No real target in particular, I just knew I had to go east to see what was out there.

It was, exhilarating. To say the least. I remember back in 1999 a young college student hopped on a bus and headed to Utica to go see a certain band. The bus first stopped at the Carousel Center. Not surprisingly, that's where my first stop was as well. I very nearly remembered how to get there too, except for ending up going in the wrong direction on 81. Ooops. Nothing a quick turnaround couldn't fix.

My goal, of course, was to find a local newspaper. Sadly, Borders was the only location in the entire mall that did carry the local paper. ANd they were out of the scant few copies they did carry. (Strange enough, they carry the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle there). In fact, I ended up going to 4 stores just to find a local paper there. (I'm apartment hunting. Still haven't figured out where I want to live yet.)

The car ambled along east to Utica next, reliving more memories of my trip into that city so long ago. I guess it would only be fitting to find myself in the parking lot of the same Price Chopper so many years before. I then found myself driving past Captain Trips and the little pizza place across the street from it. Not too much has changed there, except the HSBC branch that was across from Captain Trips was now closed, and the pizza place had some large grafitti on it. But, Captain Trips Rainforest Preserve was still there. Memories of that show played in my head. People crashing the line. Katie in the Flyers jersey. Damn overtime playoff games (GO LEAFS!) Jian's new book. Ahh, such fun times.

I need to do that more often. I just need to get into the car and drive where the road takes me.