  I just finished a five-hour stint of driving, which brought us from Connecticut through New York, New Jersey, and Delaware to Maryland around exit 93 on I-95. Already, we have had some serious adventures. Our map program is not as infallible as we thought. Going through New York City, it snaked us down the east side into Queens on 295. The highway ended on us abruptly, confusing me a whole hell of a lot. On the bright side, we needed gas anyway and it spit us out right in front of a Mobil station. On the down side, the only was out of New York was through – straight through.
I had the driving adventure of a lifetime. Sometime around midnight we ended up in Lower Manhattan in the Bowery. Our goal: the Holland Tunnel to take us to Jersey. Dan’s navigational skills and my amazing driving brought us through without a hitch, which was just freaking cool. I learned something about driving in New York… it’s a lot like driving in Boston, except a lot more so.
He who hesitates is dead, so to speak. So you just GO, you just drive with an exacting blend of reckless abandon and steely-eyed precision, with a bit of a balls-out attitude toward it all. If there’s a spot, you jam on the gas pedal and make it yours, because nobody is going to give it to you. In some ways, it’s like a high-stakes game of chicken. It was exhilarating. It was a blast. It took all my concentration and then some. But we emerged without a scratch and without any close calls at all.
It’s 3:58am and I am not really tired. A bit out of it, yes, but driving for 5 hours will do that to you. At this point, my excitement for the whole trip and adrenaline are keeping me going. I think it’s the same for Dan. And while it lasts, we’re banging out as many miles as we can. Road weariness will set in eventually, and we’ll sleep when we need to. But for now, it’s full speed ahead. 
