Wednesday – July 17, 2013 – Jersey City, NJ
Hi there everyone,
Today we drove from Staunton, VA to Jersey City, NJ. We had hoped to get up early this morning so we could hop over to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home and take the first tour of the day at 9:00 AM. Unfortunately, there was no way of determining which tour we would make once we got there as many people may have already reserved on-line. Since it is a 2 hour tour, if we didn’t get the 9:00 tour, we would get into NYC too late. Since we had 380 miles to go, we decided we would have to pass on it this time. We were disappointed.
So we set off for the Big Apple and in the process we crossed many state lines. We started in Virginia, then we crossed into West Virginia, then Maryland, then Pennsylvania, then New Jersey. We went straight up I-81, which is a very scenic drive. We made very good time even though this stretch of highway happens to have some of the heaviest Big-Rig traffic that we’ve seen anywhere so far. It just so happens that many of shipping companies (e.g., Old Dominion) have major transit warehouses along this corridor, also sea containers that come in through Savannah and other ports take this route to get wares to the North East.
We were making such good time that we stopped for a nice lunch just after we crossed into Pennsylvania. That was when I noticed that when I ordered an iced tea – it came to me as unsweetened ice tea. For the past week while traveling throughout the South, whenever I ordered an Iced Tea – I got sweet tea. I guess we’re not in the South any more.
After lunch Elisa decided that we would take a little side trip to check out an Antique Mall that she found on her Google Map app. So we punched it into the GPS on her phone and that was when we experienced one of those GPS misadventures we’ve all had. It started simple enough, we turned left on a busy 4 lane divided road, then that disembodied female voice told us to take another left on what was now a nice 2 lane road. Once again that voice came on – this time I thought I heard a little smugness in that voice – it told us to take a right onto a narrow country lane. When we came to a fork in the road the voice told us to bear to the left onto what looked like a one lane road that had a big sign on it that said “no trucks allowed". We looked at each other and decided that we weren’t a “truck" so we forged ahead. When the voice told us we had reached our destination, there was no Antique Mall to be found – only a private residence. By now, there was no place to turn around and we were committed to the path we were on. I swear the road kept getting narrower and we kept getting more worried when our 40+ feet of RV and car was brushing up against foliage and low hanging tree limbs. Eventually, the narrow lane popped out onto a main road that was only a short distance from where we started. After that we decided we would only head to stores that were on well marked streets.
We did happen across a large Antique Mall in Allentown, PA. Once again, we found that the shops on the East coast have a much better selection. The prices weren’t’ too bad and Elisa managed to find a few nice things. She found a 1950’s Tin Toy Doll House made by Marx Company in the USA. I found one like it on Ebay selling for about twice what we paid. Elisa also found a couple of other items.
After that, we headed to our RV Park. We punched the address into our GPS and off we went. As we got into Newark, the traffic got quite a bit heavier and the roads quite a bit narrower. The “trusty" GPS was guiding us over the Rte 1 / Rte 9 North flyover – the one that said “no trucks allowed". This time, we opted to take the sign that directed trucks to an alternate route. Unfortunately, that route took us no where near our destination, it eventually led us back to that same flyover and this time we decided to take it. The GPS was directing us toward the Holland Tunnel. We kept getting closer to the Holland Tunnel and its 16 lanes – guess what, our RV won’t fit into the Holland Tunnel. Once again our pulses quickened a bit as we were now surrounded by afternoon commuters who were not interested in letting our 40+ feet move from one lane to another. Eventually, just before entering the tunnel the GPS told us to make a left turn onto Luis Munoz Marin Ave. Only problem was that the turn was ridiculously narrow and the light was impossibly short. Somehow we managed to make the turn, but not without numerous cars honking at us along the way. We meandered down the avenue and once again, the lane got narrower and narrower, we went under some underpasses that looked extremely low and the radio antenna on top of our roof was scraping the top of the overpass – scary. Eventually, Marin Ave was coming to an end at a very busy intersection in Hoboken and the GPS declared that we had arrived. Guess what – no destination in sight. Only honking cars. We made a turn and were headed into a residential area of narrow streets lined with brownstone type buildings. I quickly got out my phone and brought up our destination on the GPS on my phone and it told me we were on the wrong side of Jersey City. We should have turned right on Marin Ave instead of left back at the Holland Tunnel. Eventually we made it and I’m amazed that there are no scrapes on the motorhome or the car, which is amazing considering what we had to go through to get there. Of course I never broke a sweat and Elisa was a nervous wreck by the time we got there.
Tomorrow we will head into the city and take a bus tour before we set out on foot, taxi and subway to explore the city.
Photo 1- crossing into West Virginia
Photo 2 – one of the many rivers we crossed
Photo 3 – crossing into Maryland
Photo 4 – Crossing into PA
Photo 5 – A huge farm house we saw in PA
Photo 6 – Huge farm silos in PA
Photo 7 – The Delaware river
Photo 8 – a photo that is similar to the tin house Elisa found
Photo 9 – First view of the NYC skyline
Photo 10 – Rush hour traffic in Jersey City.
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