We ARE IN NEW YORK!?

And of course: DAY 40!!!

(New Brunswick, NJ to New York, NY)

How long ought it take to ride 25 miles?  Probably close to two hours.  So if we left our host's house around 9:30am, got a slow breakfast from the store and then booked it to New York, then we would have made it there no later than, say, 12:30pm, right?

Well, that's what we hoped for anyway.  But as Mick Jagger says, "You can't always get what you want," and Les and I found, crossing a mere bridge from Jersey into New York was one of our more substantial hang-ups of the whole trip!

AHHH!!!  The excitement was built--the adrenaline flowing like the mississippi river, minds racing like unknown passerbyers gawking from their cars thinking, "why in the WORLD would you ever want to do that!?"  And there we were, stuck at a Shell station, only minutes from the Big Apple. 

It felt literally like "this" close!

And then, FINALLY, it happened.  Somebody offered us a ride across the bridge!  After waiting, asking truck after truck, and riding around to explore other options to try to cross, our hero, Mr. Hardy (a firefighter who was present at ground zero just after 9-11-01) had us throw our bikes in the back and off we went!

Almost there!  Les cannot believe it!

Riding up Staten Island...there's the Atlantic!

We took the ferry across into Manhattan, but while waiting we were corralled here...

It was a very hazy day, but THIS IS MANHATTAN!!! (aka--New York!)

One of our favorite things was finding cafes. So just after getting in we found this place and "chilled" for a couple hours.  This was also where Les bought a HEAVY-DUTY New York-proof bike lock.  It was massive!

We had to get to upper-Manhattan (103rd block) to get to our hostel for the night and it only took us 20 blocks, or so, to figure out how New Yorkers ride their bikes.  None of them stop at stop lights.  Basically, if there aren't cars or pedestrians, you keep riding!  It was QUITE an adventure!

The city that never sleeps...ever!

After spending a couple days getting to know the city and seeing a few of the various sites, we decided to hop a subway and head out toward Brooklyn (about as far east as we went during this whole trip!) to stay with Rich and Nicki, a couple we found on warmshowers.org.

A picture in front of their awesome Brooklyn abode.

As seems to be the custom of EVERYBODY we met, Rich and Nicki treated us like family.  We were met with warm handshakes, smiles, and conversation, and before we knew it we were inside talking about literature, maps, cycling, and school over some incredibly tasty pasta (thanks Nicki!).

Soon we'd dozed off and then morning came.  Rich and Nicki had to head out to work, but not before treating us to some REALLY good coffee!  Rich had a funny story about the guy who they get their coffee from, but suffice it to say, this coffee was goooood!  Rich then led us almost all the way back to the Brooklyn bridge (a two-story bridge that has a bike lane on top and a car lane on the bottom!) where we'd be able to get back to Manhattan.

Here Rich is giving Aaron directions on how to get to the bridge.

Brooklyn bridge baby!!! It was so fun to see all of the cyclists!

Upon arriving in Manhattan we met up with our buddy Paul (see 4 or 5 posts back...) who'd be hanging out with us for the next three days, which was cool. 

One of the highlights of the trip was eating New York style pizza!  This place is *allegedly* the first pizza place in America.  They cook in old, stone, coal ovens (which is illegal now, but because this place is like a national monument, and because their pizza is amazing, the food people look the other way).

What would a trip to little Italy be without some Italian dessert and Espresso?

Haha, i just had to include this picture.  Just read what it says.  I CANNOT BELIEVE there are posters like this, and none of us could tell if it was serious or not.  Like, does anybody actually call that hotline number down toward the bottom?

So much fun was had in the Big Apple.  So much that Les and I nearly forgot to do our Atlantic tire dip!  By the fourth day we finally found our way back to Coney Island in Brooklyn and made it official...WE MADE IT TO NEW YORK!

Les dips with precision.

Aaron dips too.

One of the things Les and I couldn't stop saying upon arriving in Mahattan was, "I still can't believe we rode our bikes across the country!"

I think this next section is applicable and justified in adding.  It is a mini "reflections" section.  Read on, please!

Not to sound cliche or cheesy in anyway, but after being home and getting to talk to many friends, family and loved ones, we get the statement, "man, I would never be able to do that!  That is incredible!"  But really, as we can attest, we were in absolutely no shape to ride our bikes across the US 5 months before we left.  When we would meet people on the trip who would say this to us we began just saying, "oh you can, you'd be surprised what you can accomplish." 

It doesn't have to be a bike ride, a swim-a-thon, a forrest gump run, etc.  Really, it could be something like seeking out a new job, or investing more into the youth, or being more involved in church, or recycling more.  It doesn't need to be a ridiculous (and delirious!) bike ride across the country!  The truth is this: we all have dreams.  By this I mean that we all have things in life that we wish we could do/we want to see happen, but we don't do them because road-blocks (big and small) stand in our way.  We get invigorated to get out there and change the world but then are smacked in the face with reality.  For me (aaron) it was being able to come up with enough money to even think about taking this bike ride.  For both Les and I it was battling, day in and day out, the constant torment that reality brings on the open road.  

But are you really going to let something so small keep you from doing what you know you want to do?

Don't trick yourself into thinking you can't do something because you are "too busy," "too tired," or "too young or old."  Ghandi says, "Be the change you want to see in this world."  Even if its something small like recycling more or being more involved in your children's lives, you must know that you CAN do it.  

Be the change.  Do something out-of-the-box.  Take a bike ride.  Sew a quilt.  Write a book.  Whatever it is, don't be fooled into thinking that you cannot do what you've always dreamed of doing.