Day 01 Starting from New York

After a good eight hour sleep, we woke up feeling pretty good with little jet-lag effects. Just a little dryness in the eyes.

But the view was worth it.

We were packed and ready to go get the car and there we faced our first major disappointment.

No Dodge Charger!! After all my bragging.

And out of all the exotic American Cars available in this country what do you reckon they gave us?

A Ford Escape!!

Oh well, it isn't too bad. Jack will probably think it is alright, after all, he has one at home. Which is where he usually leaves it and rides his bike.

There are times when a GPS is really just a toy. I know, I play with my GPS much more than actually need it.

But to get out of New York is a time when they are absolutely essential for this boy from the backwoods of Brisbane. Karen (the GPS girl) even got it wrong a couple of times, but with us both concentrating, we managed. Actually the NY traffic is no worse than Fortitude Valley on any given day. If anything, New York drivers are more polite. I actually only got honked at once. But having a fair idea of where you are going sure helps.

Manhattan Motoring with Karen

On to the jersey Turnpike and head south. First thing we needed was fuel. So we defied Karen and got off to find a little pokey servo. Full driveway service and the attendant and I had a great conversation. We both spoke English, but with my Aussie accent and his Spanish-influenced New Jersey accent, neither of us understood much of what the other said. Charleen was just giggling at the situation then went in to get drinks before she burst out laughing and embarrassed the both of us.

Lincoln Tunnel

Entering NJ Turnpike

Filled up, we took a detour off the freeways and headed for the east coast. We had a lovely drive through several towns and it was easy to pick out the affluent towns, the middle class and the poorer areas. The differences are quite vast.

You mean this isn't a Charger?

One of the more affluent ones

To save time, we got back on freeways for a while, travelling on the very nice New Jersey Garden State Parkway. We weren't in a hurry so we made a couple of stops then eventually arrived at the ferry from Cape May to Lewes. Not realising they close down at night, we arrived just in time to be the last car aboard the 6pm service.

It took an hour and a half to do the 17 mile crossing. Nice and relaxing.

Our big Ferry

Arriving at Lewes, we entered one of the seven States we plan to visit on this holiday, Delaware.

But it was now getting pretty late and the motels on the coast turned out to be charging about equal to our Novotel Times Square hotel of last night. Holiday peak season.

However a very nice concierge lady at one place confided that inland off the coast they were much cheaper. She even wrote down the address of one about 16 miles away.

So this day finished up at a little Delaware town called Millsboro and a hundred+ dollars saved in motel costs.

Cheers