffeine stop in West Virginia. Pennsylvania for the evening stop.