2014 NYC National Road Meet (June 28-29, 2014)

[froggie]

If you want 28 meetgoers to show up unexpectedly and bringing almost nothing, provide directions.

Doug's been here...

[oscar]

There's a McDonalds at 21st St./31st Dr. in Brooklyn that would come after the Roosevelt Island stop. That's about all I can find.

I took a look at the satellite imagery.  It's in the Astoria neighborhood.  Larger restaurant with some off-street parking.  So that's a good start.  Maybe use McDonald's restaurant locator (or websites for other fast-food chains) to spot at least one more near a later leg of the itinerary?  For example, maybe the Wendy's just south of the Cross-Bronx at 4040 3rd St., which also has off-street parking.  Or local residents can chime in with other suggestions.

[hbelkins]

Two words: milk jugs. 

[Alex]

Definitely going to miss the meet, sorry to disappoint. Your itinerary looks great Steve, which makes missing it that much more of a let down.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I do have a last minute question... seeing that we will do the Pulaski Skyway during the meet, is it advisable or not that I take 1-9T SB on a Friday evening? Actually, that question holds for either variant of 1-9...

[Alps]

I do have a last minute question... seeing that we will do the Pulaski Skyway during the meet, is it advisable or not that I take 1-9T SB on a Friday evening? Actually, that question holds for either variant of 1-9...

You may want to take I-78 and enjoy the Newark Bay Bridge. But because the Skyway is open southbound, I don't expect you to run into too much trouble whichever way you go.

[PHLBOS]

Unfortunately, I will NOT be able to attend this meet at all.  For those who are attending, enjoy.

[Pete from Boston]

I hope you folks take the opportunity to tune in WFMU 91.1 FM, the most interesting damn station there is.  Always a fantastic soundtrack for puttering around the metro area.

[Roadgeek Adam]

From my group photos:

Day 1 (taken in front of the Hell Gate Bridge in Astoria Park, Astoria, Queens):


Top row: AJ Bertin (MI), Steve Alpert (NJ - host), Robert Malme (MA), Doug Kerr (NY), Mike Tantillo (DC)
Second row: Oscar Voss (VA), Jason Ilyes (TN), Rob Sargent (NJ/WV), Cody Goodman (AL), Adam Winkler (NJ), Scott Onson (WI), Anthony Costanzo (NY), Carl Tessier (QC), Mike Pruett (MD), Connor Lauzon (MA), Laura Bianca-Pruett (MD), C. Patrick Zillacus (MD), David Golub (NY).
Front row: Adam Moss (me, NJ), Ian Ligget (PA/ME), David Corcoran (MT).
Not photographed, but attended some part of the meet: Mark Sinsabaugh (NY), Valerie Deane (NY), CC Slater (and girlfriend) (NY), Chris Mason (NJ), Brian LeBlanc (NC).

Day 2 (taken in front of the Bayonne Bridge from Elizabeth, New Jersey):


Standing: Oscar Voss, C. Patrick Zillacus, Anthony Costanzo, Adam Winkler, Mike Tantillo, Robert Malme, Carl Tessier, Steve Alpert, Connor Lauzon, Ian Ligget, Mike Pruett, Michael Temme-Soifer (NJ), Scott Onson, Keith Thomas (NJ), Leigh Koven (PA), David Golub, CC's girlfriend, Dan Murphy (NY).
Kneeling: Rob Sargent, Laura Bianca-Pruett, David Corcoran, CC Slater, Adam Moss.
Not photographed, but attended the meet: Doug Kerr.

There is a more hilarious version of this photo taken by Steve and Scott that hopefully will get posted in the near future.

[hbelkins]

No Send Help signs?

[Roadgeek Adam]

No Send Help signs?

None, but at least three were on property.

[SSOWorld]

No Send Help signs?

None, but at least three were on property.

in our cars or at our hotel rooms.

As for my updates - aside from a picture sent to Facebook I will not have mine available until I return home - which will be 7/2.  Even then I won't do anything until 7/3 due to being dead tired.  I've personally accomplished a lot both in and out of the car on my efforts surrounding this meet and have many photos to show for it.

[oscar]

I'll probably post some additional group photos later in the week.  Mine should be similar to the ones Adam has posted, though hopefully one of mine won't have me partially blocking the view of the Bayonne Bridge.  I limped home earlier this morning (literally, leg cramps I got at the beach on my way home from the meet), and it'll take me a few days to catch up. 

[hbelkins]

I saw Doug had stopped at Walkway over the Hudson on his way back home. I had horrible leg cramps walking back to the vehicles after we walked across the bridge during the meet, so I can relate to Oscar's situation.

In a good bit of proofreading, I had originally typed "craps" instead of "cramps" and I'm glad I caught it.

[PHLBOS]

In a good bit of proofreading, I had originally typed "craps" instead of "cramps" and I'm glad I caught it.

That one letter can make all the difference. 

[Roadgeek Adam]

I'll probably post some additional group photos later in the week.  Mine should be similar to the ones Adam has posted, though hopefully one of mine won't have me partially blocking the view of the Bayonne Bridge.  I limped home earlier this morning (literally, leg cramps I got at the beach on my way home from the meet), and it'll take me a few days to catch up. 

Yours should have less distortion than mine. I'm still trying to figure out how to fix that.

[SSOWorld]

I'll probably post some additional group photos later in the week.  Mine should be similar to the ones Adam has posted, though hopefully one of mine won't have me partially blocking the view of the Bayonne Bridge.  I limped home earlier this morning (literally, leg cramps I got at the beach on my way home from the meet), and it'll take me a few days to catch up. 

Yours should have less distortion than mine. I'm still trying to figure out how to fix that.

Move Oscar to the other side of the photo?

Oh wait... that would leave a spot 

[corco]

Made it home at about 0130 this morning. I'm totally exhausted today but it was totally worth it. Great sights, great people, and very well organized. Thanks Alps and everybody for a great time.

Personally, I want to get back to check out the other boroughs and more of New Jersey.

[A.J. Bertin]

I attended the Friday night dinner as well as Day 1 of the meet. Wow... I was impressed. Steve did a great job of organizing the meet and making sure everyone had all the information they needed. I liked how Steve made sure everyone was organized in vehicles according to whether or not they were going to the ballgame. It was also very smart to not have the cars following each other but instead meet up at each stop. We kept moving throughout the tour and Steve kept us on a pretty realistic time schedule.

I was navigating in Oscar's car and found the detailed written directions to be very clear for the most part. I definitely had to pay close attention to the directions, but it all worked out well. (Even though he didn't have any maps in the directions, it worked okay for me because I was using my atlas to get an idea of the bigger picture of where we were and where we were headed.) I also love how we had no traffic problems at all! I got lots of great photos from the front passenger seat too. Plus the weather was PERFECT the entire time.

Great job, Steve! It was good to see everyone. This meet will go down in my personal history as one of the best meets I've ever attended.

[dgolub]

Thanks to everyone for a great meet, and to Steve for organizing.  Photos to come on GNYR.

[Alps]

Thanks AJ and everyone for the reviews, kind words, attendance, driving... Meets are made by the people who come!
Official meet photos:
Day 1
Day 2
Official meat photos:
Alive
Fried

[bandit957]

Just as long as there were bunker blasts.

[Alps]

Just as long as there were bunker blasts.

Did you see that bacon? Of course there were.

[Ian]

Also would like to say how awesome Steve did with this meet. I had a blast! Here is my Flickr album of day 1 of the meet, with day 2 captions currently in the works. Hopefully will be uploaded in the next few days.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/sets/72157645058860298/

[Dr Frankenstein]

Got home at 0130 this morning. I did a long, winding and very scenic drive along NY 30 (which I recommend) which followed a stop at the site of Woodstock 1969 on Monday, all ending near Ottawa where I stayed for Canada Day festivities.

Now I'm at work, exhausted.

Steve did a great job organizing this, and the meet was fun and the weather was perfect. My photos didn't turn out quite as good as I wanted them to be, but they're not that bad. I probably won't post them before next week, as I'm focusing on finishing my boxes for the move next weekend.

It was great to see everyone, and I'm looking forward to the next meet!