Friday, August 7th. We caught the water taxi from the marina and headed across the Hudson to Manhattan. It’s a beautiful ride over, with the buildings growing larger as you approach the ferry docks.
Our plan was to get a taxi and head towards Times Square and Grand Central Station. Joan surprised me when she said, “Let’s walk around.” Well, OK. Two small town kids without a clue wandering around Manhattan. Big buildings everywhere you looked, lots of traffic, people riding bikes and walking... and the noise level... it was sensory overload.
We headed in the general direction of Times Square, a mere 4 miles away. When we walked through a neighborhood where a guy was very apparently living in his car, Joan said, “Get me a taxi... NOW!” Yes, I was looking for the Cash Cab, but Joan pointed at the first cab we saw, and in her best Exorsist voice growled, “THAT cab. Hail that cab, NOW!”
“Yes, Ma’am.” I waved, he pulled over... it was almost too easy. Certainly not the Cash Cab; I’m pretty sure this guy didn’t speak much English, but he did have an on-going conversation with himself... complete with gestures. In my best I’m-not-from-out-of-town voice, I said, “Times Square.” And we were off. I’m pretty sure the driver had a death wish, based on the way he drove. We didn’t make great time, but we certainly accelerated and came to a screaching halt a lot. At first I was concerned that he would take us in a round about way to drive up the cost... that concern quickly turned to survival... then perverse amusement: I think we were safer out on the sidewalk.
It was bumper to bumper traffic everywhere. We got close to Times Square, paid the crazy man, and set out on foot. On Broadway and 47th. “Hoooooo-weeeeeeee! Lookit all them big buildings!” I looked around to see who the rube was... yeah, it was me. This place looks just like you see on TV... and we weren’t the only rubes gawk-ing. At first, we just walked around. Then we decided to go into a couple electronics stores to check out the prices. I asked about a netbook computer... the guy started at $599. I scoffed and started to walk out... the price came down to $499. Then $349. Nice, a $250 dollar discount... we moved on.
We went into the Broadway Info building just to check things out. We got another map and directions to Grand Central Station. Yeah, I’m getting into this urban stuff.
We made our way to Grand Central Terminal and got in line to buy train tickets. We called Leonard - as usual, he was ahead of schedule. We planned our train ride accordingly. After looking over Grand Central, scoping out which track our train leaves from, we went down a level to get some lunch... pizza, a soda, and plenty of people watching; and for dessert: a Zodel... it just looked like a giant Ho-Ho to me.
We boarded our train. It started out under ground, then popped out into daylight. Look - we’re going through Harlem. Then Younkers. And before long, we were out of the city, running along the Hudson River. We saw the marina we stayed in before getting here. All this entertainment for only $8.25. I can see why people here don’t own cars... hell, it’s $40 a day to park ‘em!
Enroute, we got a call from Leonard; he was just pulling into Croton. I told him we’d be there in 15 minutes... not bad timing considering all the logistics involved. We got off the train and walked to the parking lot; Leonard and Doris were waiting for us in their truck.
They were in a hurry to hit the road, so we visited while they drove back to the marina. We said our good-byes, with a promise to get together for a real meal when we’re all in Texas. We hopped into Big Red... Leonard had filled the tank. This was a good solution for us: we didn’t lose two days in New York and didn’t have to drive across the state and back. The bad news: we had to drive this truck and trailer through city traffic on a Friday afternoon.
The roads were narrow, but they made up for it by being rough. It took us 2 1/2 hours to go about 40 miles. And my ass is sore from all the puckering! We put the truck and trailer in the service area of Liberty Landing, but not before removing the very important air conditioner from the back of the truck. We left it there, thinking we wouldn’t need it... we were wrong.
After getting some cooling breeze going in the boat, Joan suggested we take the water taxi across to Jersey City and have supper out. We had 5 minutes to get from our boat to the water taxi dock... and just made it. Then another 8 or 9 block walk to a Mexican restaurant.
With our bellies full (the food was good), we headed back to the ferry dock. It was going back to New York, but they said we could just ride along. That’s normally a $7 ride, but they only charged us the $1 for going across the canal. It was an absolutely beautiful evening. We sat on top and enjoyed the view. Then back to Wild Blue and our little Izzy... and air conditioning. We don’t really need it tonight, but we’re gonna run it... ‘cause we can.
Quite the adventure today... the big city, ferry, taxi, the train, driving our truck, and then another ferry ride. Whew!
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