2013 Brick/Wall, NJ meet

[Alps]

On a related note, I'm now asking you you'uns all y'all to please RSVP by June 26 so that I can let QSL know what's what! We have 9 so far on FB.

[Duke87]

Magic words you guys are saying: "5 AM". "11 PM".  Valerie's trip will have her doing it at noon-1 PM. Not a pleasant hour for it on the weekend.

[vdeane]

For the time being I would avoid driving any roads in The Bronx towards the GWB like the plague. With the current state of construction at the 87/95 interchange, expect to sit in traffic for an hour or more on the Cross Bronx westbound and for a good half hour at least on the Deegan northbound (or southbound, but that's not on your route). If you want to clinch the Cross Bronx, do it going east (won't be nearly as bad) and don't head back.

In that case, I'll save the I-87 clinch for another time.

Magic words you guys are saying: "5 AM". "11 PM".  Valerie's trip will have her doing it at noon-1 PM. Not a pleasant hour for it on the weekend.

Ditching the I-87 clinch, leaving just the one eastbound trip down the Cross-Bronx, yields a projected time of 2h 11m to the toll barrier for the George Washington Bridge. http://goo.gl/maps/KkThc

Leaving at 8, I should get there around 10 assuming no delays in NJ.  I figure getting up an hour earlier is worth it to save a good chunk of the bridge toll.

[hbelkins]

At this point, I guess I should officially confirm that I will not be in attendance.

A combination of finances, a dwindling number of vacation days, the fact that I recently traveled to the Northeast, the fact that I will be most likely be back in that general direction for a certain August wedding, my plans to go to Chattanooga and Kansas next month and other factors will preclude my attendance.

I'd hoped to get out to Suffolk and Nassau counties in New York while I was in the general area if I came, but I'll have to save that for another time.

[Alps]

I'll see you at a certain August wedding, HB. Right now, here's who I have (continuing updates):

15 via Facebook +3 = 18
dgolub = 19 (let's finalize coordination)
Anyone else who hasn't confirmed yet?

Baseball I'd just like a general idea - me, Duke87, Adam, PHLBOS - anyone else? Yes, pending weather.

[PHLBOS]

I just changed my Facebook status to 'Going'. 

As far as the ball game is concerned, while weather forecasts are subject to change between now & then; the current forecast (on http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Lakewood+NJ+USNJ0250:1:US) for the Lakewood, NJ calls for 'scattered' thunderstorms by day and showers by night for this coming Saturday.

Steve, a repeat of my question comment on FB; were you planning to purchase the game tickets in advance or we all just purchase them at the gate on game day I'm assuming that we'll be purchasing the game tickets at the facility that evening?  With the weather being iffy, it might be wise not to hold off purchasing purchase the tickets in advance.  That way we don't get stuck w/tickets for a game that may get postponed due to weather for a later date at a facility that most of us don't live anywhere near.

That said, I am interested in attending the game... weather permitting.

Food for thought.

[oscar]

Count me in for the meet.  Not sure yet about the baseball game (might head home instead that evening).

[jpi]

Have fun guys, I will be working all weekend and getting ready for the BIG trip next month and I will see some of you guys at a certain wedding in August!

[vdeane]

Looks like I might be driving blind to this one.  My printer keeps spitting out blank pages (but only for this one document, printing from Chrome or a test page is OK), so I can't take my trip notes with me.

EDIT: So apparently you can't just use an ink cartridge from 3 years ago even if it still has ink in it.

[Duke87]

Looks like I might be driving blind to this one.  My printer keeps spitting out blank pages (but only for this one document, printing from Chrome or a test page is OK), so I can't take my trip notes with me.

Take a piece of paper. Take a pen. Scribble notes by hand.

[Janko Dialnice]

To all of you who are attending this meet, I won't be able to attend, but I will be with you in spirit. Drive safely, have a good time, and I look forward to seeing the photos and commentary.

[jpi]

Same here! :-)

[Alps]

I'll hopefully get a couple of photos up tomorrow. There were 20 of us at lunch, and the 18 who stayed for the meet had a great time, even though it rained out just a little bit of our NJ 18 stub exploration. 9 of us stayed for a quick but fun BlueClaws game and some more conversation (including interesting tidbits about DC roads) and then parted ways in all directions.

[dgolub]

Thanks to everyone for a great first road meet, and thanks to Steve for organizing!  I've got a whole batch of photos from yesterday that I'll be uploading to my site over the next month or so.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Looks like I might be driving blind to this one.  My printer keeps spitting out blank pages (but only for this one document, printing from Chrome or a test page is OK), so I can't take my trip notes with me.

EDIT: So apparently you can't just use an ink cartridge from 3 years ago even if it still has ink in it.

I drove blind the whole way, too. My phone's charger had trouble working properly, and I didn't get to change my SIM card to my US one until I actually arrived at the hotel, for lack of a paperclip or similar device.

Down: NY 22 -> US 11 -> Northway -> 7/787/90 -> Thruway Berkshire -> Taconic Pkwy -> Saw Mill River Pkwy -> Henry Hudson Pkwy -> West St -> I-78 -> NJTP -> NJ 33.
Up: NJTP (having already done significant parts of 1, 9 and 130 during the weekend) -> Palisades Pkwy -> 6/202 -> Bear Mtn Pkwy -> Taconic -> (trip down reversed)

[oscar]

While I didn't take a photo of our entire, rather large, meet group (someone else did, but I haven't seen that photo), I did get an impromptu shot of three of the four women in attendance, huddled under an umbrella during a brief shower at the NJ 18/138 interchange:



From left to right:  Laura Bianca (Maryland), Valerie Deane (New York), Jessica Labrie (Ontario).

[dgolub]

Photos are up on GNYR.  Enjoy!