50 States, Day 171

  50 States, Day 171 Southington to around Atlantic City, 116 miles
 
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
~Henry Ford


 The tires on the trailer showed signs of wear. Okay, they are Maypops. The last tire change in Pierre, South Dakota spoiled me. I thought that you just walked into a tire store and they hooked you up. Like in Pierre. Nooo. Not 4.80 by 12s. You go from store to store to a lawn and garden tractor store to a trailer store to Harbor Freight and then six stores behind you; you give up and ride on! Once again my expectations for New Jersey ranked low and it exceeded them, mostly. The back country, with its fall leaves, winding roads and occasional farms made for a pleasant surprise.  However, Trenton didn't exactly exceed expectations. Lots of blight. "Looks like we're in the 'hood," I muttered and QG agreed. Well, every town can have a sketchy neighborhood. But then we rode through another. And another.



We found the Capitol by following the signs and looking for a dome and sure enough, the gold gilded dome appeared among the skyscrapers. Ding ding, bonus, it bore a cross on the dome, first one. We parked (at a meter) and walked right in the front door. At the strip search, the guard informed us that no tourists just run around inside, but tours with guides are every hour on the hour. That's a first. We toured a nearby museum and scrounged a few more quarters and made the tour. 




Sarah, our tour guide, was quite pleasant as I was in a particularly sarcastic mood and she put up with me. NJ's building is the second oldest working Capitol, to Annapolis. However, this building has been through three major remodels and probably has a stick or two and a chunk of concrete from the original. Still, they built it in 1799 and managed not to burn it to the ground.


Most of the building is just-another-Capitol, but a porcelain centerpiece was quite attractive and held the state flower, bird, insect and tree. State insect? Really? Yep.

We toured the Governor’s Reception room, and another first. Sarah wouldn't tell us where the Governor's office was in the building. What, do I look like a terrorist? Don't answer that.



In NJ's defense, they lost 591 people in the terrorist attack on 9-11. Yes, New Jersey is New York's almost twin brother.
The architect also took risks with bright red, orange and yellow walls, and QG and I both decided he pulled it off. Very nice. Like most Capitols, they kicked out the Supremes years ago. Speaking of that, NJ's Governor has more power than most other states, as he appoints state Supreme Court justices and he has line item veto power. No wonder we can't find out where his office is located.

We launched (okay crawled) out of town and got into the back country again. A quick stop for fuel-no. The credit card failed. Huh? QG's failed too. Call the company and the pleasant lady from India (with poor English skills) informed me our card had been compromised and we could get a new one sent to our address in 24 hours. Well, we don't have an address. Well surely you know where you're going, right? Ah, no.  


We cruised onward, weighing options. Stay somewhere two days? Live without it until Saturday and have it sent to daughter Amy's? Heaven forbid living without a credit card for four days! QG called the credit card company from tonight's motel and got it straightened out. It seems she ordered a Nook Book while I ordered an e-book at almost the same time, so the charges, along with our New Jersey buys, made for a red flag for the credit card company. I appreciate their caution, actually. Now the card works again, woo hoo! Let the charging continue!  And now, the Queen of plastic, she gives me a charge, Quilter Girl!

Sunshine today, hooray!  It makes all the difference.  It even makes driving from one tire store to the other enjoyable.  We saw a lot of Southington, which was a very nice town with older houses even on the side streets. After the capitol we decided to head for the ocean.  We had a bit of trouble finding the highway we wanted, and ended up in PA for a bit.  Kevin is getting good at U-turns.  We don't really know what city we are in, but we are a short distance from Atlantic City.  We had a nice dinner in a bar and grill not far from the motel.  Kevin had lobster stuffed ravioli, which he loved.  He didn't quite lick his plate clean, but it was close.  I had a pulled pork sandwich.  It was nice and tangy, the sauce was a cross between Texas and Carolina BBQ. Different and very good.  

QG

Tomorrow, to the beach!
 

2 comments:

Mel Nason said...

You? Kevin? In a sarcastic mood? Do you really expect us to believe THAT?

Unknown said...

Okay, I was in a NORMAL mood. Which is a sarcastic mood.