New Jersey

We made it to New Jersey about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. We were met by an Auxiliary Police Captain who assisted us in getting our luggage and on the van to the hotel. Very nice gentleman who is a lawyer in his full-time profession. On the van we met a female rider from Ohio and four guys from Utah. It took us about a half hour to get to the hotel.

Mark, John and I shared a row on the plane. Michelle unfortunately sat apart from us and at the "back of the bus". The flight attendants were all very nice. As we were nearing cruising altitude the flight attendant got on the intercom and let everyone on the flight know that, "we are joined today by some special guests. We have four officers from the Lakewood Police Department flying with us who are going to New York to do a bike ride in honor of their four officers that were killed in November. They are riding to Washington, DC. Let's give them a hand." Nice applause followed. We were also treated to dig-e players (movies, music, tv shows). Highly recommended on long flights.

Here are a couple photos of New York City on approach to Newark Airport. We did not get close enough to get a good picture of the Statue of Liberty, but we could see it in the distance.

After we got to the hotel it was a matter of finding rooms and getting bikes put back together. Three of the four went well. My bike has a little issue with the rear derailleur that we plan to get fixed in the morning. There are bike mechanics here as part of the Tour that assembled bikes and are helping with any necessary trouble shooting. The other three bikes went together well. Mark seemed to have a little difficulty as he was spiraling into not feeling well. He thought his bike box was locked (just move the latch) and thought the bike shop only packed one of his wheels (look under the lid). It was a good laugh.

Unfortunately the guys we met from Utah found out that their bikes were shipped to the hotel we will all be staying at in Washington, DC. So they basically had the option of taking the train to DC and back or driving. They elected to drive and were given the use of one of the chapter support vans. Sadly this is a six hour trip just for these guys to get there and back, not to include finding the hotel and getting the bikes. The elected to go tonight so that they can go to the baseball game tomorrow. Hope they have a safe journey and get some sleep later tonight.

Mark is sick and pretty much in bed this evening. We are hoping this is a short time illness that disappears quickly!!!

Not certain at this point what the plans are for tomorrow as it is a free day before the ride. A number of people from the Northern California chapter are going into NYC to see the Mets play the San Francisco Giants at 1:30. We don't have a great desire for that trip ... so we'll see and I'll let you all know.