Off to Fetch a Car in Newark

Seems my car dealer guy whom I drive for, had one he needed to have brought down from Newark New Jersey. He originally was looking at one in Portland ME, but that was getting prohibitive, cost-wise, so he found one up near the Big Apple, and sent me to bring it down.

Well, news of this reached me on the previous Saturday, so I had plenty of time to plan how to drive this. I, of course, had never been up that way before, and being so close to New York, could not resist a look at Ground Zero. Figuring out how to get into NYC from where I got the car was one task, which I figure I could just ask about from a local and be set. Once in the city, however, it took some close observation with Google Earth to plan. The street best suited for this reconaissance was West Drive, which ran along the river, and along the west side of the site.

Getting there was accomplished with a ticket on Air Tran Airline, on a pencil with wings and wheels called a Boeing 717. First, it was go to Atlanta, then to Newark. The one hour layover went really fast, I thought, barely giving time for a sausage, biscuit with egg at the Popeye's there in Terminal D. If all you have is an hour at Atlanta, don't go wandering around, playing explorer. Atlanta Airport takes FAR longer to do that than you think, and you might miss your flight. The flight to Newark was interesting, to say the least. I had been assigned to sit right window, but I was in left window. They said to stay put, so I did. After takeoff, we went thru what seemed like an eternity of clouds, on one of those instrument takeoffs they do sometimes. The pilot rolled this pencil halfway to the East Coast before he lifted the nose, and off we went. After about an hour, I noticed we were over a river, and I wondered which one. As we went further along it, I noticed it going under a bridge and, beyond that, a peculiar flat piece of land was on the left. I thought "Reagan Airport sits on the west side of the Potomac". So, I looked across the river and found the Washington Monument, the Capitol and "hey this is Washington". How cool to see the Capital of the country like this. It was the highlight of the trip so far. Being in the left window did bite me later on though. I missed seeing the Big Apple skyline as we neared Newark. Riding in the left window doesn't show much to a newcomer, unless you know what you are looking at, which I didn't. Oh well, I'll have to make a point to sit right window next trip.

The man I was to pick up the car from picked me up at Newark Airport, and took me to his dealership. showing me the sites as we went along. New York suburbia looks like downtown most anyplace else. The buildings aren't as tall, but everything is packed in tight, with narrow streets and all. Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta gives me that sensation now. I asked him where he was when things went down on 9/11. Turns out he was just 4 blocks north, and saw the first plane hit. He said it was headed south down Manhattan, kinda toward the river, then it suddenly swerved toward the north tower and accelerated, hitting the building at over 200 miles an hour. The resulting confusion and panic caused the closing of every tunnel and bridge that crossed the Hudson at New York, so he had to go up to the Tappan Zee Bridge, 29 miles north, near Yonkers, to cross. What normally takes 20 minutes to do, that day took over 4 hours to accomplish!

I had planned to go into the city thru the Holland Tunnel. Now the Holland Tunnel hardly seems like something going underneath anything, much less a deep river like the Hudson had to be. When I think tunnel, I am thinking where I-10 goes under Mobile Bay. It actually slopes down and dives under. Not so the Holland. Its cover goes out 100 yards out into the river from both sides, so the sensation of going down is barely there. The one thing that makes you think you are in a tunnel is that you are in a rectangular tube, with two lanes, going ever so slightly down. The one event that will likely blow your mind is getting a cell phone call while in the middle of it! That did happen, making me think they have cell translators built into the wiring of the tunnel, because there's too much concrete and steel in the tunnel structure for that to happen without some help.

The car I had picked up was a brand new 09 VW Jetta. This was a fancy car, with heated seats even. Even VW can gussy up a car, huh. Of course, the survival tools of travelling were there, namely AC and cruise control.
Coming out of the Holland Tunnel eastbound was easy, with a sign for getting over to West Drive, the one I needed to get to. Pass Ground Zero, and I was looking to find a way to cut around one block and come out northbound on West, and see it all again. The construction there now is all at street level, so there is no longer much of a hole to see. So, onward to the Holland for a trip back. Was needing to go east a few blocks to Hudson St. and north to the tunnel entrance. Turned off too early, and got caught up in a bunch of one ways going the wrong way. Ended up one block east of Broadway, and took that north a few blocks, till I was sure Hudson was there to the west somewhere. Cut over a few blocks and finally got on it. NOW, I am set to go north, and the tunnel entrance is noted by a street sign a block out, telling tunnel traffic to get in the right lane. No problem. I felt like putting up a sign-"I survived Manhattan traffic". Really, it was not much more of a problem than it is in other, smaller cities. Granted, this was just after 2 pm, so rush hour was not a factor. Bicycles were, tho. They were all over the place, in the Big Apple. Them and people crossing late on the lights made one very careful and attentive, but I figured on that.

Cleared out of Manhattan on a return trip in the tunnel, where my call came through. Will never forget that one. Holland Tunnel puts you out on a city street, which may be a worry, unless you keep your eyes open for road signs. The Holland is part of Interstate 78 itself, so they were careful to show you how to get back on an interstate highway. 7-8 blocks later, in the right lane, and you're climbing a road up a hill, looking for cruise control.
Two toll booths, and a river crossing later and its time to fly out of there.
The Jetta knows how to do that, and I was soon headed west, into New Jersey, then Pennsylvania, then Maryland, West Virginia and finally Virginia. The scenery is something to adore, especially with Moody Blues "Days of Future Passed" in my ears as I drove. That was a trip! Somewhere along the way, I-78 finished, and I changed to I-81, the highway that goes along the west side of Virginia, into Tennessee, and quits just east of Knoxville. 8 states in one day, what a job!

Got to stop at my alma mater and check out the changes in the College of Communications at UT-Knoxville. The outside looked identical, but the inside was sooo different. My department had been blended into the Journalism school. So now, the name was Journalism and Electronic Communications. A prof in the old department showed me around to see all the changes there. We even went down to the old TV studio, where I had advanced TV Production. A Mr. Lester taught that. He died 50 years ago, but was still teaching 33 years ago, to tell the truth. This was 1976, the year the presently new head football coach was born.

Knoxville has changed a bit in the years since I was there, and it was interesting to see the changes. You can still drive a car up on "The Hill", but you need to donate blood in triplicate and give em your life story to be able to park up there. Just pass through, and keep on going. I had the time on the trip to stop by the campus, so I did so, but didn't have time for a long stop. Dropped by the old dorm, Morrill Hall, and see what's new there. Not much, really. Only now, you need a student ID to get to the elevators and rooms. Long overdue, that idea was. Should've been in place when I was there.

Leaving Knoxville was an interesting drive, to say the least. I-40-75 west goes past development that didn't stop until I-75 went southwest to Chattanooga. Knoxville has grown in all those years, yes. Now, one thing that blew my mind was getting to the west end of the Rockwall Hill, as I call it. They built I-40 into the side of a mountain, and the first exit on the west end is Rockwall, TN. It was the 50-mile mark from Knoxville, but I was there 30 minutes after leaving campus! This little car made it seem very quick, it was so smooth! Mileages ran 30-34 mpg, too.

The trip to Nashville puts you on the Cumberland Plateau, with views to stop for, but this was work, so stopping was not happening. It was 7 more hours to get to Collierville, where the car was delivered. It seemed like Nashville would NEVER get here, I thought. Sometimes you can get in a state of mind when you are driving where you think you are sitting still, and the landmarks are supposed to come to you!

When you go with I-81 on a trip like this, the main advantage is that the only big cities you have to drive right through are Knoxville and Nashville. A more northerly route would have been more scenic, but would have involved more large city traffic. Couldn't stop to look at scenery, and I-78-81-40 was the shortest of all possible routes. Come 4:30 that afternoon, and I was sitting there in Collierville, waiting on the customer. Mission Accomplished!