As our Coast to Coast adventure across the United States headed further up the east coast from Washington DC towards New York City, we’d stop into Philadelphia for a Philly cheesesteak – you have to right? They’re pretty good, but you wouldn’t want them every day on account of the fact they probably have thousands more calories than you need...
What can you say about New York City? One of the great cities of the world, with the feeling you’re in the center of the western world. There’s no shortage of activities to do while in NYC, literally anything and everything a city can offer and NYC probably has it. While we were in NYC we went to a Mets (baseball team) game, a concert in Madison Square Gardens, drove out to Jersey & Brooklyn, took the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Of course we also spent a lot of time checking out the sights and sounds of Manhattan. New York is truly an awesome city, it’s so busy and alive; you could never get bored. If you’re ever here, make sure you go up the Rockefeller Centre, for the best views of the island.
Marcus and Don left for London via John F. Kennedy airport so that represented the end of our six week Coast to Coast intrepid adventure across the United States. It seem to fly by, so if you make similar plans, make sure you give it as much time as possible. A once in a lifetime experience. With the Van sold I would be back using public transport by taking my first Greyhound bus back to Washington DC which signalled the beginning of my solo intrepid journey south towards Orlando for the Space Shuttle launch at the end of the month, can’t wait for that!
Below is a summary of our Coast to Coast adventure that took us from Los Angles to New York via San Francisco, Tucson and Chicago:
- Distance travelled: 11,300km
- Number of states so far: 19
- Fuel consumed: USD $1,685
- Nights slept in Van: 16
- Highest Altitude: 3,852m, Lowest Altitude: -85.5m
- Longest streak of rainless days: 30
- Longest Hike: 7 hours to Half Dome, Yosemite National Park
- Lowest Temperature: -10 degrees
- Highest Temperature: 36.4 degrees
- Top three technical aids on the trip: van, laptop, Garmin – the SAT NAV
- Best city: Chicago & NYC
- Worst city: Kayenta – nothing in the middle of nothing
- Best attraction: So hard to pick one, but the National Museum United States Air Force blew me away. I’m picking the Kennedy Space Centre and the shuttle launch will top it though.
- Weirdest bum sign: “My grandma has been kidnapped by ninjas so I need money for Karate lessons”
- Funniest Phrase: “That’s nutz” – in reference to the honey nuts we always had in the van and the extent to which things surprised us.
- Funniest comment made by a stranger: “So you’re from New Zealand….. that’s a state right?”
