Days 22 and 23 - NYC - Plymouth - Salisbury, Massachusetts -Part 2

 Day 22  Thursday, September 11, 2014 - New York City - Plymouth, Massachusetts

It was rather ironic that we would still be in New York City on September 11th, due to that being such a tragic historical day, and one that loomed with dreadful possibilities. But I was not worried; as I said to a friend a few days earlier, if it is our time to go, it is our time to go. My only concern, of course, was for my parents, sister, and boys back home. I will say that I had a sense of peace, and we just carried on as usual. 

Writing Their Journals

Bear Mountain Bridge

In the morning, we packed up from our ‘lovely’ boat-filled campground, and prepared to head to Plymouth, Massachusetts. I knew the George Washington Bridge was a monster with fourteen lanes and two levels, and there was no way I wanted to take that on, so I had created a plan to head North up out of New Jersey, into Upstate New York, past the area where West Point Military Academy is, and over the Bear Mountain Bridge. 

Given I had the Framer on board, I took advantage of not having to drive. Though Isaiah did not understand it at first, he did after I explained with an analogy. Driving across America has been challenging and at times down-right scary, but once I am going it’s not too bad. I likened it to running from a frightening person, and darting and dodging in and out of bushes, and getting your momentum going, and soon you feel in control of the situation. Once you stop, though, and then have to get going again you think about the possibilities, and that can be overwhelming. For me, the drive is the same. I have had so many cabbies call me tough or brave, and I laugh. Getting behind the wheel of the van is like running from a bad guy. I need to get my brave on and get my momentum going again! And I will. Just not until it is absolutely necessary! And that will be after we drop the Framer at his airport for departure to Canada.

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With me and the GPS navigating, and the Framer driving, we made it out of New Jersey with just a few wrong turns, and soon we were on the road to Bear Mountain. The nice thing about this side of the country is that the towns and states are so close together that we are able to cross a number of them in one day! 

We stopped at Fort Montgomery where the boys decided to spend a piece of their hard-earned money on guns. The interesting thing is that we are in America and the war is told from their perspective, and we are Canadians, so you can imagine who the children wanted to stand beside: the British soldier.

Once we had left the Fort we continued on our way. As we made the exit onto the 3 South we were immediately shoved to the side by a police truck. We had just pulled onto the freeway, when two police vehicles with lights flashing passed us, cut us off, and then pulled in quickly onto the side of the freeway. As we slowed behind him because we did not know what was going on, my heart began to race. Were we about to have our fifth encounter with police while away? Goodness!

He jumped out of his driver's door, turned to us, put up his forefinger to stay, "Wait," and the crossed in front of his truck and went to his passenger door. Now, we were wondering what it was we had done that required him to go to the opposite side of the truck?! Was he getting his gun? I looked behind us to see if we had any smoke billowing or any lights out. I quietly put the rest of my donut on the floor and waited for handcuffs. ;)

Upon opening the side door, the officer reached inside, grabbed something, and then stepped back. In our van we were all a little questioning and perhaps nervous, considering all we had already been through on this trip, and so when he pulled his hand up and placed his stetson style hat on his head, we all bust out laughing in absolute disbelief. Seriously! This is what the Massachusetts police are all about? Stopping citizens so they can get their hat on?

As the two officers drove off with lights flashing we got back into traffic. It was then that we saw more and more vehicles with lights flashing joining the first two. We were on our way to Plymouth Plantation, but this looked more interesting, at least as a side trip, so we decided to follow the crowd and see what was up.  Shortly after this, one of the kids noticed that cars had their lights flashing and had official orange tags hanging in the windows stating 'Funeral'. We don't know whose funeral it was, but given the tens of police officers, it was someone official or special.

We arrived late in Plymouth and found a campground. It was very expensive, but it was late, so we took it anyway. 

Day 23  - Friday, September 12, 2014    Plymouth - Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts


A nights sleep and we were on our way. Plymouth and the Wanpanoag Native Village was next. This was interesting, especially when we encountered characters that truly got into their historical part! One visitor really got a tongue lashing for dating a girl for twelve years without marrying her! And when this same woman found out that the Framer was a house-builder, she told him that his skills would be very valuable in the village and if he spoke to the council, she was sure he would requested to settle his family there. 

 The Cradle Like the One My Father Made Me

There were a number of items in houses that I recognized from my own childhood. In one I saw a cradle like the one that my father made me. It was a replica of one in the British museum, and hanging on one wall was a rake such as one my father made. There was also a table similar to our old kitchen table, which was made using an old door as the surface.

A Rake Like the One My Father Made

The Table Like Our Little Door Top Table

Next we headed to the Mayflower to have a look and to see the monuments and Plymouth Rock itself. I had been told that the rock was not worth seeing as it was only a small rock. I disagree. That rock might only be about 5’ across, but it is the rock that holds so much history of the first Pilgrims to the United States of America. That makes it worth seeing. 

Where the Rock is Housed

The Immigrants Statue

A Woman of Courage and Fortitude Who Brought Her Family to the New World

William Bradford

Following Plymouth, we decided to head towards Boston as the Framer needed to take a flight out at about 6:00am. I was a bit disappointed that circumstances settled it that we would not be spending time in Boston, but I was given a small blessing just the same. Each of the large cities we have visited has had something to offer: Chicago was the daytime city with gorgeous architecture, the Millennium Park, Lincoln Zoo, and shoreline; Washington, DC was all about the monuments; New York City lives and breathes with excitement, colour, wonder, beauty, history; and Boston offered us the most stunning sunsets against the city skyline. Living in the country where I get those kind of sunsets repeatedly, I saw a different kind of beauty - city and sky meeting, versus county and sky. 

Navigating Boston was not my choice, so I had planned to go around the city, but with the Framer needing to get to the airport we needed to come up with a plan. He suggested I just drop him off anywhere, and he would get himself to where he needed to be. This was very stressful to me, and there was no way I was going to do that! In the end the decision was that he would drive us to the other side of Boston, and then he could take transit into Logan Airport. As typical the GPS took us on a route we were not expecting, so we ended up going right through the heart of Boston. Once we were about 20 minutes from the centre we came to a quieter district called Saugus. I got the Framer to pull over quickly, as I thought this would be perfect! We could sleep in this town and he could easily get a cab to go to the airport, and in the morning I could head north. 

He, being his typical nice self, asked if I was sure this was where I wanted to stay, as he knew I was hoping for a campground. But I was sure. I could not see him taking an unknown trip into a foreign city from way out in a campground! So it was settled. I went into Walgreens and asked permission, and the day manager said it was fine, but he would have to check with the manager that came on at 9:00 pm. 

The Framer took his computer over the street to confirm his flight and call about taxies, and I got the pizza started for dinner. Shortly after, he came back to announce that a worker over the road at Dunkin’ Donuts just happened to be going to Logan Airport because he left his wallet there earlier in the day, and he would need to return. He would drive that way at midnight. Enough time for a comfortable arrival and check-in. 

With all being settled we decided to watch a little Anne of Green Gables. We were all huddled up on one bed, eating pizza and watching the movie and chuckling away, and it was perfect. And then there was a knock at the door. It was 11:00 pm, and all was well. Right? Wrong. We would need to move on. The manager was most apologetic, but she said that the earlier manager should have known that the owner would see the surveillance cameras and she could lose her job if she allowed us to stay there. 

It was a bit comical, because we were getting used to this topsy-turvy life by now!! A quick decision was made: I would not take her suggestion of a parking lot down the road (where I could still get towed), but instead, I would head north and the Framer would stay at Dunkin’ Donuts until his ride was ready to go in an hour. 

It felt a little weird to be saying goodbye in the middle of nowhere with both of us heading in opposite directions towards we knew not what!
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