Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, July 12th

Upper Saddle River New Jersey, near New York City and boy am I glad to finally be here…more on that later. Thanks much Adam and Kristy for putting me up for another night and making me feel at home. Also for mapping out today’s travels, that’ll really help and according to Kristy should have good weather along the way…well, at least according to the TV weather – I think we know better. Still a few more sites on the Cape to see, specifically the Atlantic which I guess I haven’t seen yet, most was either the Bay side or the Sound, like I know the difference. Ok, this one has a lighthouse and one bigger than the others I’ve seen so I’m happy. Also checked out the Coast Guard station, but had to be an Eastham tax payer to get in, but hey, asked if I could take some quick pictures so what’dya know, the bike in a privileged spot again. From there had to check out the first encounter beach. Apparently the first place the Pilgrims and Indians met, wonder what that meeting was like. Well, turned out to be the same thing, as an Eastham taxpayer can get in for free, otherwise it’ll cost you $15 and no, the national pass won’t work. Ok, just going to take 15 minutes to take pictures that I can see it being worth a buck an hour so guess what, yep, bike got priority…it never hurts to ask. A couple more stops along the Cape such as the Salt Ponds and Fort Hill, but nothing left of a fort, there’ suppose to be a rock that the Indians carved their spearheads on, but too far a walk for me, besides I have about 5 hours to get to New York and have a stop in New Port to make.

This time took the major road off the Cape, but even that takes some time. Once off, might as well do freeway as much of the way that can and that was really the only road to take because the coastal highway wasn’t marked along the way. That helps making great time to New Port and found the visitors center to ask what’s worth seeing in about an hour. Ok, an hour isn’t enough time according to the guy, but as long as that’s how much time you have, ya gotta do the Scenic Ocean Drive, see the mansions and downtown…boy was he right, a great drive. The sites were great and even found a place to stay next time I visit with a friend, Castle Hill Cove, I’m sure it’s not too spendy. Yea, we have mansions back home on Summit Ave and even some up by the Great lakes, but those places are nothing compared to some of these. Some great places to see and even saw that one of the golf courses along the way had a PGA tour going on, well, found out the women were there already that this week is a tennis tournament…man, their into everything around here, aren’t they. Did get to see downtown and sorry for the picture of the cobblestone street and not the buildings, thought for sure got a picture of them, but you know this camera, it’ll only take the pictures it wants.

Time to hit the road because have about 3 hours to get to New York and that shouldn’t be a problem, well, that’s according to Map quest, but it never took into account the weather. This time I was smart and put on the rain gear as soon as it started to spit on me and a good thing I did because the spit turned into a regular rainstorm. Well, not even a rainstorm, but a thunderstorm. Yep, drove thru a thunderstorm so the rain was coming down pretty good, but you know if you keep driving sometimes, you’ll drive right thru it. Ok, that worked for the first one because after about half an hour was out of the heavy stuff and it even dried up a little. Not so lucky next time though cuz after hitting thunderstorm number two, it never let up and got bad enough that not only couldn’t you see the roads, but they were already flooding, yep, even the freeway. This time pulled off and it was a good time for gas anyway that sat it out until it let up. Hey, there’s a break and I’m only about an hour away, that is according to Map quest again and even the locals…once again, they didn’t take the weather into account. Back on the road and wouldn’t you know it, yep, thunderstorm number three and this time I pulled off right away and found shelter. Gave me time to relax, dry out a little and make a few calls…figured as long as I’m stranded, might as well get some things done. Finally, it lets up that time to hit the road again and you can imagine the traffic around New York, especially in a thunderstorm isn’t the greatest that although we were moving, were moving slow enough that guess what, made slow enough time that hit thunderstorm number four and again, going to find shelter, but this time a bridge’ll have to do…great they even had orange cones there so I could put one out so no one hits the bike and hide behind the bridge, you never know, but I’ll risk the bike before myself.

Yea, dry weather and since only have about 20 miles to go, should be ok the rest of the way…that is as long as I can follow directions. Well, according to Dale take the Suffern exit and head toward downtown so took the exit according to the sign, but none of the signs on the ramp pointed toward Suffern that must have to go further on the freeway. Did just that, but wouldn’t you know, no more signs for Suffern and once I finally find an exit, head back to where I came from only to find out there is no exit for Suffern heading the other way. Ok, back to where I started, well, not that far, but turned around to where I know there’s an exit for Suffern and this time I’ll just call and find out where Dale is…ok, that finally works and boy am I glad to meet up with him. Take a short drive to the hotel so I can get stuff off my bike to dry off and change for a little dinner. That brings me here, ABG – Allendale Bar and Grill and got a picture of the Dale’s, yep same name just a different spelling, but none of the others turned out, well at least for posting... Gonna see about drying out and what New York has to offer, stay tune. New Port Pictures.