Riding along in my automobile Tundra

The ride up along state highway 12 was pleasant enough. It was getting to highway 12 that was frustrating. US Highway 6 and state highway 220 have half a dozen construction crews on each doing everything from filling cracks with tar, putting reflectors in the mid-line, and just digging up random sections of pavement where gas/water/gravel trucks have caused depressions to appear. Each job requires traffic be reduced to one lane and that means stopping at the command of a flag person if you're not lucky enough to catch it j-u-s-t right.

Even when you clear the construction zones, there are the gas/water/gravel trucks with which to contend. If they are loaded with material, they have a difficult time with some of the hills along the way.

Yeah, there is a back road I could have taken even with the utility trailer in tow. But the last two times I tried that route, there were detours due to construction. And the last time was just a week ago and since it's bridge work being done....

I figure it took me almost half hour extra to get to Route 17 in Waverly.

Route 17 is also called the Southern Tier Expressway and will become Interstate 86 as soon as they finish upgrading a stretch near Elmira, NY. This highway runs east-west from Orange County to near Erie, PA. Much of it already has a 65 mph speed limit and the truck traffic has increased as the years have passed. The Future I-86 has two things going for it:

1) it is a direct link from the west to I-81 and/or I-88. The former can take you north to Canada in the Ottawa region, while the latter can get you up to the Albany and the Northway (I-87) and, again, to Canada (Hello Montreal! and points east.) Alas, unless and until they rebuild the bridge over Lake Champlain, there's major highway connection to the rest of New England except to hop on the NYS Thruway (I-90) and go down to the Mass Turnpike (also I-90). (TOLL ALERT! On both of these roads it costs a trucker an arm and a leg. Maybe even a kidney.) Smaller vehicles can find enjoyment tooling along state highways heading east.

Which brings me to the second thing I-86 has going for it:
2) it has no tolls. The more they raise the tolls on I-90, the more traffic there will inevitably be on I-86. Just as has occurred with I-80 in PA.

I do like cruising along the highway. If I didn't love my truck, I wouldn't mind cruising in one of these.