BIG RIG in the BIG APPLE!

Can I just take a moment to brag on my personal driver? 

He does an incredible job of maintaining our house on wheels. That isn't easy, by the way.

Imagine all the systems in your home that can need repair. Then combine those with all the systems on your car. Now, take all those systems and bounce them down the highway at 70 mph, and you have an RV.

Okay 75 mph.

Mr. Fix-It spends a great deal of time maintaining the air conditioning, heating, electrical, refrigerator, washer/dryer, brakes, fuel pumps, generator, water leaks, and on and on and on.  Not only does he do a great job keeping us on the move, he's quite masterful at driving.  Maneuvering a 55 foot rig through the congested roads of the Northeast is very difficult.  So many unpredictable factors come into play that can put you on the verge of vehicular chaos -- road construction, wind conditions, an inability to use reverse, low hanging tree limbs, and . . . bridge height.  He handles each with ease.  He deserves a medal, or some kind of prize.  When we get home, maybe I'll buy him a T-shirt that reads, "I spent a year driving my family around this entire nation in an RV, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."

As we were leaving Pennsylvania, we were traveling on a back road and had just topped a hill.  Just after we did, my personal driver came to a sudden halt.  We were stopped on a busy country road, and hidden to approaching traffic by the hill.  We were unable to go forward because we were directly in front of the most beautiful stone bridge with a 10' 4" clearance.  No good.  We need a 13' clearance. 

We needed to act fast.  We'll become a mangled convertible if we go forward, yet we can't reverse because of our attached tow vehicle.  We're risking getting slammed by the next vehicle that comes over the hill.  I got out and ran up to the top of the hill to alert traffic, while Mr. Fix-It disconnected our tow vehicle.  With a little traffic direction, we were able to back out of the situation. 

Think about how many times you zone out while you're driving.  My personal driver can never do that.  I'm so grateful for his careful attention to our safety.

We spent one day in Wilmington, Delaware.  We toured the Winterthur mansion, home of Henry Francis du Pont.  (Of the DuPont company).  Besides being an heir to a great family fortune, Mr. Du Pont was a collector and a horticulturist.  He created exquisite botanical gardens.  The kids loved the Enchanted Garden.

Yeah, it's a giant bird nest.  There were all sorts of mysterious play things in the fairytale Enchanted Garden.

We moved on to New Jersey.  We visited Thomas Edison's laboratory.  I had no idea Thomas Edison did so much more than the light bulb.  This guy was running an Edison empire.  He was producing phonographs and had a recording studio, all types of dictation devices, and even photography equipment. 

The kids in front of Thomas Edison's laboratory.  New Jersey.

At the outset of our adventure, CBR's most anticipated stop was the Statue of Liberty.  Every time someone asked him where he was most excited to go, he'd say "the Statue of Liberty!"  It's all he talked about for the first few months of the trip, "how much longer until we get to the Statue of Liberty?"  Well, we were disappointed to hear that Ellis Island and Liberty Island were both closed due to necessary repairs after Hurricane Sandy.  Sad face.  Nevertheless, his hero of a dad found a marina/RV park right on the Hudson River in Jersey City that overlooked Lady Liberty!  It was gorgeous.  We could sit in our RV and see her. 

View of the Statue of Liberty from our RV!

Our RV was also just down from the train station, allowing easy access into New York City. 

Train station to NYC!

We had such a fun time in NYC.  We hit as many of the highlights that we thought the kids would care to see.  Of course we saw the Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, we watched the closing bell on the NASDAQ exchange, FAO Schwarz, we saw a Broadway play, and rode the subway.  We even spent a couple of evenings visiting with friends in Manhattan. 

Times Square.  There was actually a camera on them that was projecting their picture onto one of the digital billboards above.  The kids loved seeing their picture on the side of a building in Times Square.

Rockefeller Center.

We went to see Annie on Broadway at the Palace Theater!  Their first Broadway musical -- they LOVED it!

Times Square at night.  They were feeling the glitz that is NYC.



NYC subway.  On the way home from a fun playdate with old friends.

My favorite part of coming home each night.  Lady Liberty was always lit up so beautifully.  It was a very "God Bless America" type of welcome.

It was pure joy to experience this store with the kids.

Playing on the "big piano" at FAO Schwarz -- New York City, NY.

Playing at Central Park.

Yay!  We met up with some friends, "P" and "K", at their apartment in Manhattan.

We were so excited to see some old friends of ours in Manhattan.  We were able to visit with them at their apartment, and go out for dinner.  One of the biggest blessings for my personal driver and I, was a date night!  Out -- without children!  We were able to leave our kids with our friend's wonderful nanny "S", and the four of us went out for dinner and dessert.  It was such a treat for us to have some time with friends.  Without children. 

Our precious friends "F" and "C".  I always love visiting with them.

It's amazing how riding trains, subways, and walking everywhere can tire you out!  We had to take a day to just play, so we went to Liberty park and threw the football and hit baseballs.  It was such a fun afternoon overlooking the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.

Playing at Liberty Park.

Liberty Park with a stellar Manhattan view. 

We were in NYC right after the capture of the Boston bombers.  The authorities had just learned that Times Square was next on the bomber's target list.  It was weird being there -- several signs read "THANK YOU, BOSTON!" The signs were in appreciation of the expert police work done in Boston that led to the capture of the terrorist, thus rescuing NYC from an attack.  Regardless, in the wake of such an event, the security around NYC was noticeably heightened.  One morning while waiting for our train, an announcement was made in the station that effective immediately there would be no further train service to the World Trade Center station until further notice.  It was a very sobering announcement.  Here we are, standing underground, with no idea what just occurred near the World Trade Center station.  Later, we learned that a large piece of one of the aircrafts from 9-11 had been discovered between two buildings undergoing a renovation.  The entire area was roped off, so that the recovery of the aircraft could be done in a way to retrieve it completely.  There was talk that it may be used in some type of memorial statue near the site.

Views from the George Washington Bridge on the New Jersey Turnpike going into Manhattan.

Our departure from NYC required us to drive through part of Manhattan to get to Connecticut, and WOW am I glad I have a personal driver.  I was stressed just riding.  When we finally found a road wide enough to exhale, this guy passes us but he's honking, pointing at us, and going nuts.  We figured there must be a reason, and decided to take the next exit.  He followed us.  At the stoplight, he informs us that there isn't enough height clearance to continue on that road.  He informed us, with his thick Bronx accent, that we'd get a huge ticket if we continued on that road.  This is a perfect example of why driving a huge RVs is so difficult.  None of that information could be found on our GPS navigation.  This nice New Yorker gave us directions to go all the way through the Bronx (which was under construction and full of detours through residential areas) to get back on a safe interstate. 

Whew!  Connecticut here we come.