Yes – I’ll tell you what was (and where it was too in due course).
But starting off, I had a really good night’s sleep in the hotel last night. Didn’t feel a thing at all.
and I was up reasonably early, did a pile of paperwork, had breakfast and a good shower too. Fit for absolutely anything.
And I needed to be, too. Because today is going to be the most difficult day of the journey. I knew that, and so I cannot say that I was unprepared for the events that were to unfold.
Having picked up some fuel, because by now Strider was running on fumes, we drove north up the island.
As I said yesterday, the Outer Banks (because I suppose that these are really still the Outer Banks around here) are in a perpetual state of flux and continually moving about.
A lot of work is needed to stabilise them, and here are three bulldozers hard at work moving the sand around
Back on the mainland I took a little diversion so that I could send you all Greetings From Asbury Park NJ.
It’s a little-known fact that when Brute Stringbean left the E-Street Band, they signed up one of the singers from ABBA to replace him.
He came over to the USA specifically to take up the role, and their first single was entitled “Bjorn in the USA”. You can’t say that you aren’t learning a lot by reading this rubbish.
As for Asbury Park itself, you need to have a good imagination of how this place must have been during the boom years of the 1920s and 1950s.
In those heady days the whole New Jersey Coast was the playground of New York City, but unfortunately they are long-gone and the town is just sitting here slowly decaying.
Today, it’s just really a shadow of its former self.
That is of course not to say that there aren’t any signs of opulence around the place these days.
The north side of the town seems to be very popular with the Upper Crust and there’s still plenty of evidence of wealth about.
And I for one would live in a house like this in a heartbeat. But I reckon that the entire readership of this rubbish couldn’t afford it even if we pooled all of our resources.
My journey up the New Jersey coast took me as far as the Highlands – and you can see why it is so named.
I mentioned the moving sand dunes of the Outer Banks – they are continually moving north and over the passage of time have isolated the cliffs of the former coastline from the shore.
The view from up there is quite impressive too, but we’ve seen it all before.
And so we hit the New Jersey Turnpike at Perth-Amboy, and we pay our … gulp … $15:00.
It’s 11:00 exactly, and you’ll need to make a note of the time because it’s quite an important feature in our story.
And you’ll also need to make a note of the traffic too. I’ve been keeping away from the heavy traffic as I travel north, as you know if you have been following this rubbish. But around New Jersey and New York there is no realistic option.
The best views of New York City that it is possible to have are from the Upper Deck of the Verrazano Bridge across the mouth of the Hudson River.
Unfortunately there’s no scenic turn-off (or scenic turn-on) to stop and admire the view and so the only way to appreciate it is to take an oblique photograph from Strider’s side window in the heavy traffic.
Unfortunately Strawberry Moose is not the best at photography. He needs to work on his technique.
It’s impossible to get onto the Belt Parkway. The queue was so long that I had gone way past the end of the queue before I saw the sign for the turn-off.
That meant hat I had to come off at Hamilton Parkway and fight my way through Brooklyn, which was not part of the plan, and rejoin the Belt Parkway at Queen’s.
This part of Brooklyn is “Chinatown” as you can tell by the signs on the walls and the people in the street.
Nose-to-tail all the way through Brooklyn and Queen’s. At least I console myself in that the Belt Parkway is exactly the same and it wouldn’t have been any quicker.
It gives me plenty of opportunity to admire the scenery as we pass through the city anyway. I’ve never been here before, and I’m probably never ever going to be here again.
And pressing on, I resist the temptation to pay a visit to Coney island just down the road. I’ll be stuck for ever
Having conquered Europe a good 45 years ago, it’s good to see the Ford Transit going on to conquer North America/
Both models are available here now – the “mini” and the normal Caliburn-sized one, and you can see just how much they are infiltrating the North American market.
They are even conquering the lucrative “school bus” market, and if that’s not a sign of official acceptance I don’t know what is.
I finally burst out of New York City onto the Belt Parkway at 13:30 – and that was the longest two and a half hours of my life, I’ll tell you that (or so I thought to myself at the time).
One of the suburban State parks looms up on the right and so that’s a convenient place to stop for lunch. Not only have there been difficulties with the traffic, it’s been piping hot too under the hot sun and i’m ready for a break.
Back on the road, first thing that happens is that we hit a “fender-bender”. And then the road works. And more road works.
I have to stop for fuel by now – (that means that I’ve travelled just 210 kilometres since I set off this morning). And then back in a long, depressing traffic jam that never ends.
I finally pull into Port Jefferson at 17:20.
At my lunch stop, The Lady Who Lives In The Sat-Nav told me that we were just 46 minutes away from here. And so Ihad timed it.
It had taken us almost three hours to drive this final leg of the distance, what with all of the difficulties that we had encountered. And I was thoroughly, completely and absolutely fed up.
I had even begun to wonder whether or not it might have been quicker to have stayed on Interstate 95 and fought my way through New York City after all.
No prizes for guessing why I’ve come to Port Jefferson, is there?
By pure coincidence and totally by accident … “of course” – ed … there’s a ferry that goes from here across Long Island Sound to Bridgeport in Connecticut.
This is going to be my lest ferry crossing of my voyage (Bar Harbor to Yarmouth is pushing the boat out a little too far, I reckon) and so I need to make the most of it.
And at about 18:15 we set off on the P T Barnum for Bridgeport in Connecticut.
And the name of the ship is certainly appropriate, considering the circus that we have been through in order to arrive here.
I was hoping to have been on the other side and halfway up the road to Boston by now instead of being on the ferry in the doom and gloom.
But doom and gloom is completely inappropriate considering the glorious sunset.
I mentioned earlier that it had been a hot day, and you probably noticed from the earlier photos just how clear and blue the skies had been
We were now being treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets that I reckon that I have ever seen. It was totally magnificent out here on Long Island Sound
There are two ships that ply this particular route across Long Island Sound.
The P T Barnum has a sister ship, whose name I had forgotten to note, and we encountered her in the middle of Long Island Sound doing the trip in the reverse direction.
Silhouetted in the splendid sunset like this, she looks quite spellbinding too. We were having our money’s worth out here.
And so we battened down the hatches for silent running and sailed off into the sunset.
Red Sky At Night might mean Shepherd’s Delight in the UK, but here on Long Island Sound, Red Sky At Night means that there are riots in New York City and they are burning the place down to the ground.
But tat’s not to say that we can’t admire the view as the sun disappears down below the horizon, can we?
And so Bridgeport, our destination, looms up out of the gloom. I’ve never set foot in Connecticut before now, and so that’s about to be put right.
The crossing itself was like a millpond. I’ve never been over such a tranquil sea in my whole life. There wasn’t a single wave to talk about.
But it was an expensive crossing, make no mistake. 90 or so minutes, and 19 miles, I believe. Just like the English Channel. And it cost me (and Strider) a walk-on fare of a massive and astonishing … errr … $57:00.
The P T Barnum is obliged to do a U-turn in her own length here in the river so that we can dock and drive off forwards,
And much to my surprise, I’m the second vehicle off the ferry. I’m not used to that!
Just at the back of the harbour is a big bridge over which Interstate 95 passes. And that’s the road that will take me all the way home as far as the USA border and it’s a drive of about seven and a half hours.
But I’m not doing that tonight – I’ll tell you. I’m thoroughly exhausted and thoroughly fed up (but then I was expecting this today. There was no other solution).
A sign looms up at the side of the Interstate – “Motel 6 next exit”. They’ve gone upmarket and expensive this last few years but I’m tired and fed up and want to stop.
They have a room too – for just $90:00 including taxes which is not too unreasonable either. I’ve had worse. But what is unreasonable is that their computer is down, everything is being done by hand and I have to pay cash.
I now have $5:00 to last me to the US border and Canada but I’m beyond caring. It’s 20:00 and well past my bedtime.
And so I bite the bullet, pay up, find my room and crash out.
ZZZZZZZZ.
