Day 1

We almost went out for dinner, but thankfully, Dad did not feel like it. Not that I was glad Dad was not feeling well, but I really didn’t feel like going out tonight. I’d been packing this afternoon and broke a sweat so changing into nice clothes would have given me that not so fresh feeling. Instead, we had a nice dinner at home, then Suzanne gathered up her scattered belongings and I collected all my camping supplies.

We left around 10:30 p.m. and arrived exactly two hours later. It’s really amazing how fast the trip to New York is. In reality, it is two hours (on a good day), but it never seems like it. My theory on this is that because much of North Jersey is just a suburb of New York City, it seems like you’re almost there for about the last hour of the trip. I guess I don’t know the trip well enough to know exactly how far away I am at certain landmarks, like the Newark Airport, the rest areas, or the wispy smell of the Fresh Kills Landfill drifting over the water from Staten Island.

As usual, there was a bit of traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel toll but nothing too bad. They were cleaning the tunnel tonight so one lane was blocked off while these zamboniesque trucks clouded up the air in the tunnel by spraying the walls with water. This seemed to succeed in distributing the dirt evenly on the tunnel and the unfortunate people passing through it.

Coming out of the tunnel we were faced with a split-second decision: take the left or the right fork. We took the road to the right which was the correct choice, thankfully. We arrived at the garage on Suzanne’s block and put the car in for the next day. This is one of the cheaper garages around annd costs $12 for 24 hours. It is located under the Skyline Motel on 10th Avenue and 50th Street.

Once in Suzanne’s apartment, we discovered Jim, Scott’s sublet for the summer, sleeping in Scott’s bed. I had Suzanne walk through Scott’s room first to get to her room and turn on a light so I could see what I was stepping on. We put our things down in the little space available and collapsed on the bed.

Once in Suzanne’s room, we were disappointed to find Jim’s stuff all over her floor and bed, all the flat surfaces. We both relied on this space for our stuff as well as general maneuvering in the room. After throwing out Jim’s stuff, organizing our bags, and creating space to walk, we settled into Suzanne’s double futon (with 2 futon mattresses) and got some sleep.