Washington to New York

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The ride has ended but the energy levels expended haven't. We spent the first day after completing the ride in Washington. We visited the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial, The Jefferson Memorial, the Reflection Pool and then went and had dinner at the Elephant and Castle pub. We counted this as our official celebration dinner.
After dinner we went back to Independence Mall to watch the 4th of July Fireworks. Quite impressive but lasted only about 20 minutes. Yet people had been reserving their spots on the lawn for hours earlier including a 30 minute rain shower - our first for the trip. We returned to Washington the next day and this time spent the day visiting the various Smithsonian Museums. We all had different preferences so split up and then caught up again at the end of the day. A train ride back to the end of the line and another dinner out at the sports bar. The full slab ribs ordered by Jeff and Dave will provide lunch for tomorrow easily. Thursday was time to pack up the RV again and head to Philadelphia. The plan was to leave at 9am, be there by 11am and spend the day looking around. By now, you know things NEVER go to plan. We weren't all ready to leave until 10am, then a lengthy discussion on which way to get there, followed by a discussion on Toll Roads or no Toll Roads. It was drizzling most of the night and continued to rain all through the day. We got to Philly at about 2:30pm, not using the Toll Roads of course. We then had to decide where we were staying for the night. We pulled in to a Mc Donald's to get some lunch (healthy options), and then proceeded to take almost 3 hours to work out what we were doing. Stay in Philly RV Park tonight. Drive to New Jersey and stay in RV Park tomorrow as well as clean the RV up. Return the RV on Saturday with a motel in Manhattan booked from Saturday until we leave. What could go wrong? The stay in Philly was at a converted road transport dispatch centre. No grass. We backed up to an old loading bay and connected to water, power and sewerage. Not great but serviceable. We had wasted the day getting here and so no sightseeing could be done. Tom, Jeff and I decided to go into town to get some dinner while Dave enjoyed some solitude - probably the most precious commodity we have after 5 weeks in the RV. Dinner was great. A real experience. The restaurant was grand, and Chinese. It was I a n old bank, that had been a disco previously as well. The food was devine. I had dry fried rabbit and vegetables. It came in a wok on the table still cooking. We walked the length of the city on the way home. Philly would have been a good place to spend a day or two - next time maybe. The next morning it was raining again. Second day in a row. I guess it's best to be raining when we're in the RV. We drove to New Jersey to the RV park and let me say the word park is a real stretch here. We could only get a "dry" site. No power, no water and no dump station. Actually we were parked on an old carpark on a dry dock marina. That's what happens when you don't book. The up side was we ended up next to a great couple, Bill and Dana. We got speaking to them and Bill offered to take our bags in to NYC in the morning. Sometimes you just get luck! We spent the afternoon cleaning up the RV. It was disgusting. By the time we finished it was presentable. Let's hope Cruise America think so tomorrow. The list of damage to the RV was . . . No hot water (not our fault)Dented tire rim and hub capBent rear bumper (our fault)Hole in the back of a seat (our fault) That evening was also time for Dave to depart. He loaded up his pack and decided to ride to a metro station, catch a train and then ride to the hotel where his family is meeting up with him. As always, Dave beats to the sound of his own drum. He made it safely I think but there is a whole other story to be told there I think. A new day. Bill and Dana cooked us breakfast in there spacious and clean RV before Jeff and I headed off. The drop off location was 50km back in the direction we had come. We got there about 11:30am. They got to us at about 12:30pm. They were quite nice about everything and thankfully not overly thorough. The only thing they pinged us for was the bumper. It was a good diversionary tactic - point out the big thing and they ignored the others. We had to get a taxi back to a train station and then a train into New York. Then switch over to the Metro to get to the hotel. By the time we got there it was 6 hours after we left. A long day to say the least. To had had a pleasant drive with Bill on the car to the hotel where they had our room ready. By 10:30am in the morning Tom was snoozing in the hotel. Just doesn't seem fair some how.

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Photos

The 4 Amigos + 1
That's Bill, our friendly neighbor who took our bikes into NYC for us.

My favourite picture
Jeff throwing out the digital scales he bought at a yard sale. Broke his heart to do it. He did take the new batteries he bought out first.

My bed.
Hit my head so many times I lost count.