I was on Manhattan early one workday morning a couple of years ago. At that time the goal was to see Yankee Stadium and the home of President Arthur and be off the island before rush hour traffic began in earnest. I could not find Arthur's place then.

So, another attempt, this time early on a Thursday workday morning. I had five places to visit, including Arthur's home. Also on the list included St. Paul's Church (a national park site), the General Grant Memorial (also a national park place), Columbia University (an Ivy League school) and Teddy Roosevelt's birthplace (also a national park place). It was the beginning of a long day since I needed to see these five places then on to Oyster Bay to see Teddy Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill home, then drive to the southeastern tip of Long Island then to the northeastern tip of Long Island. I was expecting heavy traffic all the way and was not disappointed, including early rush hour traffic (5:30 am!!) going into Manhattan Island. And, on the Queens' side of traffic going into Manhattan Island I saw at 7:00 am traffic backed up for 10 maybe even 15 miles. Thus, I realized that the next morning as I head back across Long Island and Manhattan Island that I need to be west of them by 5:00 am. That meant leaving my hotel in Riverhead at just after 3:00 am!!!

The past almost two weeks I have driven about 2,000 miles over New York state highways. Potholes and bumpy roads everywhere. But they were smooth as glass compared to the roads on Manhattan Island. By far the worst I have ever bumped across, anywhere, EVER! A person here should go into business repairing vehicle suspension systems and retire after 20 years.

Since I went through Manhattan Island early in the morning (once I got off the traffic- jammed interstate), all I saw (similar to a few years ago) were taxi cabs and trash trucks and traffic control vehicles plus the subway was running. The bicycles were out and about plus a couple of downtown places (a city block) had hundreds of people walking along the sidewalk, presumably starting their work day. I saw many people going into or coming out of the places that serve coffee or food. And some were just on their apparent long walk to work. When stopped at traffic lights (which happens often on such a tall island), and it was possible (including view), I took a few photos of what was there. While still decent, I did encounter much more traffic on Manhattan Island than I expected. I thought those people started work much later in the day, like 9:00 am. But, they seem to be spending 2 - 3 hours with their commutes. Whew! Someday I want to come back to New York City, without a car, and just do the city scene of all the things famous about NYC -- Broadway, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, etc. But I just cannot imagine living here although if I did I am certain I would learn to adapt to this totally foreign lifestyle.