On the road!

Oh no! Everything that can go wrong in one day and then everything is easy.

Yesterday was the big departure. The task: From the hotel in Brooklyn (all the way to the right of New York) to Newark (all the way to the left of New York) and then by bus to Lake Hiawatha (even further to the left of New York) to pick up our vehicle. (Picture on the left or right?)

With the Subway M from Brooklyn to Essex Street, from there with the J to Fulton Street, from there underground to the station at the 9/11 Memorial. With the PATH to Newark station. All levels of difficulty from medium to super comfortable. One hour of effort. Light sweating.

The Newark station like in the movies, the onward journey like a nightmare. The direct bus 29 had last departed at 8:27 am. The next time it would depart at 8:27 am, the next day. But there are friendly people everywhere and the information lady printed us a connection plan with alternative buses. Travel time: four hours for 17 miles. We took two buses and got to know large parts of Soprano-Land.

The provisional final destination is a shopping center in the middle of nowhere. Here we had a three-hour wait, but we don't want to leave so quickly. We called the RV guy. He sends us his Uber guy. Thirty minutes of waiting and driving time. Fifty dollars. Wheeeeee that was fast.

The RV guy is stressed and the car is not finished yet. We go eat something and the nice restaurant guy asks us if the Berlin Wall has really fallen...

Coming back, the car is still not finished. That is quickly taken care of and we receive the briefing. Afterwards, I notice that my navigation system on my phone doesn't work. The RV guy prints us, despite being stressed, a route plan. After that, we drive for 100 miles before I realize that the good old regular iPhone maps work perfectly. Saved. Without navigation, we would probably still be driving around Lake Hiawatha.

Because we didn't leave until half past four, we won't arrive in DC until 11:30 pm. There is actually a man sitting in the gatehouse. A heavy, calm black gentleman who calmly gives us our documents and directs us to our spot. Since I left my glasses in the car, he lends me his magnifying glass, which he himself uses for reading.

Now just drive over the dark spot one more time and reverse park: What's that when you've already looked into the eye of the storm? Build the bed. Climb inside. Be happy. Sle......