New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts

Cape May, NJ – Hyannis, MA
Daily Mileage: 411
Total Mileage: 608
Total Number of States Traveled: 8

It was a pretty dreary day – rain in the morning and it lasted up into New York. I got my introduction to Toll Roads in New Jersey. I was driving along and all of a sudden – BOOM – cough up 35 cents. Luckily I had a good pile of change. The Toll Booth Lady on the George Washington Bridge called me “hon'” – I felt like a local.

I crossed into Connecticut and had originally wanted to drive by Yale (there’s a Starbuck’s with WiFi), but was running behind schedule – so I just blasted on through. I stopped in Rhode Island for gas and food then headed toward Cape Cod. Had a nice QSO with N1KO while driving through Providence.

It was dark by now and I had just made it into Hyannis when my Belkin’s Bluetooth GPS ran out of juice. The Econo Lodge I’m staying at is on 58 East Main Street – I’d plugged in 57 West Main Street… so I ended up going in circles for about an hour until I figured out I was on the wrong side of Hyannis. I finally got turned around and found the place. Frustrating end to a long day.

Getting Up On APRS


I am a wannabe amateur radio enthusiast, currently holding a Technicians license (KD7PJQ). One of the reasons I’m looking forward to returning to the States is to get back on the air. An aspect of amateur radio I’m exploring is APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System). You use a transceiver, GPS, and computer – and with that you can transmit your location which can be tracked via the web.

You can check my current location here.

My plan is to setup a beacon on my truck during the cross-country road trip – we’ll see how that goes.