Just Cyd.

The year of road trips continues, with two back-to-back trips to Buffalo so far this month, and a third coming up this weekend.

The first two trips were to deliver Dan to Buffalo so he could participate in the Erie Canal Ride, and then the following week to fetch him and bring him home.

Did I need to do it? no.
Did I want to do it? sure.
I got to spend some time with his family, including a big family dinner the night before the ride (in which custody of Violet was transferred to her Uncle Doug the Science Dude), and again the next day at his twin nephews' surprise birthday party. The following weekend I got to be the hero by providing Paula's Donuts for the assembled crew, and then arrived on time to collect Dan from the [correct] pickup point.

this coming weekend, we're heading up for his parents' 60th wedding anniversary dinner celebration. I think most of the grandkids will be there, with only Dylan missing out, as he's in Atlanta. and by grandkids, I mean the now-all-adults younger generation. And with this being the 60th anniversary, that means Dan turns 60 next year. how???

He asked me about this a month or two ago, the first time I've been invited to a family thing. I thought it was something mentioned in passing on their weekly phone call. Nope. His mom hand-wrote invitation and mailed them, and while the envelope was addressed to him only (fitting, as I don't live there), the note inside was addressed to us both, as if we were a couple. Judy was quite miffed when she realized he'd never showed me the invite! So the last time I was over there, I made him show me. He got all flustered over it. for some reason that amuses me.

home to Buffal0 - 406 miles [first tank]
Buffalo to Syracuse hotel - 139 miles
Syracuse to Catskill - 187 miles
Catskill to Hudson - 10 miles [second tank]
Hudson to Buffalo - 319 miles [third tank]
Buffalo to home - 408 miles [fourth tank]
all told, that's 1469 miles in four days.

Other costs:
--4 tanks of gas varying from $3.35 to $3.85. Until I got off the Thruway in Mohawk and hit the super-hilly back roads, I'd been getting 42-43 mpg, and once again I got to Buffalo on a single tank.
--NYS Thruway tolls - $33 give or take. They do tolls by mail now, which is a huge relief to not have remember to have the cash handy (like on WV Turnpike)
--1 night in a hotel in Syracuse. $89 I think, but didn't plan for the hold they put on my card for "incidentals." oops.
--1 night in an airbnb in Catskill. way too much, especially for short my stay was, but by the time i booked it, my trip was down to just one night in Catskill, and the cheaper places had 2-night minimums, or had other features I didn't want (shared bathroom etc)
--One night with my friend's parents - I had intended to take them to dinner or something as a thank you, but things didn't quite work out that way
--ticket to the concert - $12. bartender didn't charge me for the club soda. Street parking a short block away was free.
--food - I packed a lot of snacky stuff and drinks like I usually do, but treated myself to breakfast on the road the first two mornings, and Wendy's about 2 hours from home. my friend's parents fed me well, too.
--Souvenirs - I got my nephews each a tshirt & baseball from the baseball hall of fame, ordered from their sale online prior to leaving. it had arrived by the time I returned, saving me the hassle of dealing with Cooperstown traffic & people

Could I have done this trip more cheaply? of course - accommodations were my big budget-killer, but given how little notice I had, I could have done worse. Were there hotels in the area? Yep, but the ones on the affordable end were either not available, or were not quite "hotels" but more like cabins or camping or other more rustic accommodations, or were not single-night type places. I considered airbnb in Syracuse, too, but given how late I got in, I'm glad I didn't, as it would've been disruptive to the hosts.