Day 127-Atlantic Highlands to ATLANTIC OCEAN!!! (7 Miles)

I woke up feeling lucky that no one tried to rob my room last night and dragged the cart on its side to fit it through the narrowest doorway I've seen. The weather was absolutely miserable with pouring rain, cold temperatures and crazy wind. Luckily I didn't have to spend very much time in it. I got back onto the Henry Hudson bike path, took it to its end and reached the last bridge of the journey I had to cross.

As I got up the bridge deck sidewalk, the winds became like nothing I'd ever felt before. They pushed from left to right and I had to work pretty hard to keep the cart from blowing over into the roadway. As I turned north on the other side of the river, I faced the winds head on and could barely even open my eyes to see my family outside of the rental car further down the path. I didn't run to them, but instead opted to climb over a little dike and run across the beach as soon as I could. The sandblasting the wind gave me was actually really painful, and any plans to go for a long swim were ruined by my fears of the pretty big waves. There was no sitting at the shoreline to contemplate the achievement, just a mad rush to get to the van to stave off the hypothermia. 

And with that, it was over....

We drove back to a hotel in Neptune that Jan and Todd from Grundy Center generously gave my family for a couple of nights. I shaved my beard except for the mustache (which I intend to keep through Movember), showered, and hit the road to Seacaucas, NJ where we took a train back into the monstrous city of New York.

A drive to Philadelphia waited for us tomorrow and I would continue south on a bus to Baltimore. This distance, which would take me a week to run, would be covered in just a few short hours. I suppose I will re-acclimate to distances as I take the long way home.

Day 126-East Brunswick to Atlantic Highlands (22 Miles)

I started the day with a pack of Pop-Tarts before checking out of Motel 6 and hitting the road for my last real day of running. I wanted to get done somewhat early in the day in the off-chance that I could catch a ferry to New York City for the evening. After running through a maze of side roads and busier state highways, I eventually got to the head of the Henry Hudson bike trail. This trail pretty much marked the end of running where I had to share the same piece of pavement with a car.

A few miles into the bike path, there was a break in the trees that had continuously lined the trail. To the south there was extensive home re-buildings, most likely from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. To the north was where the picture below was taken. It's hard to describe that sight, but I savored it at nearby park bench for quite some time. The last few miles into the Leonardo Motel-by far the sketchiest motel of the trip-flew by.

Without wasting much time, I walked 2 miles to the SeaStreak ferry to catch the 5 pm boat into New York. The ride was about an hour long and cost me $45, but there was no way I was going to run this far and not go into the heart of the city. Waiting to board, I struck up a conversation with Glenn, an avid Civil War reenactor going to visit his girlfriend who was in town for the holiday with an elaborate costume. He gave me the advice to walk from the northern ferry stop and catch the returning boat further south.

Walking from 35th St up to Times Square, across half of the Brooklyn Bridge, and then down to Wall Street to Pier 11 was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. During these four hours I probably saw more people than I had seen in the past four months combined. The fact that at least half of them were dressed up for Halloween added to it all.

Back at 10 pm at Pier 11, I met back up with Glenn and took the last ferry from New York back to Jersey. Him buying me a candy bar on the boat and driving me back to the motel would be the last acts of kindness I received from people who had once been strangers.

Day 125-Somerville to East Brunswick (16 Miles)

I woke up and milked yet another motel check-out time before proceeding through a construction zone that would take me to the Deleware-Raritan Canal Trail into New Brunswick. At the end of the trail in town, water was spilling into the river from the canal over the cobblestone path. It took several minutes to push the cart over the very rough surface through a few inches of flowing water.

Getting into the city that contained two of Rutgers' main campuses, I decided to head towards the local bike shop to get some route planning advice. Google maps showed an upcoming highway crossing to be "bike-friendly" but the satellite image of no shoulder and a clover-leaf interchange had me skeptical. Two guys at the shop told me it'd be alright and that was enough for me to proceed.

After running through Rutgers' Cooke Campus I got to Ryder Lane's crossing of Highway 1. I noticed that there was a sidewalk on the other side of the guardrail over the bridge so I decided to go down an exit ramp a ways to get around it. Getting around the guardrail on the other side of the highway was a different story, however. Because the guardrail extended all of the way down to the highway below, I would have to go over it. With the cart being too heavy to lift over, I worked at unpacking all of my stuff then lifting it over. The ridiculousness of this whole situation became very clear when a couple of walkers passed me by.

The Motel 6 on the other side of a busy highway was my home for the evening. After taking a nap and cleaning up, I head to the nearest restaurant, a Chinese Buffet. The water they gave me tasted like molding compost and completely made me lose my appetite. It took the whole length of the country, but I finally found disgusting tap water.

The Jersey Turnpike

Day 124-Clinton to Somerville (24 Miles)

I started the day with what I thought was a free continental breakfast until a bill was handed to me as I started to leave back to my room. It was a bit of a bummer, but I was able to fill up until eating hurt. I had a noon checkout time here that I took advantage of until 11:30. 24 miles seemed like a pretty long ways today after the previous few runs.

Google Maps proved to be money as I arrived into Somerville with zero stress with regard to traffic and no shoulders. The run really opened my eyes to the fact that most of New Jersey is rural farm and forest land. This was true until getting into town where, for the first time, I felt like I was in the suburb of a huge city. It reminded me of the southern suburbs of Chicago I crossed over a month ago.

The motel I was staying in was a couple of miles from the main drag of town. After walking through Somerville and what claimed to be the oldest continuous hotel in the US, I started running east and north to the motel off of the really busy Highway 22. After cleaning up, I went next door to the Houlihan's where I ate dinner at the bar with a couple of businessmen who had just gotten off of work.

Today was again pretty low key. I'm liking these low mileage days as they seem almost effortless. Three more days!

They claim to be the oldest continuous hotel in the US

Day 123-Belvidere to Clinton (20 Miles)

The owner of Hotel Belvidere sat down at breakfast with me and gave me a history lesson on the town dating back to before the Revolutionary War. It was great to have such a knowledgeable host and it made me appreciate how much older the history is here compared to out west. After breakfast I just lounged around a bit before the 11 am checkout time.

I started on the run despite not getting my map (phone) to turn on. I knew how to tackle the first eight miles or so from memory, and hopefully it would start working after that. It eventually did, and it proved to be necessary to navigate through the labryith of local roads that climbed the steep hills that dove through farmland and mill towns. One quarter mile stretch of roads was undoubtedly the steepest of the entire trip outside of Day 1 when we climbed through the Coastal Range on forest roads. Even walking up this monster needed three rest stops along the way.

Even with a later start, I finished the day at the Holiday Inn around 3 pm. I took a nap, showered, and ventured the half mile into town. The downtown had amazing old buildings and was bustling with several small business that were out of my price range for dinner. I walked through town to a Subway where I loaded up before going back to the hotel to relax for the rest of the evening. Me knee is just starting to feel a bit better.

Downtown Clinton

Day 122-Stroudsburg to Belvidere, NJ (17 Miles)

By the time I had woken up, Jamie had already left for work. Graydon was the next one awake and we ate cereal together from his fancy new bowls with straws built in before he had to catch his bus. My cart had been in the back of Lawerence's pick-up all weekend so we didn't have to load it up. We waited for Brian to show up to start work for the day and started out to the Stroudsburg. On the way out, we stopped at the Jonas gas station where we ran into Lawrence's dad and his paving crew about to head out for the day.

We eventually got to the Sunoco station and I had to run my last few miles in Pennsylvania. I said goodbye to Lawrence and Brian after Lawrence had stuffed something into my cart and told me I wasn't allowed to see it until he left. I soon discovered the note telling me to keep a positive attitude and to pay it forward along with a Visa gift card. I was extremely lucky to cross paths with Jamie and Lawrence on this journey. Checking up on me on the side of the road, taking me in for the weekend, and this final gesture were all acts of great kindness that showed what amazing people they are. I look forward to hopefully seeing them again soon as they are looking at taking a trip west.

After climbing a massive hill and arriving to Delaware Water Gap, I crossed the famed Appalachian Trail that stretches from Maine to Georgia. I proceeded down 611, which lost its shoulder and gained a Jersey Barrier as it carved into the walls of the valley made by the Delaware River. Several miles passed where I could see New Jersey but remained in Pennsylvania. In the familiar sounding town of Portland, I crossed the border into my 10th and final state of the trek.

A few miles passed on a busier US highway before turning onto a quiet county road into the town of Belvidere. I checked into the only hotel around for several miles, Hotel Belvidere, and talked for a while with the owner. The hotel was originally built in 1826 and had been beautifully restored just a few years ago. The owner let me store my cart in a storage closet outside.

I showered, walked around town with beautiful old Victorian homes for a bit, before stopping into the local bar and then a deli when I realized the bar didn't serve food. I ate on the back balcony where I could absorb the sun's rays like a turtle, as the owner put it. It was a pretty easy day that was only hindered by my lingering knee pains.

Crossing the Delaware River

Day 121-Rest in the Poconos

I started the day off with an icing routine for my knee which really needed the rest day. The morning was perfectly relaxing and Jamie made a huge breakfast. After a few hours of watching football, I left with Lawerence to help winterize a couple of the houses he manages as part of his company.

The first home was the one he offered to have me stay in in Effort. I'd never really seen a foreclosed house before, and it was interesting to see what can happen to a pretty new home after over a year of being vacant. The drywall was ripped up in a lot of spots where the copper pipe had been stolen and several of the walls were tagged with spray paint. The stolen pipes made winterizing very quick as the water lines didn't need to be drained.

After taking a bit more time winterizing the second home, we went to Lawrence's cousin's house to catch the start of the Eagles game. I've officially left Steelers/Penguins territory and am now very clearly in the land of Eagles/Flyers. We finished watching the game at Lawerence's parent's house where we had a great dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup. I also got my first taste of apple dumplings which were amazing.

We left for home after a heartbreaking Eagles' loss. I got to meet Jamie's 8-year-old son Graydon before he went to bed. I spent my last night in Pennsylvania watching the Packers get mauled by the Saints. It wasn't a very good weekend for my sports teams, but my new friends in the Pocono Mountains made it a great one overall.

Jamie, Lawrence and myself