Nowhere To Be: Chapter 30: Jersey... Enough Said

As soon as I got to New Hope, PA/ Lambertville, NJ is was all business. We rode 5 miles on the super rad 77 mile Tow Path north to Stockton, NJ to meet Shira and Drew, our Warm Showers Hosts and quickly shower before heading back to New Hope for dinner. Shira offered me Thayer's Cucumber Witch-hazel (one of my fav's), some Bronner's soap for my shower and afterward a fresh veggie juice in a ball jar... I knew I had definitely found the right place. It was like my home away from home!

Uncle Jim and Aunt Hatti drove over from Toms River to meet us for dinner at Triumph Brewing Company. It was a beautiful evening of catching up with my Godparents who I had not seen in 10 years! Thank you so much Aunt Hatti and Uncle Jim for such a lovely evening! Upon returning to Stockton Shira had gotten us some amazing local/organic homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream that her roommate Cody made. Yummm!

The next morning we had a delicious spinach quiche before hopping back on the Tow Path to Lambertville to meet Dad at Pure Energy Cycles. While Kyle put a new front rack on my bike we went out for a second breakfast with Dad, Don, and David, where Zack discovered that Scrapple is the Creme de Pork of Pork Fondu! We ran around getting the necessary parts for Sadie and Dad had my new panniers finished in no time! Kyle hooked it up major with the rack only costing 1/3 of what it would've had I bought it on my own. Thank you so much Pure Energy! And thanks to Dad for just being your incredible, conquer all self! Also to David for spending part of your 14th Birthday to help me out along the way!

After the bike mod's we headed out quite later than normal to put in some miles to Neshanic Station. We encountered some very colorful locals at a bar who were a little toasted and warning us of the coming thunderstorms, urging us to camp under a nearby bridge...

Hmm let me think about that... Yea, Definitely Not! (Although we politely told them we'd consider it). They did however give us some handy information of catching the NYC train from Raritan only 10 miles away vs. Summit which was much farther. And thankfully so, because not 30 minutes later it was pouring! Because of the rain, I decided to skip dinner and by the time I was ready for breakfast I had been over 12 hours without food. I was on the prowl for some espresso and pastry when I stumbled upon the best kind of Jersey...

The Italian bakery! Everyone was speaking Italiglish (yes I made that word up) and so curious about what I was doing with "all a dis merda on di bycicle."

"Whata you need is espresso e cioccolato. You sit down and I bring it to you."

It was the best breakfast ever. And every time they said F*** they apologized for "disturbing di beautiful girl while she is trying to enjoy her breakfast after biking 1000 miles, idiota!"

We caught the train to Newark and got to hang out with a train conductor that had a bug up his ass about our bike situation. First he ordered us around while not letting us get a word in. "Nah, your on my train now," he threatened, when we tried to explain to him that we were instructed by the NJ transit rep over the phone. Then I tried to snap his photo but I got busted. He immediately stood over my shoulder while I deleted the pictures. Although, just before arriving to Newark, and the end of his shift, we managed to get in about 15 minutes of pleasant conversation with the crazy train dude who wasn't so bad after all.

Wished we had more time in Jersey but would have one of her best assets while in NY (Thanks to Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy)

All Aboard! Next Stop New York/Penn Station!

The Bridge connecting Pennsylvania to New Jersey

Family, Beer, and Food... Does it get any better?

Shira and Lucy

The Tow Path


Kyle was awesome and made me feel much better about my bike. I was doubting her quality since every "cycle tourist" has the Surly and discovered that my bike is no longer made in the States.