New York State to New York

After leaving Lake Placid we meandered our way south, we’d spoken to a chap in a bar who said that route 22, a back road, went all the way to New York city so we decided to follow that and see where it took us. We weaved along the line of the New York State, Vermont and Massachusetts borders

We came upon beautiful weatherboard villages by frozen lakes, places that the tourist boards would never have mentioned.  We also found small town America,  sometimes really down on its luck, chatted and had a beer with people who couldn’t believe that someone from England had found their way to their town, people who said they wanted to travel but I suspect they never would, even if they got the opportunity.  We found places where if I’d heard a banjo I would have floored the accelerator, places where food kitchens and thrift shops seemed the norm.  At one small town we walked into sporting goods shop to find that this meant lumber jack shirts and guns - loads and loads of them, he'd sold 5 that morning.  We'd just listened to a local radio advert where a women with a sultry voice was saying she wanted a Glock 9mm handgun for Valentine's day so she could protect herslf whilst her man was away...  

But everywhere we stopped and chatted, had a beer or a coffee, the people were great, sometimes a little weird, but always friendly – once we’d worked out just what each other was saying.  Normally a few blank looks while we tuned our ears to each other’s accents.

         We caught glimpses of Amish communities en route but no chance to talk to anyone.

Great trip, and so much better than getting on an Interstate and pushing the miles away with the cruise control on. It took us three days to do a couple of hundred miles but definitely worth it. We stopped at B&Bs and motels we found on the route or just off it in small towns and villages.

Eventually we got to JFK Airport, just to return the car, where we explained the electronics woes of our Kia to the girl at Enterprise, she dropped $80 off the bill for our inconvenience – not complaining about that but we’d had to listen to each other singing for three days as the radio had also stopped so it was probably not enough.  Anyone who’s heard me sing knows that Carole got the raw end of that deal.  Despite the electronic problems – a dicky fuse I suspect, I was sad to see the Kia Sorento go, possibly the best car we’d rented on our trip, even the number plate was good.

Got the subway from the airport to Manhattan, dumped the bags and walked about – Times square was just next door.  The cop wasn’t that impressed with Bob and Jan’s tenner.

 That evening we got half price tickets on the Broadway show “The Jersey Boys”, so had a full day of it before crashing out back at the hotel. Great show.

                                                                    Time Square

We’d got a cheap deal on the hotel, through the website - booking.com, but the laundry was stupid money - $5 for each pair of knickers or socks, hence the laundry look to our room – did just enough to get us home – praying for no delays!