I was actually in Manhattan one summer day in 1980. That morning when I woke up I had no idea I would be in NYC that day. I was in Newark NJ on a business trip. The Kansas City company I worked for at the time had bought a company in Newark. I was there as the one-man transition team. The Newark company had a booth at a convention in New York the Friday before. The guy there needed to retrieve the items there and asked if I wanted to go along for the ride. "OF COURSE!" I said.

Presidents Arthur (#21 1881-1885 taking over for assassinated James Garfield) and Teddy Roosevelt (#26 1901-1909 taking over for assassinated William McKinley) both had a house here (and I try to visit all of the homes and museums of the U.S. Presidents). And most importantly, I spent much time figuring out HOW to get out of town -- and stay out of rush hour (which I heard starts around 8:00 am).

YANKEE STADIUM: Since I was passing through NYC anyway, I had to attempt to drive through Manhattan and see a couple of sites. Being a Yankees fan all my life, I had to see Yankee Stadium (although this one is not the house that Babe Ruth built and the one that Mickey Mantle (childhood hero) played in. But, I am still a lifetime Yankees fan.

I left Milford CT (about an hour east northeast of NYC) a little after 5:00 am. It was still dark. Bad, since I could not see the notecards I wrote for directions/instructions. And the GPS could not find Yankee Stadium or the street intersections I gave it. But I eventually got there. Wow, it is just right in the middle of everything, so unlike the Kansas City stadiums which are in an area all by themselves surrounded by huge parking lots. Here, people just have to park like everyday office workers and neighborhood residents. It also means I could, at most, stand on the other side of the street to take photos. So not much to see in them.

MANHATTAN TRAFFIC: New York City, being New York City, truly IS everything you have ever heard about it. It shows the best and the worst of us. I can see why it appeals to many and for others it would need to grow on them as they get used to it on a daily basis. But for the infrequent visitor from almost anywhere else (except maybe the other top five largest U.S. cities) --whoa. The walkers and bikers zipping in and out of everywhere, and not afraid either since they challenge traffic (guess that is something one learns over time to do). Cabs are also everywhere and do make the most incredible turns and zips and stops and darts. You can drive underneath the subway platforms while it roars overhead. NYC has the bend-in-the-middle double-long busses like Boston has. The road surfaces are absolutely horrible. You would have a smoother ride on a 30 foot boat in choppy waters. Trash trucks were everywhere since it was early and huge mounds of trash sacks sat on the edges of hundreds of sidewalks. The north-south traffic moves well but east-west is something to avoid. And lanes (four of them on streets such as Second Avenue) zig and zag about four feet at each intersection. One can make about 10 - 12 traffic lights then stops for 1 or 2 then back to making 10 - 12. Because I was usually so busy watching the vehicles of all types in the other lanes that might suddenly cut in front of me or stop in front of me, I sometimes forgot to actually look at the traffic lights at every intersection I learned this because I went from 168th south to 1st. And that was after I finally had to give up trying to find either of the Presidents homes. The GPS simply cannot handle Manhattan. It told me several times to turn into streets that were one-way going the opposite way. Sometimes 3 to 5 streets come to the same intersection and when it says "turn right" I did not know "which right". And by the time it figured out anything for "recalculating" I was already past those streets. My guess is that the GPS was not receiving accurate satellite connections because of the tall and numerous buildings. I WAS incredibly proud of myself for easily finding the Holland Tunnel to get out of Manhattan. I memorized that one plus had printed/written backups. I did get to drive on almost every single street, some 2 and 3 times, in a wide area around Yankee Stadium while the GPS lost its mind and my directions. My backup plan there was to find Second Avenue and go south. That also worked. For the next time I go to Manhattan, two lessons learned. One, have detailed Google maps printed for the area around each destination and how to get to them, and, two, have a second person to read those maps and navigate.

NEW JERSEY (aka. NYC west): Basically all of northern New Jersey to just south of Princeton is one looooonnnng suburb of NYC. I went south on highway 1/9. A traffic light was about every half mile with stores and businesses and eating joints all the way up and down the highway, both sides. Incredible. And, like NYC, the north-south traffic would make several lights in a row (although only 3 - 4) then stop at a couple for that unfortunate east-west traffic. And, yes, the New Jersey traffic is as infamous as it is said to be. Bumper to bumper everywhere. I spent eight weeks in the Newark-Oranges area the summer of 1980 for business. All of the people there believed Kansas City had only dirt roads with cows going up and down them and no indoor plumbing. After experiencing what they believe is "civilization", KC would seem primitive, or, at least certainly different, and calmer and a slower pace of life.