People, driving through this storm was no joke. Check out the last article below to see that it was a rain record breaker!
Although I left ½ hour later than I had expected, I arrived in Saratoga in 3 hours and 15 minutes. That is pretty good since the road was crawling with state troopers. After hanging with my friend and his family and having the DAMNED BEST HOME MADE PIZZA EVER, I attempted to continue my trip to Brooklyn. As the exit to Saratoga is 26 miles from the NYS Thruway ticket toll plaza which is approximately where Albany is, I was half way through my trip. I was approximately 30 miles from the city limits at the payment toll plaza in Harriman, NY, when I realized that I did not have my wallet. In order for me to reach someone, I had to drive to Ramapo to see if I could reach anyone. As I did not have any money, ID, license, or bank card , I tried to called folks collect and everyone's phone did not accept collect calls...except mom's, however, she was on the phone and could not be reached. Although I did try emergency interrupt, they don't do that through the Verison payphone system. By this time I was almost crying out of frustration as I was not sure what to do next. Ah ha! I shall call a cop. 911 was dialed and the details of the problem were relayed to the officer who was real sweet and connected me with the state police. After reiterating my problem with the state police, the officer called my friend who said YES, the wallet was there. The officer was nice enough to give my friend the number where I was at and he called me back. After speaking with him, I advised him that I would be returning to get it and should be there in a few hours. I headed to exit 15 (Suffern, NY) to turn around and head back.
Mind you, my exit to go to Brooklyn was 13 S. Yup, I was ½ hour away from Brooklyn.
By the time I arrived at his house, it was around 1:30 a.m. and I was flustered beyond belief. After two more helpings of delicious pizza, I crashed out.
Around 8:30 a.m. I woke and gave thanks to my friend for being so wonderful and headed out once again. Even though there was traffic heading into Manhattan and Brooklyn, Saturday April 14, 2007 was a gorgeous day full of warmth and sunshine.
Nix and I did some shopping in Brooklyn for a bit and then headed out to the Village for dinner and some shopping. In an effort to save time, I opted for a parking lot rather than look for a spot (which could take hours). Nix and I went to Panchito's for the finest Mexican food around. As we did not want to walk with the food, we went back to the parking lot and asked if we could put it in the car. The guy said sure and had us get into a another car that was being parked and we road the gauntlet of the gutted building which used to house a stable downstairs which was probably was a livery or other type of business. Let me just say, that it was a scary drive inside that building.
After the dump off of the food was made, Nix and I walked toward W8th and met Rico Fonesca and I bought a copy of his painting which he so sweetly signed. Rico is as much a part of the Village as the very streets themselves. He is against what he sees and what he portrays in paint speaks for itself. I would have loved to buy his poster entitled RICH/POOR as it spoke a thousand words. Rico has been on MacDougal Street near Washington Square for as long as I can remember. It is always a pleasure to stop and talk with him for awhile.
Although we did not get to hit everyplace we wanted to hit that night, we did get a few things and decided I would be cool to get tattooed together so we headed to back to Brooklyn. However, we had to get the car from the parking lot. When I went to pay, I almost shit as 3 hours cost me $45. Therefore, dinner cost me $120.
Anyway, we went to Michael Angelo's tattoo parlor and saw that there were people standing outside. Nix yelled out to them "is there a lot of people inside?" One of the guys answered back "uh huh" so Nix said "a lot lot?" and he replied "uh huh." Mikey is a great artist, however it is first come first serve and if your name is not on the board early enough, you just may sit there all night and never get seen. Nix suggested that we go to Brooklyn Ink so I went for it. After getting there and looking at all the sucky tatts that were available, I saw two that I figured could be incorporated. However, that major ass of an artist who is UNKNOWN to me wanted to charge $60 for a 1 ½ inch black widow. As far as I am concerned, he could go fuck himself as he would have to ink me in GOLD for that price. That schmuck is a NOBODY and I hope he goes out of business.
Upon getting back to Nix's apartment, I called Nathan and we spoke for a bit, but Gracie came to the door looking for me so I had to hang up and go hang out. At around 1:00 a.m. I went back to Nix's place to finally get some sleep and just as I closed my eyes, I saw a car accident. Mind you, I was not sleeping yet.
When I awoke at 8:30 a.m. a heavy rain was coming down and I tried to wake Nix to tell her that we better get done what needs to get done right now. As she was not ready to get up, I went downstairs to have a smoke and my head started to spin and I was starting to feel faint. As I got back upstairs, I just made it to the couch, and I passed out for 3 hours.
Nix woke me around 11:30 a.m. and I was very anxious to leave as I saw that we were experiencing a storm. She checked the internet and sure enough, a Nor-Easter was bogging down the a number of states with floods and snow. For sure I had to leave ASAP, however, Nix had things that NEEDED to be done before I left. Therefore, my ass was not on the road home until 2:20 p.m.
The FDR was like a river and the traffic was bad. There were times when I could not see as my windshield was flooded with water and my wipers were on high. People were hydroplaning out of control and it was a complete mess trying to get out of the city. I had thought the open road would offer some relief, but I was wrong. As I entered the Palisades Parkway, it started to snow and the roads were a mix of snow, ice, and water. Visibility was about 50 feet. Not very good driving conditions. However, I at least had the benefit of light. I wish the same could be said about Interstate 87 as I was driving in the dark with snow blowing straight onto me as I watched accident upon accident and people going out of control. Although most were doing about 35 miles per hour, it was very hazardous driving conditions.
My nerves were totally shot even before I reached Glens Falls. As I needed a break and wanted someone to know where I was, I called mom and told her in case I don't make it back, I love you and I hung up.
I stopped caring and started to drive faster as I so much wanted to get home one way or the other so I passed every sucker on the road and thought it is better to drive into the mountain than off of it. There was no road to be seen and it was a fake out drive with hope to live to see tomorrow. I was in charge of me and I did not want to be near other cars. I know and rely on my driving ability, but I don't know and can't rely on theirs. There were so many people in ditches and so many accidents, I had to stay alert and have eyes in back of my head.
Although it was a bitch driving blind on the I87, it was worse driving in Quebec. I thought that the land of ice and snow would have cleared the roads, but NOOOOOOOOO. It was a fucking mess. A single lane was kind of cleared and the single file was doing 25 mph. I did try to pass, but the passing lane was too snow covered to get into.
After 10 hours of shit and hell, I made it home in one piece and without a dent. However, I did resemble a chiwawa(sp?) in the back of a low rider as I was shaking so much.
So much for my weekend! Pish. ~ Arachne ~ April 16, 2007 at 10:23 p.m.
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