We decided to escape from New York via Staten Island, and so we hopped on the free ferry. We were escorted by a coast guard boat with a mounted machine gun, obviously they knew we were on board. One of the ferry crew members told us (dundundun, foreshadowingggggggg) that the outer bridge on the south end of Staten Island was pedestrian friendly. We road the 15 miles down to the bridge, only to find it totally un-bike-friendly. I became quite discouraged after talking to a sarcastic and wholly unpleasant bridge authority man. We began asking trucks for rides, and made a sign, and even offered forty bucks in exchange. Our lack of preparation for this contingency struck me when I noticed I was wearing my "The Man With No Brain" teeshirt, and riding a bicycle with a heart flag pinned to it. All heart and no brains indeed! After a lot of failure, and even an attempt to rent a UHaul van, we went into the Home Depot parking lot, and our first attempt brought us together with Russ, a truck mechanic at the Fresh Kills waste facility, (biggest human structure in the world). Russ threw our bikes in the back of his pickup and drove us over the bridge, which he had no need to cross. He let us off in Perth Amboym, New Jersey, and took a picture with his cellfone, and emailed it to me. Russ is a life saver! thanks again.
We took some direction in Perth Amboy from an excessively talkive fellow who proved to be a reliable navigator, more thanks. We pulled in around 5:30 to Sean DiIanni's ancestral home. His mom made us to feel at home, and we hopped in the frigid pool for a cool down. We made some din from local vegetables, and then played some Halo 3 with sean's younger brother Mark, and then watched the copy of Transformers that Edgar had burned for us before we left. More Thanks. Thanks DiIanni's! Philadelphia... comin up.
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