Day 202: At 5:30, we dress quietly and go downstairs in the dark with our things. There is a note from Jim on the tin of nuts. ‘All great journeys begin with a couple of nuts – so take all of these.’ We drive in the dark to Tarrytown and travel a few km to a Starbucks for coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Bob is out and walking at 8:00. He needs to do about 30 km today to be close enough to finish at the UN on the 26th. I drive through Irvington and it starts to rain lightly. When Bob catches up to me in Dobbs Ferry about 9:00, it is raining harder and he puts on a long sleeved shirt. We divert around one area that is very narrow with no shoulders. Hwy 9 turns into Broadway North and after by-passing one more area that is one way for cars, (Bob walks through it), he is on sidewalks for the balance of the walk. We eat lunch at the Emerald Diner in Yonkers. And carry on into the Bronx following Broadway all the way. For one section the train runs overhead and it all seems very familiar from seeing it in movies and television series. When trains go by it is very noisy. I park at a parking meter that is out-of-order.
Bob crosses the Harlem River by bridge at 203rd St. He stops to look at the map, then I drive ahead. I find another fire hydrant to stop next to at 171st St. We continue down Broadway through Harlem and into Manhattan. New York City is noisy. People honk, sometimes at nothing, and they yell. It is the only way to be heard in the traffic. There are a lot of police cars, a lot of taxis, and people and noise everywhere. My next parking spot is a real one at 144th St. The trains have gone underground now. There is a subway stop at 116th St and this is where Bob decides to finish for the day. It is about 10 km or so from the UN and we will be able to take a subway here on Friday for the finish.
We drive to our billet. We make our way through the Lincoln Tunnel with only 2 U-turns and a few abrupt lane changes. When we get to the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, we follow directions to Cedar Grove. We get to our billet and are met by Karin. She shows us to the No-Steam sauna and we each have a sauna and a shower. We pack our small rolling suitcase with everything we think we will need for the next 3 or 4 days in the city. We will be leaving our car here and taking public transportation for a few days. Roberto arrives home and Karin cooks dinner. We eat, talk, take photos and go to sleep about 10:00. We will catch a bus to NYC in the morning.