Today we drove to New York City. It was a 4 hour drive from where we camped, and all went well until the last 25 minutes.
We were on the interstate when the car started making a rattling noise. At first we thought it might be a stone in the tyre but the rattling got worse.
We pulled over on the side of the freeway to see if there was anything obvious wrong. Even while it was idling the rattled continued. I thought oh no, I don’t want to break down in a dodgy part of Jersey city.
Mike decided to carry on driving to our destination, an RV park in Jersey city. It’s basically a big carpark with water and electricity on site. There are also showers, toilets and a laundry here. We’ll be making use of all of them.
We took a walk to the waterfront where there was a clear view over Manhattan, with regular ferries to take out there.
We were both pretty tired so we spent the afternoon soaking up the atmosphere. The part of Jersey city we’re in is all new and modern. There is a marina and many apartment blocks. You can even rent kayaks and jet skis.
After our walk, Mike looked at the car engine to see if anything had come loose in there to cause the rattle. Sure enough, one of the belts was missing. But which belt? Mike’s first thought was alternated, but thankfully it wasn’t that. We looked up to part number and it’s apparently the smog pump that lost its belt . Apparently that’s not a problem, we can drive it like that and get it fixed at our next service which is due soon.
We went to dinner at surf city which is next door to the campground. It was a bustling bar area right on the marina with many options of food to choose from. We both fancied pizza and chose a pepperoni one and sat down, overlooking the harbour. It was the most delicious pizza I’ve ever had, cut into squares rather than rectangles. They also had lobster rolls which I’m keen to try.
It was really cool seeing another side to New York, away from the tourists. Locals hanging out together, yachts coming and going from the marina. I’d never thought of New York as somewhere to go sailing!
We are going to explore Manhattan tomorrow by bike.