Southern Comfort!!

Hi Y'all!

Greetings from Crossville Tennessee!

Apologies for the lack of postings and pics recently - but it has been a full on couple of weeks.

We have been sooooooooooooooooooooooo blessed by Peter and Wendy in Clinton, New Jersey (about an hour on the bus from Manhattan)who have been our anchor point this last couple weeks - providing many delicious meals, a taxi service, rental car, postal recipients, comfy beds and warm showers and of course...good company! You guys (and Lauren) rock and we couldn't have moved on to this new phase of our journey without you! Can't wait to see you back in NZ someday we hope!

From Peter and Wendy's we managed to find a second hand car - a 1996 Plymouth Breeze which we paid $650 USD for and about the same to get it fixed up and registered ready for the road trip back. That sounds easy - but getting license plates without being a US Citizen is not that easy. There was a moment in there when we thought we had just purchased a car and insurance and wouldn't be able to drive it as the license plate people may not be able to register the car. However, thanks to an amazing staff with a "can do" attitude and superb customer service skills (and the ability to over ride the system) we very happily had all we needed to drive away by early last week. In between times we were very kindly lent a car by Peter and Wendy and scooted down to Washington DC for a couple days. We camped in a State Park just 12 miles from downtown DC for $16USD a night for the three of us! What other capital city could you do that in?!!

DC was a whistle stop tour - but great and seeing all the sights that you have always seen in the news (or on the series West Wing!) was just great. It is a beautifully laid out city with some impressive architecture and parks (pics to follow).

We raced back to New Jersey on the Friday night (Oct 30) and then into NYC for the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village on the night of the 31st. WOW!! It was crazy with millions of people cramming the streets and some very cool costumes. For those Kiwis reading this who aren't so familiar with US Halloween - it seems to be more of a chance to have a big Fancy Dress Party - and any type of costume is acceptable - not just ghosts and ghouls. In the morning we had gone to a church thrift store (= op shop) and I (Marty) got a graduation outfit, blond wig and spectacles to wear. Nicole had previously gotten a bright orange funky outfit in Up State New York and completed it with black boots and long wig. Justin also found a graduation gown and Dr Suess hat to finish it off! Was a great night, despite some heavy rain. Nicole and I ended up joining the parade at one point - dancing down the Avenue of the Americas (6th Ave) with 100s of others - great fun!! We then sat in Times Square for a while absorbing the vibe and the crazy costumes.

The next morning found us in Central Park watching some of the 43,000 runners of the 40th New York City Marathon come in. Was great to watch the winners of the mens and womens race arrive & finish and then later stand by the road and yell out encouragement to the myriad of runners passing by (lots of French and Italians, one Kiwi!!). We zipped back to New Jersey later that day and got the car worked on on the Monday, before returning to NYC on Tuesday where we met with Justin and Liz from London and Khaled and Katie (from Kabul/Arkansas). A fantastic 5 days followed - with too much to write about of course and 5 days in NYC is only enough to scratch the surface. Some of my highlights include being atop the Empire State Building as the sun went down and taking in the density of Manhattan finally. From the ground I had been disappointed that things didn't seem that tall or crowded, but that view certainly changed when up high! I also loved; sitting in the park on the corner of Broadway and 23rd streets absorbing the iconic Flatirons Building (the first "skyscraper in Manhattan - built in the 1930's, now of course completely dwarfed by the other buildings), walking about in Greenwich village and SOHO and then in to Chinatown and Little Italy as the night fell, taking the free Staten Island Ferry past the lady of liberty, doing a free walking tour of the Wall Street area and learning more re the interesting history of how New York city developed. Of course it was great to celebrate my 40th birthday in such a city and to be joined by our special friends in a great Italian dinner that night on Mulberry Street.

Nicole and I got up crazy early on Sunday to take the subway to Brooklyn and walk the Brooklyn Bridge at dawn across into Manhattan - enjoying the views of the harbor and skyline- a fitting way to say goodbye to a wonderful city. Thanks NYC - we'll be back!!!
A quick diner breakfast with Justin, Liz, Katie and Khaled followed before we parted ways and we got back on the bus to Jersey, picked up our car from Peter and Wendy, said our goodbyes to them and hit the road. Only a few metres down the road a beautiful female deer jumped out across the road (we immediately pulled over to watch) and her partner with big antlers cautiously remained behind - sussing out the safety of his crossing.

That day was a 6 State day - New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and finally Virginia where we stayed the night in a cheap motel. Yesterday was continued the long journey through Virginia (nice to see some big hills again) and arrived in Tennessee late in the afternoon and in Crossville by about 6 pm.
We are with Randy and Renee - Nicole's old boss from her time here - and their amazing 7 kids who are very cool (ranging in age from 13 to 2 yrs old). We have several others we plan to catch up with here in Tennessee so move on to Chattanooga in the south and then back to Nashville by the weekend. Already the accents and "southern feel" are quite noticeable and we are looking forward to the infamous southern hospitality we will no doubt receive!
We hope to see other friends Richard and Hannah in Texas as we pass through next Monday. These two lived in Auckland for a year whilst Hannah studied her Masters in Philosophy 2008-09 so will be great to catch up with them.

Anyway...this has been a long ramble.

Thanks so much for the many congrats on finishing the biking and reaching 40!! Great to hear from many who we didn't even know were reading this (Hi Philipa - loved getting your comment especially :-)).

More pics to follow soon - off to Walmart this afternoon to get our photos put to CD etc.

Continuing to enjoy the (motorized) ride!!

Lotsa love

Marty