At Ario's Pizzeria on NY 7 west in Latham, NY (official pizza of the NY Giants - I've had better, both with football teams and pizza, but hey). From left to right: Dylan Lainhart, Chris Jordan (the ringleader), Mark Sinsabaugh, C. C. Slater aka Mr. Yamamoto, David Petit, Jeff Kitsko (PA shirt), Doug Kerr, Phil Fenster, John Krakoff, Steve Alpert (me!)
	Off of I-90 at US 4, overlooking the Albany skyline (which you can cleverly see in the background). From left to right: Steve Alpert (me again!), Phil Fenster, Jeff Kitsko, David Petit, Doug Kerr (back), C. C. Slater (front), Chris Jordan, Mark Sinsabaugh, Dylan Lainhart

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To get to the Albany Road Meet, Matt Kleiman and I started off from Boston on MA 2A to MA 2, but traffic forced us down I-190 and I-290 to the Mass. Pike, I-90. We followed I-90 diligently into New York, utilizing the free portion on our way down I-88 to Binghamton, clinching I-88's last mile finally! We then followed I-81 northward to NY 79 and Ithaca, where we spent the night. The next morning, we retraced our steps, and discovered that one must take US 11 to get between I-81 SB and I-88 EB - at least according to signage. Not a problem, we showed up at the roadmeet in plenty of time, and it was great.

After introductions and a quick bite to eat, Chris, Doug, and others who had brought material started showing off official documents, old maps, pictures, and whatever else they had at hand. Doug was especially generous, giving out photo CD's to everyone. Finally, it was time to go. Starting off at NY 7, we visited the nearby rerouted Albany Shaker and Watervliet Shaker Roads, as well as their new intersection (through which NY 155 runs), and visited a bunch of ugly signs and old signs, including two on NY 5. Then, we turned our attention to various incomplete freeways in Albany, including I-687 (now turns into Corporate Woods Blvd. from I-90), the Mid-Crosstown Arterial (a small piece of US 9), and the South Mall Expressway (two inner roadways missing, it's incomplete across the Dunn Memorial Bridge on US 9 and 20, and it dead-ends in Albany instead of flowing into the Arterial). We also spent a bit of time around City Hall in Albany and saw a little before heading down 9 and 20 to the beginning of US 4. Following that, we came back to Ario's, regrouped, and set out toward Bennington, VT along NY 7. Yes, US 4 also goes to Vermont, but it's much farther north - hence the N-S signage in New York. The construction on the VT 279 bypass had just begun in 2003, extending westward from the stub end of the VT 67A connector, and otherwise nothing had really been done yet.

After visiting US 7 and VT 9 quite intimately (almost ran out of gas in Bennington, and then the car stalled just before the MA border, right as I was telling Matt about the failed attempt with Shawn and SPUI to find an NE 4 shield, when we found the pole for it under a tree), my route home of choice was back to MA 2 again, following the road up the mountain east of North Adams, around the famous hairpin turn, and all the way back to Boston pretty much.

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