Travel- A wordy post

Last week I traveled to New England. This time, however, K and C went with me.

We stopped by AP/UJ's house in CT and got to see them and TJR on the way up. The so graciously offered (and we accepted) the use of their Maine estate for a couple of days while I worked in the area. (This is an informal thanks for the use of your home and hospitality on the return trip.)

So off K, C and I went toward Boston, then further north. The trouble with my schedule is that it changed from needing to be in ME, to not having an appointment in ME all week. The schedule shifted a bit west along with south. So K and C dropped me off at a hotel in Lawrence, MA, then proceeded to ME. According to K and C (not a chicken place), their stay in ME was very nice, given the constant rain and 50 degree temperatures. They also traveled to Bar Harbor to visit a friend of C's from school that is doing some research at Jackson Institute.

On Thursday after business calls are finished for the day, K,C and I (the sunshine band) meet back up and we head to RI as I have business appointments there on Friday. It is still raining on Friday AM, but while I was working, C/K took the opportunity to visit Newport, RI and see some of the big houses there.

After work on Friday, we traveled back to CT to return the keys for the northern estate to AP/UJ. While the AP served a wonderful ham dinner and all of the local cousins and their children came over for a visit. It was great to see everyone. While we were in CT, the sun was out making for a nice visit. As soon as we left, the rain was back. C/K and I left at about 9 PM, headed for a day of sightseeing in NYC on Saturday.

The van was parked on the NJ side and a ferry was used to go into the city. It was the same ferry group that helped the flight that landed in the Hudson.

It was a wonderful Saturday in NYC, going to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, riding the Gray Line bus for sight seeing, visiting Times Square. It is fun to ride an open top bus, in the rain, not so much.

We even visited Canal Street to see what all the hubbub is about there. I will say, from a guy perspective, Canal Street and the associated mess that is there was less than exciting. C/K did get to see some back rooms full of interesting merchandise, but I was people watching from the street or sidewalk, so it just added to the day. Departing NYC about 8PM, all of us were tired from a long day of walking and riding in the occasional rain.

Driving toward home, we stopped for gas at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike. A minor set back occurred as the van would not restart. Irritating a lot of people as we blocked a gas pump for about an hour, the service station attendants and I attempted every thing we could imagine to get the car started, but to no avail.

A tow truck was called and with that, C/K and I got to spend an interesting evening in Bordentown, NJ. From the tow truck business office, I called all the hotels in the area and found only one room available, at the Hampton Inn, a smoking room with a king sized bed. Being our only option, I took it. There was a significant returning presence of Reservists from Iraq to Fort Dix so there were many families that came from far away and also many people traveling to Six Flags, clogging the hotels.

The car needed repaired on a Sunday, and fortunately the tow truck driver left the van at a place having a mechanic working on Sunday. The mechanic arrives at about 10AM and diagnosed the starter on the van failed without warning and needed replaced. I walked from the hotel to the service station, about 2 miles, as C had accidentally left her glucose meter in the van when we dropped it off. As I got to the service station, the mechanic had just diagnosed the starter problem. It would be 45 minutes or so until the starter arrived and about an hour for installation. The owner of the station even let me use his personal vehicle to get back to the hotel.

Blatant Plug: If you are ever in need of service or gas and are near Bordentown, NJ, Exit 7 on the NJ Turnpike, please visit Bill Waite's Service Center. He was a really nice guy and fixed the van at a reasonable price. He will get my vote as a good business to use.

Minus a few $, but none the worse for wear, we were back on the road at 1:45PM. Garmin said we would arrive home at 8, but little did Garmin know of the traffic. At each of the toll plazas in Delaware and MD, there were significant lines of traffic that even an Easy-Pass could not overcome. Miles and miles of traffic. Coming out of the bottom of DC, from I295 to I95 was solid, bumper to bumper, inching along. I95 continued to be solid, bumper to bumper, slow moving traffic for 15-20 miles going south, all for no apparent reason other than quantity of cars. When the traffic did get up to speed, cruise control was not an option as there were too many vehicles too close together. It was only after passing Petersburg, VA and reaching I85 did the traffic thin. We arrived home at about 10:30PM.

Think of this: How many people get to travel by Van, Bus, Ferry, Subway, and Tow Truck in the span of 24 hours? The only things missing were a pack mule and airplane.

K and C had a great time in their travels, and NYC was enjoyable for us as a family. It was also really wonderful that AP/UJ, my cousins, and their children all took time to visit with us. It was a memorable trip.