Plague Diary, In Which I Am In Brooklyn, For Reasons

[lydy]

For reasons, (but not Because Internet) I drove to Brooklyn to be with Patrick and Teresa.  Just at the moment, they still aren't doing sleep studies in Minneapolis, so there are no jobs to apply for, and I have a perfectly good car with great air conditioning and surprisingly good gas mileage.  I got a COVID-19 test before I left, and P&T got tested while I was en route.  We all tested negative.  Driving alone in a car, stopping for gas and staying in fairly empty motels seems like a very reasonable risk, not really worse than going to the grocery store.  (I absolutely would not fly, take the train, or god help us all a bus.  Much too dangerous.)  The other safety factor I definitely considered is that cases are actually _falling_ in NYC, which is not the case in Minnesota.

Patrick and Teresa live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and I must say that even in relatively abandoned NYC, "Park" is deeply misleading.  On the other hand, they've suspended the appropriately acronymed ASP (Alternate Side Parking), so I haven't had to move my car every ten minutes.   (Ok, if you find a good spot, you can go several days without moving it, but man, finding _any_ space is hard.)  I also went out to Yonkers to spend time with Kevin at Castle Valentine (all of them have also tested negative).  

All of which means that I have now driven a car in NYC.  I was _extremely_ trepidatious about this.  I am not a great driver.  I timed my trip so that I got to NYC after only having been on the road for about 3 hours, and mid-day.  I did end up driving to Yonkers in rush hour, because I screwed up my leave-time. And I would say that New York City drivers are not so much aggressive as...concerned about maximizing through-put.  Kevin's rules for driving in NYC include "any space that can contain a car does or will immediately contain a car, including spaces which look too small to contain a car."  And this is true.  But I find that if I take my time and don't get stressed about being honked at (which doesn't happen very often, to be honest), there is space for me.  Other drivers have been remarkably willing to let me change lanes and make space for me.  It may be that my out of state plates help.  Possibly they are all thinking, "Oh, god, another incompetent tourist."  I do not care what they think, provided they don't run into me, which so far they have not.

Patrick and I have also been on a  number of bike-rides.  In this case the relevant part of Park Slope is "Slope," and so we have been using the ride-share e-bikes.  Patrick owns his own e-bike, so what we've worked out as optimal is to have him ride to the closest station that has an e-bike to rent, and then I walk (or, if necessary, take a Lyft) to where he's already check the bike out, and then we ride.  Usually around Prospect Park, which has this amazingly wonderful loop through the park.  There was a day where we did largely city streets, and I neglected to put on sun block, and got the most amazing burn.  Oh, well.  I ride in a skirt and without a helmet (not legal, I know) and no one on the planet crowds me, even on busy streets, because no one looks at me wobbling along and thinks, "That is an experienced rider."  They all think, "My god, that old woman has no idea what she's about, does she?"  Which is fine by me, because, again, I don't care what they think as long as they don't actually run into me, which, again, so far they have not.  The e-bikes are wonderful, I quite honestly could not make it around Prospect Park on a normal bike, I am just not that buff.  I am having trouble with my knees.  I bought some cheap-assed knee braces, which do seem to help.  If I had health insurance, I would see a professional, but since I don't have health insurance, I'm doing the best I can with compression and Advil.

It has been a very good trip, so far, and I have also done a lot of the work that I came here to do, so it has been both useful and enjoyable.  I do understand that there are issues with traveling in this time of The Plague, but I believe I have been prudent and responsible.  We don't socialize (except via Zoom), and always mask when going out of doors.  Brooklyn's mask game is pretty good, I must say.  I do see chin-slings and dick-noses, but they are in the minority.  Almost everyone over the age of three wears a mask when on the streets, and all of them wear masks in shops.  

My current plan is to leave next Tuesday, and drive home via Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh is about a seven hour drive (including rest stops) from here, and I have not seen my home town in a very long time.  That route does add about two total hours, which is to say it's a 21 instead of a 19 hour driving trip.  I am planning on staying over one day in Pittsburgh, and just driving around the place, looking at things.  I long to see the Cathedral of Learning, again, and Heinz Chapel.  I might drive out to Penn Hills and see my childhood home, not sure.  Mind you, all of this does require driving in _PIttsburgh_ and I am worried about that, too.  I'm not sure that the traffic is more aggressive, but I guarantee the streets make far less sense.  

I miss my cats.  I miss my sourdough starter.  I miss my bike Jasmine.  I miss my David.  But it has been a good trip, and I'm glad I came.  

Comments

[redbird]

Enjoy.

[calimac]

I'm glad you're having a good trip. Spending lots of time with far-off friends can be so balming.

My question is about the trip. How did you find these fairly empty motels? Did you just stop and look as you drove, or did you book beforehand? Did you find that many motels were closed? What about meals? Did you stop at drive-throughs or pick-ups and take food to go? Did you eat in the car when not in a motel?

[lydy]

I booked ahead of time through Booking.com. The motels are largely empty because people are, for the most part, not traveling. I am not making an attempt to find empty facilities, they just are considerably under-populated. Also, people are generally standing far apart, are masked, and don't share elevators. I use vast quantities of hand-sanitizer.

Both for safety and for taste, I packed a cooler rather than stop for food. I bought a rotisserie chicken, which I deboned and put the meat in a ziplock, and also packed, cheese, veggies, pocket bread, hummus, and some salty crunchy snacks, and stopped at rest areas and assembled sandwiches with varying ingredients from what I'd stocked. Oh, I also got some hard-boiled eggs. If you take a piece of pocket bread, put sliced hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and chicken in it, and then microwave it in the room microwave, it makes a surprising cromulent breakfast sandwich.

I don't much like fast food. In Brooklyn, we have had delivered food some, and Teresa is a wonderful cook. Indoor dining is not currently legal, and none of us feel that outdoor dining is worth the risk. But most evidence suggests that fomite transmission is a relatively small concern, so delivery/take out is a good option when we are all too tired to cook.

[calimac]

Thanks for the very informative reply. This will be very useful when I go on the road again. I didn't mean to imply that you were specifically searching for fairly empty motels; I was just copying your description of them.

One other question I should have asked on how you handled the trip: pit stops. Relief breaks. Restroom facilities on the road. You know.

[lydy]

I stop at rest stops, put on a mask, spend as little time inside, and avoid hand blowers. When I get back to the car, I use a liberal amount of hand sanitizer. One hopes this is sufficient.

[haertstitch]

oh how wonderful
just to get away

safe journey<3

[julian]

I found the interstates in and around Pittsburgh to be Difficult and Speedy, especially coming out of tunnels, but the surface streets were great. Friendly (as well as gorgeous) place. Mind you, I was last there in like, 2000 or so, so things May Be Different now.

The general NY Experience sounds good. Glad there is a good thing happening for you.

[lydy]

Driving in Pennsylvania was trippy, and not entirely in a good way. I grew up in Pittsburgh, which is on the foot-hills of the Appalachians. So the landscape induced this incredible feeling of homecoming. This is what the world is supposed to look like. I can all but feel the bones of the earth, and it feels powerful and safe. At the same time, I learned to drive in the Midwest, where it is flat, the roads are straight, and you can see everything from a long way off. One final piece of the puzzle is that I am terrified of heights, and this has gotten worse as I get older. So, cresting a hill at 60 MPH, with sheer rock looming so that one can almost feel its weight on the right, and a sheer drop to the left, an enormous vista of rock and tree stretched out and down and away, and at the rise, the road _curves_, gives me this simultaneous sense of certainty, safety, and abject terror.

As for Pittsburgh itself, memory suggests that the roads are narrow, twisty, and possibly tesseractical. Which would be challenging to drive even if there were no other traffic. I...worry.

[julian]

Oh, yeah. Did you take I-80 over? I find the Turnpike (that is, I-76) scarier, that way, because it's also narrow and ancient, but the sweeping vistas all 'round the western parts of the state (and some eastern parts) are just... both scary and amazingly great.

I didn't find Pittsburgh streets narrow, but, I learned to drive near Boston, so I am not the best judge of that.

[lydy]

Yep, I-80. Not sure what route I'll take to Pittsburgh. Whatever Der Google deems appropriate.

[magenta]

What an adventure! Good to know that places still exist outside Minnesota.

[bibliofile]

Yay road trip! I'm glad that it is going okay.

[jbru]

Glad you're having a good trip and seeing good peoples. Also glad everyone is well and hoping you all stay that way.

[gerisullivan]

My observation driving in New York City is that it's one of the few places I've been where by far the majority of drivers understand that driving is a collaborative exercise. And, yes, the whole maximizing through-put thing goes hand-in-hand with, or is otherwise the optimal result of, the collaboration.

I'm glad you made the trip and, yes, everything you describe sounds prudent and responsible. I hope the rest of it and the homeward journey goes equally well or even better.

Curiously enough, I'm coming down to New York for a few days starting on Monday. It will be my first overnight outside Massachusetts since...January? Yeah, early January, when I went out to L.A. to spend time with Don Fitch. And it will be my first time out of the state that includes anything other than quickly picking up or dropping off Gavi and returning home. But I'll be 35 miles north of you and haven't been tested, so I won't suggest trying to get together despite how utterly lovely it would be to see you, Patrick, and Teresa.

(BTW, did you hear that I had a heart ablation back in early March? I don't miss the steadily worsening tachycardia the slightest bit. Also, Gavi is staying with me this summer and we're both doing better together through the pandemic than we were living alone. So, yeah, there's lots to be thankful for mixed in with everything else.)

Virtual hugs, and All That Jazz....

[lydy]

I agree that driving in NYC is a collaborative endeavor, and that most drivers do demonstrate that. And I gotta tell you, I am so grateful for that. (There was the one guy that thought I was taking too long to take a left turn at a light, and honked at me and zipped around me, but, well, shrug. I guess he was in more of a hurry than I was.)

I really want to go to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History when I'm in Pittsburgh, and they are open, metering access, and requiring masks...but that would be a long time inside where there were other people also breathing. I also really want to go to the Phipps Conservatory, but same problem. But I will be so happy to see the hills of home. Maybe I will venture down to the Point, see if the fountain is still there. That, at least, is outside.

I had not heard about your heart ablation! I am glad it is doing the trick. Give Gavi my fond regards, and I am so glad you can be there for each other. The isolation is hard. The trend does not good look for the winter holidays, so it may be a very long time before we can see each other. Don't die! Someday, the After Times will come. But living through the Days of Corona...well, the living part is the key, I guess. Everything else is gravy.

[gerisullivan]

I look forward to reading about what you end up seeing in Pittsburgh. I first went there with Jeff back in the early 1990s. More recently, I've occassionaly stayed with Jim & Laurie Mann in McDonald, just south of the city. I was scheduled to stay with them in May 2019 on my way from Minnneapolis (and Chicago/maybe Lansing) to Corflu in Rockville, MD, but then my entire schedule went cattywompus with my sister's illness and death. So I only managed a brief stop en route and not the couple of days we'd planned so there'd be time for local brewpubs and the like.

Gavi returns your fond regards. We both agree with your observation about the likely impact on this year's Toad Woods Christmas. I'm waiting a few more months to see what we know then, but, yeah, it doesn't look good. The first time I brought it up, Gavi immediately said she would run a Toad Woods Christmas Zoom, and Melody is enthusiastic about that as a back-up plan. I'm suddenly envisioning making lumps of coal for everyone's household and unwrapping them together....

But I'd far, far rather we were together, of course. If *safely* together could be on the table, that is. Not that even pre-pandemic life was safe, but you know what I mean.

Love you! Happy travels!

[womzilla]

Just adding a bit of detail: The drive to Valentine's Castle took you through very little of Yonkers, but if I understand what Google did to you it did involve driving through long stretches of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx at rush hour, including what I believe is the single worst traffic tangle in the NYC area, the I-95/I-85 interchange between Yankee Stadium and the George Washington Bridge. So you definitely earned your NYC Driving Survivor, 1st Class, badge. And we were very happy to have you here.

[lydy]

I am wearing that badge with pride, I tell you what! Also, although it was incredibly tedious, it was not a frightening drive. And I was so glad to be there! It was a delight.

[pnh]

Just one note: It’s entirely legal to ride a bike in New York City without wearing a helmet.