323 miles via I-90, I-87, I-88 and I-86 with a breakfast stop in West Springfield MA. Cumulative TS8 route miles: 323.
This was an easy trip to navigate, which is good as my cell phone GPS froze before getting to Albany. The weather was good and the traffic was light, so it was mostly an easy hop. Except for the miserable hour we spent trapped behind a “wide load” truck (with 38 tires!) hauling a very large shrouded object down I-88 at 30mph. Most of that trip was on sections of I-88 that were reduced to a single westbound lane by construction, The backup was massive. I was near the front so I can’t say how long the backup was, but judging by how quickly it built up behind the caravan (the massive truck and 6 escort vehicles) after it rejoined I-88 following a rest area break, it had to be at least 3 miles. And how did I know that? Because we pulled into that rest area after being trapped in the backup for 25 minutes and were not quick enough to get out before it. So we were the only vehicle that got trapped both before and after their break. Lucky us.
I didn’t think getting out in front was all that urgent as I knew the one-lane stretch that the rest area was on lasted just another mile. I figured I would be able to pass when the construction zone ended. But – surprise! – the state troopers escorting the truck blocked both lanes until another long construction zone started. So another maddening 30-minute delay on a 12-mile one-lane construction zone.
Miserable.