Saturday, February 6th- The BQE

I've been mostly on Long Island since the Virginia trip, doing work, saving some money, being somewhat unexciting. However, I have gotten to have some friends from back home or undergrad come by or go into the city to meet up. My friend Mike came down on his way to Maryland in January, and my friend Glen just left, coming out from New Jersey. These good people, along with work, a healthy dose of poker and chess, and an unexpected vacation last week due to snow, have been occupying my time as of late.

However, I do want to relate one travel-related story, from last weekend. My friend Phil and his wife came down from upstate New York to visit both her family in Washington Heights and his sister in Williamsburg. Phil, his wife, his sister, and I met up with Glen in Park Slope for a nice dinner at an Italian place (I don't remember the name, but it was right on 5th Ave somewhere around 2nd or 3rd St). Great homemade pasta and the owners gave us some free port to top off the meal.

We left to head back to Phil's sister's apartment to walk over to a bar, and we went via the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Now, the BQE is one of the most maligned highways in the New York metro area- barely engineered for 1960s traffic, never mind today. I've heard so many horror stories that I personally avoid it unless it's ridiculously late at night and I know there won't be any traffic. It's right up there with the Cross-Bronx expressway. Except....for one spot. Going toward Queens, right after the horrible exit for the Battery Tunnel, you emerge from the endless factory-esque architecture and plop right across the East River from the Financial District. You see how imposing, grand, and beautiful New York really is. As my friend Bobby said the first time we were in the city, there's no conquering it. It's too sprawling, gigantic, yet in its own way as infinitely gorgeous as man can make.

Perhaps the only access we have into comprehending it is through music. And great music since the 19th century is in some sense topographic, in allowing us to take a territory and render its fractal bustle and total confusion into the aesthetic. This doesn't just mean cheap name-checks ("Pasadena, where you at" or "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" doesn't do much to describe Pasadena, for example)- rather that truly great music splays itself over the land to help you grasp it in some way. So right when we pass the Battery Tunnel exit, the iPod in our car turned to Animal Collective's "My Girls," for my money the only truly great song of 2009. (Not to say that other songs weren't amazing, but as for best song of the last year, the competition wasn't even close.)

There's just something magical about its opening, a cascading fence of motoric synthesized arpeggios. But there's something incredibly fitting about riding on the hideous BQE, motoring at 55-60 alongside untold others barely managing to keep some order without careening into one another. The song keeps building, and then you hit the beautiful view, still motoring along, and the chorus hits. Just listen to the chorus (which doesn't come in until the 3 minute mark!)- the cascading, motoric arpeggios don't stop, but there's a bit more reflection. I had a wonderful moment of looking at New York at night, skyscrapers illluminated through artificial light, riding in a metal box on a massive highway that is a testament to the insanity of modern movement. To quote the end of the chorus, Hooooo!

I then rejoined whatever conversation was going on, and enjoyed the rest of my evening. But for me, car music is not just background- it's an essential part of constructing the landscape. And when you have such beautiful synergy between the land and the sound, between visual and audio, it enhances both. Since my two passions are music and travel, that's the best possible combination.

And for more music about the BQE: http://asthmatickitty.com/the-bqe

Saturday, January 2nd- In which we make the long haul home

BEGINNING: Williamsburg, VA
END: Long Island via Outerbridge Crossing
STOPPING IN: Jamestown, VA; Rehoboth Beach, DE
ROUTE: VA 31 to VA 199 to I-64 to US 13 to US 113 to DE 24 to DE 1 to Cape May Ferry to US 9 to Garden State Pkwy to NJ 440

Unfortunately, all good trips must come to an end, especially when your traveling partner has work Sunday morning. So we hitched Rita up one last time and drove off from Williamsburg. However, I didn't want to go back the most direct way, which is to hop back on I-95. I've done that ride a whole lot of times already, and since it was our last day, ending the trip with memories of sitting in traffic on the DC beltway was not my cup of tea. Plus, being in Williamsburg opened up a way back almost completely consisting of new roads for me- down to Virginia Beach, up US 13, and to the Garden State Parkway over the Cape May ferry. I managed to convince Bethany to go this way by selling its newness and lack of traffic while softpedaling the approximate time it would take to get there (about 8.5 hours, says Google Maps).

On the way out, we also quickly stopped in Jamestown to see if there was anything to quickly view. We got there around 8:30, noticed that the only things to see were behind a Visitor's Center which wasn't open and charged money for admission, and turned around. We did go to the ruins of a Glasshouse, the foundation of a 1608 building set right on the water. We also, according to Bethany, saw where Captain John Smith fell in love with Pocahontas at about five different locations. It was pretty, even if we mostly struck out in the attractions department.

We then headed west into the Hampton Roads area on I-64 to get to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Bridge-tunnels are pretty unique- there are eight in the world, and the only three in the US are all in Eastern Virginia. So on the way to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, we got the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. This was fascinating to drive on- it feels as if you're driving on the water, and ahead of you it seems like the road disappears and you go under into a tunnel. However, with the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, you always see land ahead of you. Not so with the Chesapeake Bay bridge.

We exited I-64 for US 13 and headed onto the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The bridge is about 23 miles long, and after the first couple of miles, you stop seeing any land whatsoever. Here you feel not just like you're over a river, but driving on the ocean, where your scenery is the occasional naval boat. A picture of the "scenery" about 15 miles in is on the left. The road had a gentle right-ward bend, and twice disappeared into the water down into the tunnel. I very much enjoy driving on roads that are also engineering marvels (see Skyline Drive earlier in this trip, or previously going on US 1 or through the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70), and I thoroughly enjoyed being on this impressive road.

We finally made it to the other side, stopping at an overlook which was freezing and windy, and then traveled the long haul through the Delmarva Peninsula. This part of Virginia was a lot longer than I anticipated, with about 80 miles until the Maryland border, but it was a very easy ride- no traffic, only an occasional traffic light, just a lot of land with not a whole lot on it. It was very much stress-free, which is more than you can say for I-95. Once we got to Maryland, I took the fork for US 113, effectively deciding that we were going over the Cape May ferry rather than up to the NJ Turnpike. In preparation for possibly going this way back, I knew the ferry schedule (it's pretty annoying to get to a ferry and then find out the next one is in an hour). We meandered through middle of nowhere Maryland and Delaware before ending up at the Rehoboth Mall outlets area. Once we found out we were only 10 minutes away from the ferry terminal at that point and had over an hour, we took advantage of the tax-free shopping for a bit. We hightailed it to the ferry to make the 2:45.

The ferry...well, I'm sure it's a fine ferry normally, but we got a day with a wind advisory, notice that the trip would take longer than normal, and warning to always hold the railings if you had to move around. We got one and a half hours of pure rocking. I'm used to the Long Island Sound ferries, which don't really go over exposed seas. This ferry crosses over 17 miles at the mouth of the Delaware River, making for some rocky seas. I've never seen Bethany so focused on a card game (in order to trick herself into not being seasick). Hell, I even felt a bit seasick, and I'm from Cape Cod! After one last jerk at the ferry dock threatened our innards, we eagerly got the hell off of the ferry. It was nice to try it once, but we decided this was probably our last trip on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry.

The rest of our trip was a slow realization that we were getting back into the New York metro area. The bottom of the Garden State Parkway was alternately beautiful (views to the right of beach spits surrounded by marsh and ocean) and annoying (really? traffic lights?). We eventually got back into the city, made it through (Bethany was at the wheel, making her first trek across the city), and were welcomed by roads barely plowed from the night before. We made it back, thoroughly exhausted, and with a mix of happiness to be back and sadness that the trip was over.

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It's been now just over two weeks since we returned to Long Island. Bethany is home in Michigan for a few more days, and I've been teaching and writing grant proposals, which explains the delay in getting the whole trip up. It's been fun to document the trip (though it is easier to do it right after, when the iron is hot- see my previous posts for smoother, more intimate memories). Part of me wishes the trip could have been longer, but it was a wonderful length. There was a good balance of driving and being in places, we had a week jam-packed with new experiences and new places with great memories. And, most importantly, I had good company. It's wonderful having a very easy-going driving and riding partner who is really gung-ho, positive, and goes along with my crazy schemes.

So, where next? For a while, nowhere. I've consigned myself to working my butt off for the next two months here on Long Island. March and April are lining up to be chock-full of travel and excitement, though. And, of course, I'll still be checking in here from time to time. However, it is a nice day above freezing, and so I'm off on a nice bike ride.

Monday, December 28th: In which possible stress is averted. Twice!

BEGINNING: Long Island
END: Gettysburg, PA
STOPPED IN: Bethlehem, PA
ROUTE: Outerbridge Crossing to NJ-440 to I-287 to I-78 to I-81 to I-83 to PA-581 to US-15 to US-30

When I got home from the trip, I saw a commercial from Valero that showed people getting ready for their journeys ahead, with everyone giddy at the potential of the road ahead (and of course, really, really excited about buying Valero gasoline). The road is perfect, the weather clear, the possibilities endless. There is little more American (for better and for worse) than this moment, and the anticipation thereof, the largeness and beauty of the land ahead, the seemingly limitless sights to see.

Of course, the first day of road trips are never so smooth, the potentials of the roads never exactly come into fruition. This is especially true when (1) you live on Long Island and have a very large city to drive through before you get anywhere, and (2) you take a car on its maiden voyage. Thus, I've always found the best thing to do on the first day of a road trip is to take it easy and not require a strenuous amount of driving. If you don't have to necessarily be anywhere (i.e. making a reservation somewhere 8 hours down the road), keep things open so you remain stress-free in the inevitably unexpected horrendous Northeast traffic. Stress in road trips (assuming you are smart and go with people you can stand to be in a car with for extended periods of time) is generally a function of being unable to be someplace where you need to be. So, make sure you don't need to be anywhere. Given the first scheduled thing was an appointment in Berkeley Springs, WV (about 7 hours of real driving) at 1:15 on Tuesday, Monday could be spent driving.

To get there, I wanted to go via Gettysburg since I had not been there yet. Gettysburg is about 4.5 hours away, so we left around 10ish to try and make it before it closed while still sleeping in (and hopefully stay somewhere in Maryland). We got to the Belt Parkway past JFK...and then sat. And sat some more. And then found out via 1010 WINS that there was construction about 5 miles ahead that closed one lane. As I've learned by driving around the New York metro area, one minor incident can screw over an entire road. So, for the 5-6 miles that runs through the Gateway swamplands, which should take about 10 minutes tops, we sat for over an hour. And, of course, the cones were being packed up as soon as we passed the construction area. When you sit, you at least want there to be a payoff everyone-squeezing-into-one-lane moment, not a somewhat unexplained gradual speedup. With going through Staten Island and over the Outerbridge Crossing, it took almost three hours to get to New Jersey.

I-287 and I-78 through Jersey was smooth, but there was traffic at the Delaware River bridge. And as we sat, we noticed the car seemed to, well, limp. While I hadn't noticed any issues with the car on my trip back home to Massachusetts, it is a recently purchased used car. Other than being unable to be somewhere where you need to be, car trouble is the other road trip stress. If these two are combined, then it sucks. However, if you have car trouble but nowhere you really need to be, then you can turn those lemons, well, you know the cliche.

Luckily, we were passing by Bethlehem, which I'm familiar with because my brother went to Moravian and one of my friends from undergrad is from Emmaus (a suburb of Allentown). So we went downtown, asked some people for a place that could do tires or alignments, and brought the car to Strauss Auto. They were able to look at it and get it back in a few hours. We asked for a cab and headed down to main street Bethlehem and enjoyed those few hours! I'd been there, but Bethany had not. We walked up Main Street and she looked in some of the shops, we saw Market Street and the big tree at City Hall. As we walked back toward the Main Street area, we saw signs for the Central Moravian Putz. A putz, other than its definition as a schmuck, is a huge, room-sized kresh that is used to tell the story of Christmas. It was recommended to us by one of our friends, and it was freezing, so we decided why not, and we got in just in time for a production. It was a neat putz because almost all the figurines were over 100 years old, although the music was a little cheesy (I know, I study music history, but the angels are males in the first century AD, not women singing in 18th century counterpoint. Just saying). At the end, the auto company called saying a couple tires needed to be replaced, and while they fixed that, we enjoyed a delicious German dinner and homebrews at the Bethlehem Brew Works. Bethany had the Wit, and I had a Red Bock, and both were just delicious. A cab ride back, and we got the car around 7 or 8.

Obviously, we weren't going to see Gettysburg on Monday, which we had known when the car went wobbly. So instead we drove the two-ish hours to Gettysburg, found a hotel, and planned to see it early in the morning since it would only take about 2 hours to get from there to Berkeley Springs. Despite having a ton of traffic and auto problems, we still had fun in Bethlehem and set ourselves up for a good day Tuesday. Now THAT is a first day of a road trip to get excited about.