Monday, December 12, 2005
Driving in New Jersey and Other Weekend Adventures
The family threw my brother Robbie Rob a birthday party on Saturday afternoon for his 30th year. It was at his house in Union, and it was set up while he was at a class at Rutgers. Hun and her mom got the food while La Madre and I were asked to get the booze and wine.
La Madre came by my house in Manhattan Saturday morning and we drove to a Trader Joe's in Westfield, NJ to peruse the wine selections. Getting from NYC to NJ took all of 45 minutes. I had directions and since I'm always a good navigator, I was able to direct my mom through the intracacies of the Garden State Parkway.
Westfield turned out to be an awesome little town with lots of shops and quaint houses. It's also no more than 20 minutes away from Union. La Madre and I loaded up the booze, but somewhere along the line took a wrong turn. Next thing I knew we were touring the slums of New Jersey and heading east.
We whipped it around headed back towards Union. We got there, and even though it was broad daylight, La Madre couldn't find the street that her own son lived on. We circled around and got honked at by irate Jersey drivers. Finally I suggested getting back on the Parkway and taking the usual exit for Rob's house, which may have put us back on track.
That seemed like a good idea, until we headed north instead of south, got into the wrong line at a toll and once again were literally shouted and cussed at by angry drivers as we scrambled for exact change. Now we were in Irvington, NJ, where apparently no one was from the area and couldn't give us directions to Union, which again, was no more than 20 minutes away.
Finally, some guy cleaning out his car pointed us in the right direction and we got to Rob's place in one piece, wine intact.
The party had a great turnout, but by 7:00 PM I had to get back to NYC. There were parties I needed to attend. Rob's friend V. (yes, that's what he goes by) offered to drive me to Jersey City so I could take the PATH train. I was pleased for the free ride, and so I hopped in his van and made small talk .
Everything was fine until we got onto the highway. V. went from 40 to [no lie] 100 MPH in Saturday night traffic in an Econoline Van. (Hardly the most aerodynamic vehicle ever created.) He wove into the fast lane and gunned it from Union to Jersey City in just under 10 minutes.
Once we hit Jersey City he got off and swiveled around some back roads until he dropped me off at the Pavonia Newport station. By then my nerves were rattled, not just from the warp speed of the free ride, but from the mix of coffee and red wine at the party, and from being in New Jersey for far too long.
Back at chez moi I decompressed for an hour or so, fluffed my hair and headed to Zoellner's party. There were writers and margheritas aplenty. Finally, I felt homeostasis set back in.
New York City, I will never stray again.
