The Great American Journey

GAP WALK JOURNALS - VII

Tuesday - September 23,  2008 Day 202   0.0 miles

Total New York miles - 33.2        Walking Days - 94

Washington D.C. miles - 4.6   Cumulative miles 1688.8

What a great day we had in New York City. After having such a
hard day last week of trying to find our way around we decided
to take one of the tours today. That really is the best way to see a
city like this. First we drove to the Arlington Mall across and
east of us just a bit. There we left Lady Mag at the Good Year
place to get the battery replaced. We asked them to check out
other things to make sure it wasn’t going out on us because of
some kind of a drain, or other problem.

Then we caught our bus into New York where we signed up for
both the downtown tour and the uptown tour. Starting with
downtown we went most of the way around seeing such things
as the Flat Iron Building, the World Trade Center (New Yorkers
still call it that rather than Ground Zero), the bridges that
surround the city, and the Empire State Building among other
things. At this point we got off the tour bus to take the ride up to
the top. It wasn’t a long wait (we were fortunate), and soon we
were at the 80th floor where we had to wait for another elevator
to take us to the 86th floor. We rode up with another couple from
California - San Francisco.

At the top of the Empire State Building we took our time
looking around and took lots of pictures. It is quite fascinating
up there looking down on all those buildings that looked so tall
from down below, and now they look pretty small. Amazing.

It was a great experience, but now we needed to head on down
again. Back on the ground we went to a Mexican Restaurant on
the ground floor for some lunch. We split a burrito in a bowl (no
tortilla). Then back out to get onto another one of our tour
buses.

Soon we were on the uptown tour where we saw Central Park,
lots of beautiful cathedrals, Grants Tomb, a few museums, some
beautiful parts of Harlem, and a variety of other things.  We got
off of the bus to walk through a portion of Central Park. Then
stopped at a food stand in the Park to buy two meat K’nishes (I
have no idea how to spell that). They were delicious.

Then we went back to wait for the next one of our tour buses
with another couple that had gotten off here. They were from
Norway, and when they heard about the walk of prayer I am on
they told us they too were Christians. Awesome. It just amazes
me how often that happens. Our ride took us past a building I
had taken a picture of when Russ and I walked through here in
July. This particular building had the words of Micah 6:8 carved
into the side of the building. It is on 5th Avenue between 64th
Street and 65th Street.

At 49th St. we had to get off, and chose to walk on down to the
Port Authority at 42nd St. where we had to go to catch our bus
back to Parsippany. On the way we stopped at a Starbucks
where the young man made me one of the best Chai Tea Lattes I
have had. I complimented him on it, and he told me to be sure to
tell his manager. I did, and they all cheered for him and told me
he’s new at this. Awesome.

We also stopped at some gift shops and looked at shirts and
other things. After making a couple of purchases we went on to
the Port Authority, got our bus tickets, and were soon on our
way to Parsippany on a full bus.

When we got off at our stop we picked up our van where they
had parked it after putting in the new battery. They had called us
during the day to let us know it was just the battery, and that
everything else had checked out okay.

She started right up and we drove back to the motel. Dave
packed while I downloaded pictures, and did my journal. Now
he will use the computer for a bit while I finish up some other
stuff. This day was a great ending to our week together. Dave
leaves tomorrow morning, but will be back in three weeks to
join me for the end of the walk, and then drive home together
over about a five-week period.