Why I Skipped NDK This Year

[Buffalostyle]

You know, I wasn't really sure what to think about this post. With the title "Why I Skipped NDK This Year", I didn't think that it would be all that interesting to me. So with it remaining at the top of the board, I decided to finally take a look-see. Talk about being pleasantly surprised. That looks like the absolute best road trip that a geek could ever take. Honestly....I'm quite envious.

[joggle]

Wow! Your road trip was nothing but win. Thanks for sharing!!

[Rippy The Nekomatta]

Sweet, that was so cool....hope you come back next year! I missed you guys

[Boomerjinks]

Sweet, that was so cool....hope you come back next year! I missed you guys

How is that possible? I don't think we've ever said two words to each other.

Alright! Continuing where I left off!

After sleeping surprisingly well after our little adventure with mc Chris in Times Square, we got up on Thursday morning to check out more of New York City. Our first stop was in lower Manhattan, the location of the art museum from Ghostbusters 2. The building started life as the US Customs House, but has been since repurposed as part of the Smithsonian Institution, housing a branch of the Native American Museum.



The area where the Ecto-1A pulls up in that movie isn't actually a road, it's a pedestrian plaza. Technically it's been inaccessible to all vehicles even before the film was made. Directly in front of the Customs House is the famous Bowling Green park, and beyond that the famous "Charging Bull" stock statue. Ever ones to press our luck, after surveying the scene we decided to go for it. I hopped out of the car and dashed into the museum while the guys entered a holding pattern around Ground Zero.

I asked the security guards if I could talk to the officer on duty, and they sent out a member of the Federal Police. Since the building is of the Smithsonian, it wasn't just normal NYPD running the show. I explained to him what was going on and what we wanted, he agreed to have the car pull up but it needed to pass some security first.

While waiting for the Ecto to arrive back at the museum, I snapped this picture...

Awesome.

Apparently "addition security" meant an inspection from a bomb-sniffing team.


After that we were free to enter!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIBPd56YKrk


We hung around a bit taking pictures, this was less about showing the car off in public and more about a fan-made vehicle going where no other fan-made vehicle had been before.








After the museum, we headed back up to Times Square to meet up with Will and drop Richie off so he could see some old friends. While trying to find parking, we managed to get pulled over yet again, but this time by an AMBULANCE! These guys were behind me when I starting hearing a repeated siren "yelp." I checked behind and didn't see any lights, so I figured it was coming from somewhere else. The yelping continued, and I finally pulled over. The EMTs hopped out and ran over to ask for photos, we busted up laughing and told them to go nuts. Hearing the one EMT calling his photographer a "r-----" in a rich Brooklyn accent for taking so long was priceless.


Apparently our visit had fallen right in the middle of Fashion Week, and our arrival in Times Square was greeted by half a dozen honest-to-god paparazzi.


I had no idea what was going on when were were suddenly hit by rapid-fire flashes and guys walking in the middle of the street alongside the car as we found a parking spot. Unreal.


This is most likely where the blog news about GB3 came from, as we started spouting off filming rumors as soon as we were out of the car. We chowed down at a horrible, horrible chinese buffet and were back on the road soon after. This time we headed out of Manhattan and into Queens, in search of the World's Fair park and our meetup with NJUKGB.

Eventually we found the park, but were discouraged to discover that the U.S. Open was going on and that access to most of the park was closed off. I got as close as I could to the Unisphere, but it just didn't make the picture. Eventually I found an access road leading around back to a barricaded area swarming with police. I asked nicely and they let me park in the middle of the road to take pictures, so long as I promised to take less than 5 minutes.

But there was a problem, every single one of those cops wanted a picture next to the car on their phones. So while I tried to get my framing right, cop after cop after cop walked in and ruined the shot...

Kind of frustrating, but ultimately quite funny.

At one point, one officer commented to Kris that he was going to get yelled at by his boss if he let us hang out any longer. Kris noted that we would finish a lot quicker if we could actually get a clear shot of the car by itself. The cop immediately started yelling at his cohorts to "get the hell out of the way."

I eventually got the picture.

We chatted with NJUKGB for a bit and then headed out.

Spotted this in Queens.

SAVE ME, JEABUS!

Also...


My last unfinished goal of the day was to get a shot of the Ecto in front of the Atlantic Ocean. The car made it to the Pacific originally in July 2009 (then again in December and a third time this July), but I wanted it to be official that the car has made it to both coasts under it's own power. Coney Island offered this, and potentially pictures in front of scary amusement part stuff.

I got much more than I bargained for.

I've been to a lot of sketchy places. Commerce City here in Colorado feels like it's straight out of a RoboCop movie. LA23 is a block from the Los Angeles Mission. We explored Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago. Also, Ohio. But nothing could every prepare me for how unnerving Coney Island in the off-season could be. Most of those other places are abandoned and decrepit, but they are industrial or very urban in nature. Take the seediest urban environment imaginable, fill it with clowns with half their faces missing and amusement rides that look like they were designed by the SAW production team, and you have Coney Island. Don't get me wrong, it was AWESOME. But it was scary.

But this was funny.



As I'd feared, Coney Island didn't really have any vistas accessible for personal vehicles, so we moved on. But not before I ran up to the boardwalk to take a few pictures for myself.




With that out of the way we headed south, toward the Narrows Bridge. Here I did manage to find a suitable vantage point along the expressway.




A few wrong turns and mixed exits ended up forcing us to cross the bridge, costing AJ nearly $20 in tolls to get us back to Manhattan. Now you know where your supporting membership fees go: out my window to a guy in a booth.

But, it afforded us a nice view of New York.


Spotted while turning around.

BUT HOW WILL I REMEMBER WHEN IT IS?

I REALLY regret not getting some Ecto pictures in DUMBO.... man.


We finished up the night by taking the subway from 56th and Lexington to Times Square for Planet Hollywood. AJ had never ridden on the trains there before and I wasn't opposed to seeing some of my favorite dystopian undergrounds again on the trip.

Planet Hollywood was as good and as expensive as ever, though I was wildly disappointed to discover that the Jurassic Park display which I didn't care about the last time I was there (since I hadn't built the jeep) had been replaced by GODDAMN TWILIGHT COSTUMES. Bullshit. Man, I wanted to make a stun gun.

We hit up Grand Central and then made our way back to the car. Damn, the subway is hot in the summer months....


We crossed the Queensboro bridge and I started looking for places to take pictures of the New York skyline. I wanted a shot similar to the one I have of the car in front of Denver, but in New York. Fernando recommended spots near the giant Pepsi Cola sign, and we soon found a parking lot for a Brooklyn water taxi.

I was QUITE pleased with the results.


Interestingly enough, a five-alarm fire started in midtown while I was shooting, you could see the smoke rising through the different pictures near the end of the shoot. Here's the clearest.

After that we headed back to the Super 8 and crashed, hard!

[Boomerjinks]

Friday morning we were up and ready to get out. To avoid as many tolls as possible we drove back through lower Manhattan and took the tunnel to New Jersey. Of course we had to stop by City Hall.

There was no time for us to work our magic, though

After heading out through the tunnel (playing Promised Land, of course), we were in Jersey once more.

Horrible, horrible, rusty Jersey.

Then there was Pennsylvania.

I found PA to be very, very pretty. I wish our trip had taken us through there a month later so I could see all the colors, it must be insane.

Our first stop was actually a detour to Centralia, a small ghost town in the coal hills.


If you don't know what Centralia is, was, and signifies, then CLICK HERE TO LERN SOMETHIN.

Basically, Centralia is Real Life Silent Hill. You really really should click the above link, it's insane. One of the most visible areas affected by the fire is an old section of Hwy 61 that is now blocked off and re-routed. At either end of the highway are two earth berms, about six feet in height, to prevent vehicle access to the area. Here is the Ecto in front of the innermost berm.


To the left is sort of an ATV trail that provides easier, albeit still-limited access to the abandoned highway. The little trail was quite steep at the end and composed almost entirely of large loose rocks, and I didn't want to risk the Magnum ****ting the bed this close to Hell. I have absolutely confidence that the Jeep would have made it in a heartbeat, though. Hell, the Outback could have probably scrambled around it as well.

Anyway, this is how the road starts off.

Plants growing up and out, and the occasional spot of graffiti. From here it just gets more and more I Am Legend, though. The plants in the middle become full bushes, and spraypaint tags spot the road every few feet.

Then the road starts to do this.

 The entire area was once, most likely still is, prone to collapse - it's a fact that doesn't leave your mind for a second while walking this road.

Running down the middle of the highway is an enormous fissure, now filled with garbage and - probably - urine from visitors. Hell, if I'd had to pee, you can be sure I would have done it right where the smoke was coming from.








Can Sad Kris take his turn at the top of the front page?


Richie fighting the urge to put a traffic cone on his head and start raping and killing and raping and killing and raping.


Oh yeah, the smoke. There was seriously smoke still billowing from the cracks. And the ground was noticeably warmer near the fissures, freaky stuff, and very neat to finally see in person.

We made our way back to the car and drove up through the remnants of the town, making sure to pass down every road. The signs leading to the "fire" actually take you up a hill to an older cemetery (older than the one right next to the highway) and past several areas filled with rubble and bare patches where nothing will grow. Up here there was actually tons of smoke and the smell of the fire was very much apparent, compared to the highway where you would only get occasional wafts of the odor (aside from the odorless, more poisonous fumes, that is).


Aside from them the roads (which were really neat to drive down), there was practically nothing there. A half dozen homes -including this funeral home- was all that remained.

Having our fill, and needing to get back on schedule, we departed.

Also, THIS.
YouTube - Siren Hill

[The Ronin]

Holy crap, that Centralia PA stuff is creepy. Wiki said that one of the cemeteries has smoke rising from and around it. freaky.

Looks like the rest of the trip was pretty awesome. Great pics

[Rippy The Nekomatta]

Actually we have a few times, mostly it was about the car! LOL

[glow bear]

thats pretty insane, but awesome as well, you guys look like you had an uberly amazing time missing NDK lol, im jealous.