To continue the thought

In my last post I touched on some of my frustration with living in a the most metropolitan area in the USA, and being a 'car guy.' Coming from Baltimore, where it was very easy to go from city to perfect, fairly empty and challenging back roads in about 10-15 minutes maximum, to a city like NYC can be frustrating. Here it takes a minimum of 30-45 minutes to get to something other than stop lights and divided highway (and that's being generous) and even then more time to get to a road that you can really wind it out on and be alone with your thoughts. (and not around a million mini vans and taxi cabs) Then another 30-45 minutes (don't forget about traffic at the Lincoln!) to get back home...it's exhausting.

Now that I have lived in NYC for about 5 years, the first three of those years being without any kind of car, I now rarely drive for any sort of reason other than basic transportation. That bothers me. It's a frustrating predicament to be in as someone who has always very much enjoyed the act of driving. I can recall more than one vacation or trip where I enjoyed the route more than the results.



I'm not sure what the solution is. Perhaps I'm just too lazy to find the fun places to drive near my apartment, but I have yet to see anything other than the recently repaved part of the BQE that makes me think anything other than 'this bump is going to hurt, please don't smash my oil pan.' I'm by no means downing NYC car culture and those in and around the tri-state area by the way. Quite the opposite in fact...to be a 'car guy' here requires a diligence like none other, just pure, unrelenting dedication and sacrifice.

To run a modified car in NYC means to subject yourself and your vehicle to any number of hazards that are beyond the scope of 90% of the rest of the country. Baltimore was never a cake walk when you were downtown, but it's definitely not like one of the Boroughs. You break down here, you don't find a nice side street to leave it on until you can borrow a trailer. There will be no spot, no parking lot, no anyplace that will be safe from tow-trucks and tickets. It's rough, and not for everybody. Maybe not even for me.

Had I grown up here I can't say I'd be the same person I am now (obviously) or would even care about cars, but while I'm here I owe it to myself to find out more about what makes the NYC scene tick. I've been saying that for years, now it's time to investigate...watch this space...

_WRS