Day 1 (Harrisburg, PA, to Rochester, NY, via Niagara Falls, NY)
My trip to/from the Schenectady-Amsterdam Roadmeet (that included seeing froggie for about 10 minutes or so as I ran late on Saturday) was probably the second-most scenic roadtrip I have done so far (behind my driving in the Smokies in western NC in May 2022).
I left my apartment just after 1 AM on Friday and took US 22/US 322 WB to US 11/US 15 NB to Selinsgrove before crossing over the Susquehanna River via PA 61/PA 147 to check the signage on PA 405 in Sunbury and Northumberland. Thankfully, all of the PA 147 shields have been replaced with PA 405 shields (and have been covered on the Susquehanna River Bridge). I was thinking that US 147 in Northumberland may be replaced with US 405, but that did not happen for better or for worse.
Anyway, I was diverted to PA 147 at Ridge Rd whether I liked it or not as PA 405 is now closed between Ridge Rd and PA 45 so that the road can be realigned into a normal curve at the old PA 147/PA 405 intersection. From there, it was PA 147 NB to I-180 WB to US 220 SB to PA 44 NB so that I could finish the full clinch of PA 44 that I worked on south of US 220 on the CSVT Trip about a month ago. Then I followed NY 417 WB to NY 305 SB to PA 346 WB to PA 246 WB (as there is currently a bridge closure on PA 346) to PA 46 NB to the Bradford area. After some Sheetz, it was back to PA 346 WB in Bradford to NY 280 NB to I-86/NY 17 EB to US 219 NB in Salamanca.
Then I took US 219 NB to I-90 to finish my national clinch of US 219. Then I took I-190 NB, which I consider a sight clinch due to being able to see the Bridge to Canada, to the Niagara Falls area. After touring the falls (wanting to be there all day) and driving around the area a bit, I followed NY 31 east from there to Rochester, and then took a nap before looping around Rochester to get NY 386 for the lowest route number game.
Clinched: PA 44, PA 446, PA 246, NY 280, US 219 (NY), NY 391, I-190 (NY), NY 61, Niagara Scenic Pkwy (Niagara Falls), LaSalle Expressway, US 62 BUS (Niagara Falls, NY), NY 31E, NY 271, NY 387, NY 383, NY 386, NY 531, Inner Loop
New Mileage: PA 144, US 6 (PA), NY 305, PA 446, PA 46, NY 242, I-90 (NY), NY 324, NY 104, NY 265, NY 182, NY 384, US 62 (NY), NY 31, NY 429, NY 93, NY 63, NY 33A, NY 33, NY 260, I-490 (NY)
Day 2 (Rochester, NY, to Latham, NY)
The main focus of the drive to Schenectady for the roadmeet was to clinch NY 31 and NY 5S. While that was successful, I was over an hour late due to a walk clinch and actually driving the full detour of the NY 31 bridge closure over the Erie Canal east of Lyons. After finishing NY 31, I clinched NY 233 before heading east to Utica to clinch NY 5S, which I consider as the most scenic shunpike route of all time (to the point that you can see the NYST for much of it).
After a fun roadmeet in which we saw off and on rain (and even a wedding party at our ice cream stop), I clinched I-890 and then took NY 7 east to NY 787 north so that I could take NY 32 south to NY 155 (but more on that later). I did get dinner from DiBella's Subs at the suggestion of Doug Kerr which was good before calling it a night.
Clinched: NY 31, NY 317, NY 631, NY 233, NY 5S, NY 890, I-890 (NY), NY 103
New Mileage: NY 390, NY 21, NY 14, NY 104, NY 414, NY 89, NY 38, NY 690, NY 370, NY 48, NY 5, NY 26, NY 69, NY 28, NY 167, NY 80, NY 30, NY 67, I-90 (NY), NY 7, NY 32, NY 155
Day 3 (Latham, NY, to Harrisburg, PA)
I started the day clinching some routes that I covered parts of at vdeane's Capital District Meet in 2016 in the Albany are before driving back and forth across the amazing scenery in the Catskills (with another walk clinch due to a bridge closure along NY 212). I eventually ended up taking NY 213 WB south from Kingston to NY 32 SB to NY 208 SB to NY 300 EB to Newburgh. After circling Newburgh to get the northern piece of NY 94, I did a full on-clinch of NJ/NY 94. I immediately put NJ 94 as my favorite route in NJ due to the great scenery in a state that is not really known for mountain scenery for the most part. Once I completed the clinch at I-80 (since I had already clinched NJ 94 south of there), I took I-80 WB to Exit 310 in PA so that I could clinch River Rd (the only usanp road in PA). Then I got food from Wawa after the rain calmed down before heading home via US 209 SB to PA 33 SB to US 22 WB to I-78 WB to I-81 SB. The only highlights from that portion of the trip is that traffic has been shifted on the I-78 construction projects recently (to the south between Exits 35 and 45, and to the north at the Schuylkill River).
Clinched: NY 155, NY 85A, NY 85, NY 140, NY 335, NY 296, NY 214, NY 375, NY 300, NJ/NY 94, River Rd (usanp)
New Mileage: NY 443, NY 32, NY 145, NY 23, NY 23A, NY 28, NY 212, US 9W (NY), NY 213, NY 208, NY 17A