Tommy's Garage KC: East Coast Trip 2012

    Gotta go back to the last part of day 4 for a minute. After leaving Larry's shop, I got back on the BQE like a big dummy. I thought maybe traffic would be a lil thinner, little did I know, traffic is 24 hours a day in downtown NYC, especially in the rain in the middle of the day. I was patient for a lil while, but got tired of soaking, so decided to split lanes for a few miles. That was fun as hell. Decided to get off and wait out the traffic at a lil cafe, or bar, or somethin. Stopped at a lil place called Alma in the hipster area of Brooklyn. Good beer, good food, good people. I quickly figured out that no one in NYC owns a car. I got to talkin to the bartender and some nice folks about what time they thought the BQE would start to flow again, or how I could even get back on it to head south. I might as well have been speaking Swahili because no one had a clue. I could see the damn BQE right down the street, but it's like a 4-story-tall bridge and I had no idea how to get on it. Figured it out after a while and headed towards New Jersey, in the dark, in the rain.
     Ok. Day 5, Thursday, 8-16-12. The night before, got into New Jersey State super late and found the cheapest hotel I could, 60 bucks. I'd been camping every night, but after the long day, rain, and traffic, just wanted a warm bed and shower. Slept in til 11am. This was the first day I didn't have a definite direction. I just had to be in Virginia by Friday afternoon and I was within a 10 hour ride.
    I've seen the Gulf of Mexico, saw the bay in New York, but haven't, officially, seen the ocean, or been in it. The weather was perfect when I left the hotel, sun shinin, warm, long sleeve riding weather. Decided to head toward the Jersey Shore! I was less than two hours away from the hotel.
    On a map, it looks like you would have a clear view of the water on each side of the coastal highway. Not the case. As I headed down 35 toward Seaside Heights, home of the NJ boardwalk, I noticed a number of things: the road quality sucked, the houses were super nice, EVERYONE was dressed like they were on the beach, everyone rode bicycles, and every cross street to my left had a small hill at the end with a stairway goin over. The ocean is on the other side, right? Fuckin right it is! and the prettiest beaches you would ever see in any photo. I had to back track to the lil board shop and buy some trunks. Took an hour long walk down the beach and got in the ocean. I would have salt in my hair and sand in my ass for the next day or two. haha!
    Now, during all this, I was in the Northern part of the shore called "Bay Head". The lady at the board shop said these homes cost 2 million-ish. I've seen rich folks before, but this is the largest collection of privileged people I will ever see. As I walked over the stairway to the beach, I noticed a home that had it's own private beach access. On the back patio, there was a mother and three young kids having lunch. They were being waited on by two asian women that were dressed like nannies. It's wild to see how well some have it and how bad others do. As I rode further south, toward Seaside Heights, the houses got shabbier, there was less vegetation, the beach stairs turned into a dug out trail... must be rough! haha! Eventually, it was an ocean side trailer park with no vegetation and packed sand for streets. I'm sure these trailers cost more than my house.
    Well, did the whole boardwalk thing. Glad I did because the recent hurricane destroyed everything I took a picture of. Ate some kick ass seafood at "The Crabs Claw", where the board shop lady suggested. From there, headed toward Delaware, where I planned on finding a place to camp. Twas a relaxing day.