New York City

Yesterday, 4000 miles into our roadtrip, we drove
into New Jersey. We'd hoped to get parked somewhere
across the Hudson river from Manhattan so we could get
the train into NYC. We arrived lateish, and, already a bit
stressed with the crazy road systems, pulled into a Lowes
carpark in Jersey City for the night. We asked Patel, the
security guard, if we could spend the night, despite big
signs saying no overnight parking. He told us it would be
okay, and so we thought we'd get a safe nights sleep under
the protective power of Patel.

Not so. At midnight a bunch of boy-racer types arrived,
doing their boy-racer thing in the carpark. Skidding around,
squeeling their wheels and overall being dicks. I'm sure
there are terms for the things they were doing, but it all
sounded a bit like oops-where'd-that-cat-come-from type
driving to me (i.e really bad).

Anyway, it doesn't sound that scary now, but they were
pulling these moves right outside our RV, music blaring,
shouting, and lovely Patel was nowhere in sight. It was
more the unknown which was scaring me; we'd arrived
late and had no idea what kind of area we were in, and
whether these kids were any real danger to us. Probably
not, but we kept the lights off just in case!

They eventually left us be at about 4am, and I managed
to get some sleep. There was no way we were staying
there again though, so this morning we decided to head
for a residential area in a different part of town. We
settled for a decent looking place called Hoboken, and
parked up on a residential road opposite a park.

It's a 20 minute walk away from the train that takes us
across the river into Manhatten. Bit of an effort, but we
were parked up for free, and the train gets us all the way
to 33rd and Broadway. Winner.

So this afternoon we hit New York City! Second time
around for me; Will's first. I was more excited about
Will seeing it, I thought he'd love it and I couldn't wait
to show him Times Square and around the lower east side.

But New York somehow seemed less special this time
round. Perhaps it was because I was last there at
Christmastime. Perhaps it was the snow. I'm fairly
sure it wasn't the company.

Most likely, it was because we drove there. A couple
of hours drive through New Jersey seems less significant
than a 9 hour flight from Heathrow.

New York was just another city; only more difficult to
park up in and navigate around. Will said it reminded
him of London. I could see his point. To me, it seems full
of life and yet lacking spirit. The two loneliest cities in
the world, apparently.

We popped up on 33rd and Broadway, right in the midst
of it. We battled through the crowds towards Times Square,
past the street vendors and smoking grates and other such
New York-esque sights.

We checked out some shops, took some snaps, soaked up
that Times Square atmosphere and, most importantly,
met the Cookie Monster. He didn't have any crumbs
round his mouth though. Disappointed.

Stomachs rumbling, we set out on the search for Jackson
Hole, a burger joint recommended to us by some bloke in
a coffee shop sometime last week.

Walking through Central Park, we found it on 64th and 2nd,
sitting down to eat delicious 7oz burgers in a dingy basement
hangout; movie memorabilia, licence plates and old signed
photographs hanging from the brick walls, pipework and
foundations of the building above us. It was wicked.

We headed home via Grand Central Station, standing
still to watch the city move around us, all under the
watchful eye of Pegasus and chums.

I was reluctant to head home; normally the RV feels
like our haven, safe and homely. But for some reason,
I just didn't want to go back. It could have been the
thought of the lenghty train journey back across the
river, the fact I knew the duvet would feel damp from
the cold, or maybe because I wasn't entriely sure our
RV would still be there when we got back (parking
restrictions are confusing and longwinded in New
Jersey. Streetcleaning, snow evacuation laws (?!!?),
residential permits, non-residential allowances,
weekday vs. weekend limits, national goat parade
day for all we knew).

For once, it was me who suggested we have a couple
of beers before bed, hoping the alcohol might dilute
my hesitance to go home. It worked, I guess, because
we got the 11pm train home to find our RV untowed,
undamp, and not a single goat in sight.