Author: Joe White

Before finally crashing at 5am, called and asked the front desk for an extended checkout time, which, luckily, they gave. Woke up around noon (though Gil took a bit longer Img 2456-2). The Trans had just checked out, and had gone to IHOP, and John was good enough to come back and pick us up. Img 2462 We transferred to the Hilton, where Melissa met up with us, then we all walked over to the MetroPark station Img 2469 and
went into the City. We got some pretzels and shish kabobs from a street cart, then took the Img 2505 Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty Img 2503, and got neat shots of the city in the background Img 2481 Img 2482. We wandered through the financial district Img 2508 and then went into Century 21 and shopped for a bit (I got a windbreaker because it was getting downright chilly). The Trans headed back to the hotel so Madison could swim, while the rest of us went to It’s a Domincan Thing for some great food, then headed back to Jersey.

Waited for the Beltway traffic to die down before heading out Thursday morning. Got to Chatham, NJ around 2ish, where we met up with Jason Haddox Img 2438, who is working on his Ph.D in liturgics at Drew (quite a long way from his Baptist roots in Baytown!). We had a late lunch, then got a tour of the Drew campus followed by the church where Jason works. They dropped me off at the train station, and I made it over to Woodbridge, where Eb’s dinner was to be. Eb, needless to say, was late, as was everyone else save Eb’s friend Keith. Greg’s train got stopped in Trenton because of a fire on the tracks, and he had to take a cab. Lotto and I left at 8 to pick up Gil, and Eb got to the restaurant after we left (less than 90 minutes late!).
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Dinner was pretty good, then we went to Karim’s house and played poker til 3
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, interrupted by a White Castle break
Img 2449. It was a really wild party:
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Had a pretty uneventful drive from Tennessee to Virginia (although we did notice that the number of idiot drivers increased substantially the closer we got to DC, and we did pass a dump truck with it’s cargo on fire
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). Got to Glenn’s brother’s and sister-in-law’s house around 6:30, where we ate steak and played with Glenn’s nieces. Unfortunately, for got to take pics there…sorry.

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Glenn came over around 9, and we hit the road, stopping in Beaumont to get a car charger for his cell phone and a three-way adapter for the cigarette lighter to plug in all the toys. Got to Henderson

around 12:30 and had lunch at Pat’sImg 2289: mmm, mmm good! Saw a Humvee with a rocket launcher
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on the back of a flat bed, a Geo with Illinois plates and Rice parking lot decals
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, and a truck with a cowbell where the spare should have been.
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Despite the late start, we made it to Chattanooga before 11 (midnight Eastern), but the Comfort Suites, which advertised Free Wireless, failed to deliver. Will take it up with management in the morning.

[time passes]

Got them to give us the room for free! Woohoo! this update posted from an Exxon near Burlington, TN. Will put up pics later.

[updated with pics]