I faced my fear and braved the Garden State Parkway today to visit Esther. Navigational failings aside (for I ended up making one wrong turn) it was a successful visit.

My car does not like going fast. In fact, there were times when I was seriously flooring it, and my baby couldn't go faster than 60 mph. The speed limit is 55, most of the time I went 75 mph, and I was the slowest car on the road! Freaking Jersey drivers. Once I hit 85, and my car really started sounding bad, so I slowed down. There is a new sound, and it really alarms me.. Like a grinding, chugging kind of noise. I kept envisioning my car falling apart on the middle of the parkway. But she remains trustworthy as ever - I returned home unscathed. While I was on the road, the meter reached 153,000 miles.

My mother keeps telling me that I have to get a new car. Considering I'm only home a couple months out of the year, I think that's silly.

Bright and early tomorrow - Newark to Boston, Boston to Montreal.

Au revoir, mes amis.