Where's Kurt Russell when we need him. As I mentioned yesterday, we decided to pack up and continue our travels, "out" of NYC. It was a combination of lots of things (mainly the "dreaded daily stair climb")... Gail says that Jean and I are just OLD and she & Bob are OLD and DECREPIT. But, Gail is a history buff and we thought we would go to the Gettysburg Battlefield National Park and check things out.
First on the list was getting to NJ to pick up the car, did you know that the bus route times are different on weekends and don't run as frequently? I do now, I was at the Port Authority Bus Depot by 10:30 and didn't get on a bus until 12:15, which put me in Teaneck NJ at 1:10p. So much for our planned noontime departure. THEN, you have to drive back.... No matter which way you try to get onto Manhattan Island from NJ it costs you $8 per car. You can leave Manhattan for free, but coming back $8 bucks. Good thing Gail wasn't with me on this trip, her #1 pet peeve is people trying to jump ahead in line by traveling all the way to the front in the EZpass lane and then try to squeeze into the cash lane. Going to Niagara Falls and approaching toll booths, Gail would yell at me if I let someone in and if it looked like another car was trying to squeeze in she would say "DAVID!! Don't you dare let him in" and then cheer other drivers who wouldn't let them in either. Such a mean streak for such a lovely lady. Well, with that being said, my 20 min drive back to the city took over an hour. It felt like Mission Impossible; fighting traffic and getting texts and calls from Jean trying to coordinate my arrival with them bring down the luggage on those "dreaded stairs". Bob's idea was just to toss them down from the fire escape outside Bill's front window. Anyhow we got loaded and on the road by just before 3pm. We took a quick spin up Broadway to the Upper Westside to see the NY Temple. Such a neat sight to see the Angel Moroni statue among all those modern buildings across from the Kennedy Center for Preforming Arts. We made our way to the Lincoln Tunnel (no outgoing toll), got on I80 and headed west. I love, love love, love to visit NYC, but like I tell Jean about Miami, if I ever say "honey I want to live there" I am not in my right mind and commit me to the nearest looney hospital.
Again our greatest of thanks to our friend Bill and being able to stay in his apartment. Jean took a picture from the outside (see above) You may notice that pictures of scenery or points of interest will have a person in them, that's her style, I have no problem at all taking a picture of just a tree or a nice looking cloud.
We made a little detour near Hazelton PA, to go by my grandparents gravesite and their old home in Drifton PA. Brought back some old memories of happy times when I was much much younger, and I shared some of those with everyone while we drove. We got a quick bite to eat, gassed up and loaded up a few necessities at WalMart in Hazelton and off we went again. We had got no farther than 10 miles down the road when a Florida type thunderstorm hit the area. This was the mother of all rainstorms, It slowed traffic to a crawl, and i'm sure my white knuckles were shining brightly. We decided to find a room ASAP, but were having no luck and finally found one in Harrisburg PA at a Howard Johnson's.
It may sound like we're having lots of difficulties, but really we're not, we set off to go wherever our desires may take us and our itinerary is just a guideline, we're on no timetable except to be home by Tuesday 14th at the latest. We'll see which way our route will go on Sunday, all I can say is that it will be south of Harrisburg and closer to home. Stay Tuned :))
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