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New York Bound, part One
Aug. 12th, 2009 11:41 amAfter getting Igor the Neon emptied, cleaned, and even vacuumed the Sunday immediately prior, I parked it in front of my parents' house so they could load it up there and drive it down to work to meet me at five o' clock Monday.
Moira dropped me off at the train station Monday morning and I got through my work day. I got the ok to leave a bit early if I could, but my travel companions didn't manage to get through Chicago Loop traffic to my building 'till a bit after five anyway. No biggie. When they got there, I brought them in to use the restrooms and show them the building, which is a pretty one. (I'm avoiding saying which one it is on purpose. Sorry. You can ask me sometime in person if you like!) I also brought down espresso, soda, and hot chocolate for them from my office, where we have free machines. Score! Then we got on the way. It was myself, my two brothers (No-LJ-James and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
akreaveter), James' girlfriend, Lara, and my dad, barton_fender.
It was neat driving the old route again. I used to take 94 eastward through Chicago on a regular basis when I was visiting Moira out in Michigan, and about all of the old landmarks are still there. The Illinois International Port building. The oil refineries at the south end of Lake Michigan. The billboards with all the sequins that dance in the wind advertising some car dealership in Indiana. In fact, we saw more of them than we expected, since we ended up at the Michigan welcome center just past the border on 94, when we were supposed to have followed 80 where it split off through more of Indiana. Oops!
No big deal. We took a connecting road south to meet up with 'The 80' as Lara calls it, and even saved a little bit of toll money.
The first lengthy leg-stretching stop was at the Toledo Travel Center in Toledo, Ohio. I made a joke or two about how spiritual a place Toledo is, and how it is often referenced by name in connection with it's sacred nature. My brothers and Lara did not get the joke, and I felt old.
( A picture of the neat arched neon sign at the Toledo Welcome Center. )
We drove on through the night, making progress on what turned out to be an over twenty hour trip. Lara and I, being the only licensed drivers in the car, traded off between driving and sleeping fitfully in the crowded back seat. It was about nine-thirty Tuesday morning when we got to a rest stop in New Jersey, just outside of New York State.
( Silly pictures of us being eaten by vegetables and a red Nissan Versa bound for Otakon. )
Lara's GPS lead us through the Lincoln Tunnel, which was pretty awesome. Then it lead us through downtown Manhattan at noon, which was less so. After my car nearly overheated in rush hour traffic, we opened up the windows and turned the heater on full blast as we navigated through the endless traffic jams. At one point, we were trying to make a right turn and kept having trouble getting through the pedestrians, even when we had the light. A van behind us beeped at us, and I kind of pushed through them. The van drove up next to us (since traffic was, of course, not moving) and rolled down his window. A guy with this this awesome New York accent leaned out the window toward my car to advise "You gotta push 'em a little or they'll keep on walkin'. Show 'em who's boss!" This was full of win and became a running joke through the whole trip.
Finally we were through and into another tunnel, this time to Brooklyn. About an hour after our introduction to Manhattan, we were in JFK airport and found long term parking. We dealt with getting luggage to the terminal and onto the subway, and puzzled through the maps to get to the 103rd street station on the C line, Central Park West, just a couple blocks from our hostel.
We were tired, hot, and hungry. But we certainly weren't going to stop there; we just made it to New York City and we still had most of a day ahead of us! We got our stuff situated under beds and in lockers and hit the streets!
Moira dropped me off at the train station Monday morning and I got through my work day. I got the ok to leave a bit early if I could, but my travel companions didn't manage to get through Chicago Loop traffic to my building 'till a bit after five anyway. No biggie. When they got there, I brought them in to use the restrooms and show them the building, which is a pretty one. (I'm avoiding saying which one it is on purpose. Sorry. You can ask me sometime in person if you like!) I also brought down espresso, soda, and hot chocolate for them from my office, where we have free machines. Score! Then we got on the way. It was myself, my two brothers (No-LJ-James and
akreaveter), James' girlfriend, Lara, and my dad, barton_fender. It was neat driving the old route again. I used to take 94 eastward through Chicago on a regular basis when I was visiting Moira out in Michigan, and about all of the old landmarks are still there. The Illinois International Port building. The oil refineries at the south end of Lake Michigan. The billboards with all the sequins that dance in the wind advertising some car dealership in Indiana. In fact, we saw more of them than we expected, since we ended up at the Michigan welcome center just past the border on 94, when we were supposed to have followed 80 where it split off through more of Indiana. Oops!
No big deal. We took a connecting road south to meet up with 'The 80' as Lara calls it, and even saved a little bit of toll money.
The first lengthy leg-stretching stop was at the Toledo Travel Center in Toledo, Ohio. I made a joke or two about how spiritual a place Toledo is, and how it is often referenced by name in connection with it's sacred nature. My brothers and Lara did not get the joke, and I felt old.
( A picture of the neat arched neon sign at the Toledo Welcome Center. )
We drove on through the night, making progress on what turned out to be an over twenty hour trip. Lara and I, being the only licensed drivers in the car, traded off between driving and sleeping fitfully in the crowded back seat. It was about nine-thirty Tuesday morning when we got to a rest stop in New Jersey, just outside of New York State.
( Silly pictures of us being eaten by vegetables and a red Nissan Versa bound for Otakon. )
Lara's GPS lead us through the Lincoln Tunnel, which was pretty awesome. Then it lead us through downtown Manhattan at noon, which was less so. After my car nearly overheated in rush hour traffic, we opened up the windows and turned the heater on full blast as we navigated through the endless traffic jams. At one point, we were trying to make a right turn and kept having trouble getting through the pedestrians, even when we had the light. A van behind us beeped at us, and I kind of pushed through them. The van drove up next to us (since traffic was, of course, not moving) and rolled down his window. A guy with this this awesome New York accent leaned out the window toward my car to advise "You gotta push 'em a little or they'll keep on walkin'. Show 'em who's boss!" This was full of win and became a running joke through the whole trip.
Finally we were through and into another tunnel, this time to Brooklyn. About an hour after our introduction to Manhattan, we were in JFK airport and found long term parking. We dealt with getting luggage to the terminal and onto the subway, and puzzled through the maps to get to the 103rd street station on the C line, Central Park West, just a couple blocks from our hostel.
We were tired, hot, and hungry. But we certainly weren't going to stop there; we just made it to New York City and we still had most of a day ahead of us! We got our stuff situated under beds and in lockers and hit the streets!
