Day Twenty-five - Jul 3, 2000

In Brian's book, any day that involves New York City is likely to involve moving from somewhere peaceful to a place that is loud and not so peaceful, or vice versa. True to form, Brian and Theresa wake up early at the exceptionally peaceful "Horton's Camping Resort" near the tip of Cape Cod and begin the theoretically short trip into the city. We very soon drove into Rhode Island and our day will take us on through Connecticut and into New York. Traveling in this part of the country involves numerous small states. The organization that this requires and the speed of the Dodge Stratus have completely thrown off our collection of "Welcome To (your state here)" signs. Trying to outsmart everyone else traveling on the holiday weekend, we dropped down to the southern shore of Rhode Island and took the Newport Bridge. This, of course, outsmarted no one and added at least an hour of traffic congestion to our trip. When it comes to driving in this neck of the woods, we are rank amateurs. Theresa handled all of the miles today and became increasingly peaceful and at ease the closer we got to New York, her grace and comfort when driving amongst aggressive and irrational drivers is unparalleled. Brian loves Theresa very much. We parked just inside New York state, in the impressively upscale suburb of Larchmont. From there we caught a train to Grand Central Station, and then a subway to East Greenwich Village ("East Village"). We walked a few blocks to a park and waited for Brian's high school buddy Michael. We eventually triangulated with Michael in the park, using cellular technology, and walked with him to the very nice apartment he shares with his fiancé Cody. We had dinner at an authentic New York pizzeria, John's on Bleeker, and met a host of very friendly authentic New Yorkers at the "Grange Hall" in the West Village after. The authentic New Yorkers Michael introduced Brian and Theresa to included a documentary maker, a short film producer, a stand up comic and his exceptionally cool fiancé Cody. For a day that involved expressways, trains, subways and New Yorkers, Brian and Theresa both seem to be doing fine.