We're on Long Island!

We started this post 4 days ago when we landed in NY then ran into major data problems.  Very sorry for the delay but I think we're getting back into a groove again.

We left Toronto on Sunday the 8th and headed West to pick up the shotgun.  It was retrieved without incident; in fact it was painless!  Then we sailed through the US border with no problems and made our way South.  Drove through Detroit, MI, Toledo, OH and landed on the OH/PA border.  These are pictures of the campground where we spent the night.  These were taken on our way out the next morning; it was a cool campground.

Packed up Monday morning and made our way to Long Island.  We had a lovely drive through the Poconos (we're crossing so many sites off our bucket list!) and arrived in NYC during rush hour.  Amazingly, that traffic was NOT as crazy as the Toronto traffic.  We crossed some bridge (too traumatized to remember which one) and drained our cash on hand to pay a $13.00 toll (used quarters on hand).  Oh, this is important to note ... THEY ONLY TAKE CASH!  Later we crossed the George Washington Bridge and were informed that our toll was $27.00.  OMG, we were out of cash, the dude rolled his eyes at us and asked for license & registration cuz he was going to write a ticket which included the toll fee and a big fat fine.  So, I jumped out of the truck, ran back to the unit (holding up traffic but nobody honked at me), found a stash of cash to hand over and we were free.  What a wake-up call!

On Tuesday 9/10 we spent the day getting organized, finding our way around the campground and trying to decide what to do on 9/11.  We really wanted to go to ground zero but locals advised against it so we listened and toured Long Island instead.  On the South Fork of the island is NY's oldest Lighthouse so we went there first.  It was a scary climb ... had to hang on to an old dirty, oily rope all the way up and down.  The stairway is pretty much one-way so that increased the fear factor. 

Commissioned by President George Washington

View from the ground

View from the top

View from the top

From there we jumped on a couple of ferries and checked out the North Fork.

Ferry ride to wine country

Crazy expensive ferry ride

We reported to the office Thursday morning for an all day briefing.  We now must report the the office daily at 6:30AM to sign in and 6:30PM to sign out.  Very bureaucratic operation so we play by the rules (which change hourly).  We were told to plan on three weeks but who knows?

That's about it for now here.  We're praying for all you CO friends and family peeps.  Your storm is the news headliner daily (even with the Seaside Heights fire).  Hope everyone stays safe; please keep in touch!  So ....

Peace and Love and Pray For Storms (but not in Colorado)!