(To best experience the Invent-Ory start at chapter 1 and go forward through time)
Once we crossed the border into New York State, it was almost as if God himself had dimmed the sky. While I was convinced Massachusetts had been subsumed by dark and demonic forces, there was something immediately ominous about the Empire State.
For one, there was the radio.
We only had an AM/FM radio in the moving van and we turned it on to accompany our journey. It was Governor/Mob Boss Andrew Cuomo speaking about COVID restrictions and what you can and cannot do.
That was oddโso we changed the channel โฆ
It was Governor/Mob Boss Andrew Cuomo speaking about what you can and cannot do.
So we changed the channel โฆ It was โฆ.
The Godfather had taken over every channel.
It really wasโominous.
And the road signs. At almost every fifth mile or so was one of those digital signs about wearing a mask. And about getting tested โฆ And about tuning into the radio for updates from the Governor.
So we finally had to stop and get gas. And I will never forget the experience of being in a truck stop in Albany, New York during the height of COVID planic.
Ever.
For one, the sky was darkening as a storm was moving into the area. To say it was a foreboding sky would be an understatement. And then there were truckers walking around, some veterans, some fully-bearded, some both, but wearing masks. There was a slovenly couple in the restaurant, seated with what was clearly an attorney in a suitโmost likely getting a divorce? Or perhaps they were newly illegal immigrants, it was left to the imagination.
Iโm not sure what drill rap is, but there were two young black teenagers making gun noises and a loud clattering next to the cashier, clearly trying to get a rise out of them. A young mother was in their other ear, pleading for food. Something about COVID restrictions would not allow her to purchase a hot dog? Iโm not sure. It was all totally bleak and, quite honestly, frightening.
I thought to purchase a joke gift but had to leave, immediately.
After I went back out to our moving van, I sat and waited for my friend (who was somehow nonplussed about the truck stop from hell). In the interim, the woman who was screaming about food on the inside went back to her car, where her child had been waiting.
In the next few minutes, a GrubHub driver arrived to deliver food to the mother and daughter living in their car at the truck stop.
So while I had had quite enough of the New York experience, we were about to enter into the true valley of despair: ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.
And now it has started to rain.