North Jersey, NY, PA, Meet, April 16th, Astoria Park, 11am

[YardleyBill]

I say regardless of the weather let's scrap the food and we'll find food locally. It's NEW YORK CITY ... has to be good food locally. My friend who grew up in Queens said there are TONS of great places to eat. We have cars that fit 5 people. Let's go out for lunch and dinner if needed.

Just a thought to make things easier...

I'll do whatever.

[grayslater]

Looking like rain for my meet as well.

[M-Pressive]

I say regardless of the weather let's scrap the food and we'll find food locally. It's NEW YORK CITY ... has to be good food locally. My friend who grew up in Queens said there are TONS of great places to eat. We have cars that fit 5 people. Let's go out for lunch and dinner if needed.

Just a thought to make things easier...

I'll do whatever.

I agree, I think this is best.

We will work around the rain by getting lunch and dinner somewhere local.

[alandw]

So this morning's and this evening's NY weather forecast says rain starting LATE in the day - maybe early eve. We should have decent weather most of the day - even starting with sun in the am. So we are on.

We will NOT cook - just bring liquid refreshments (adult and other) and any snack food you want - we'll go out to lunch/dinner - what ever we choose as a group.

The sign-up list (no food) is again posted so it does not fall behind the rest of the discussion.

We'll meet in the parking lot off the 21st street entrance (the black rectangles).

1. Keith (silverspecial)
2. Alan & Seth (alandw)
3. Rob (rknapp)
4. Bill (YardleyBill)
5. Julio (DKano)
6. Tony Starks (FISK50)
7. Aleks (aliskerov) ***Has School - hopefully can come in the AM just to meet everyone***
8. Norbert (norbertg240)
9. Kass (silversrfer)
10. Patrick (BossSlate)

[LUNAT1C]

My weather report for Hatfield calls for rain starting in the late morning and temperatures not hitting 50 until closer to 5pm. I'd expect rain in NYC by early afternoon as the clouds head east.

I'm okay with eating out, preferably not fast food. Took me almost a year to drop 40 pounds, no need to balloon up again lmao.

[LUNAT1C]

Thought I should mention that I'm directionally challenged.

Here's my plan... PA-309 from Hatfield to Rt-202 N through Bucks County, into Jersey, to 202/31 through good old Flemington straight on up to I-287... From there hit I-78 E. At some point that will connect with the NJTP and I can roll through the Lincoln Tunnel.

What happens after that? Does the tunnel spit you out on 34th street directly or do I have to keep an eye out for it?

Left or right on 1st ave?
Left or right on 59th?

I'm going to use the GPS on my Droid. RB1 is almost totally unreliable in city environments since it can't make heads or tails of multiple rights and lefts, and takes too long to recalculate when a turn is missed because it was too slow to keep up or too vague to be useful... so I'll bring up Google Maps and zoom in to get street names once I approach the Lincoln. My new GPS isn't installed yet... sitting on my living room floor until I get the new bezel and the accessories.

[alandw]

Ya know... its been so long since I've come in thru the tunnel from Jersey, I don't remember - maybe some one who runs that route can chime in, but regardless of the answer - YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE OUT DRIVING IN NYC
Just come out of the tunnel and follow signs for 34th street.

You can continue from 34th right thru the Queens-Midtown tunnel (TOLL) or you will turn LEFT (North) on 1st Ave.
If you're taking the bridge, as you're approaching 59th, follow the signs for the 59th Street - Queensboro Bidge. I recall you'll actually go left off 1st and then it makes a U-Turn onto the bridge. Get off for 21st Street on the Queens side and head NORTH to Hoyt/Entrance to park.

I have not been there - but I suspect the main parking lot should be easy to find.
You have Keith's and my cell phones? If not, PM.

[YardleyBill]

First update from the meet.

No one is here yet due to traffic. (Noon.)

Oh and it's windy and freezing!

[YardleyBill]

Picture.

[aliskerov]

I hope you guys had a great meet. Just got out of class a couple hours ago....Real bumbed I didnt get to see yall. Was very tempted to drive out for the first hour of the meet, but seems like I would've missed the party anyway. Make-up meeting in June anyone?

[DaleFicken]

I hope you guys had a great meet. Just got out of class a couple hours ago....Real bumbed I didnt get to see yall. Was very tempted to drive out for the first hour of the meet, but seems like I would've missed the party anyway. Make-up meeting in June anyone?

Since this meet was your idea I think it should have been done around your schedule..I bet you can get some people together.. you just name the time and place.. preferably in NJ, PA or upstate NY.

[DaleFicken]

Picture.

Kieth, is that your silver special? You had the skirts sprayed the same color as the car? Not sure I noticed that before.

[YardleyBill]

Kieth, is that your silver special? You had the skirts sprayed the same color as the car? Not sure I noticed that before.

Dale, that one belonged to Patrick (BossSlate).

Everyone really liked it.

[JoeKD]

Great pic! Sorry there was no way I could make it

[YardleyBill]

So I will write up the social aspect of the meet. Hopefully one of the car gurus will chime in with the car details. I'm a little iffy on all the car details. (Keith also has more pictures.)

I got there around 11:45. I was worried that I was late, but after driving around the park a few times, I couldn't find anyone. Turns out they were stuck in traffic! Alan, Seth, and Keith got there around 12:15. I think they thought I looked silly in my winter hat but when they got back from the bathrooms, I think they wished they had a winter hat! (It was very windy and cold. And loud from being right beneath the Triborough Bridge.)

While they were in the bathroom, Patrick showed up.

We had 9 people who said they were coming to the meet, so we hunkered down and waited for everyone else to come. We got a text from Robert, so he knew he was on his way. We spent the time eating snacks and drinking assorted drinks. Seth made a new friend ... Pip the squirrel. We all agreed it was the most aggressive squirrel we had ever seen. But, he WAS a New York squirrel.

Rob got there around 2. About 5 minutes after he got there, it started to rain. We decided to line the cars up for pictures, and cut our losses. Keith had PMed everyone his cell phone so we figured if anyone else was going to show, they would call him.

Time for lunch! We climbed into 2 cars and headed off into Queens looking for a place to eat. The main requirement ... 2 parking spaces. After driving around for a bit, we saw the Neptune Diner, which had a banner proclaiming it the "Best Diner In New York". Sounded good to us, AND they had 2 parking spaces. So after some creative NYC driving (good job Alan!) we ended up there.
PICTURE = The Best Diner In NYC

We spent a few hours eating and drinking (thank you NYC for having cocktails in diners) and talking all about cars and life in general. It was really a lot of fun.

Afterwards we got back into the cars and headed back to Astoria Park. We were hoping the huge bridge over the parking lot would protect us from the ongoing downpour, but it did not. We stayed in the cars for a few more minutes and then headed home.

I can't speak for anyone else, but Rob followed me back to the NJ Turnpike, and it was one of the worst drives I've ever been on. I actually cheered a little bit when I got out of the Lincoln tunnel. Then it POURED almost all the way home. Ugh.

As always, it was great to meet people from the club.

[aliskerov]

Sounds like a good time, but wish the weather was better for you guys. I know we got Indy and Carlisle coming up with everyone trying to fix their cars up for them, but I certainly think that it would be awesome to meet up once over this summer. Im graduating May 26th, after that I'll be working Monday thru Friday - weekends available again...lol. Murphy's Law at work for ya. Summer is a great time for a cookout, I'm sure we can find a park with a parking lot that would permit us to set up a grill, a cooler full drinks, a bunch of fold out seats and just have a good time. If I could get a head count WITH a date in June that would be preferable, I would be glad to orchestrate this one. Let me know guys

[BossSlate]

First off I wanna say much respect to the guys who made it to the meet yesterday (ironically with the exception of me,,,all from outta state).We knew the weather was bad but we made the effort.It was great to meet Bill,Keith,Alan,Seth and Robert.Bill summed up the social aspects.Keith Alan and Seth followed me back to the Bronx to pick up some old foglights I had laying around.The drive wasnt anything out of the ordinary....by the way you guys did an awesome job keeping up,not that I was driving fast, but its very easy to get lost/cutoff in NY traffic.Im gonna try to make Carlisle.Alan and Robert gotta few goodies theyre adding to their rides so I gotta go to Carlisle to check em out(ssshhh....real hush hush)

[LUNAT1C]

Bill, I got there about 1/4 after 1, lol. I wasn't THAT late haha.

Next meet... let's have it outside any metropolitan center. I can't stand city driving! NYC was nice in that if you missed a street, the grid layout was easy enough to follow and make your way back. But, the traffic was horrible, as usual... made worse by the downpour. Though it was interesting driving right by the Empire State Building... looking right out of the sunroof, and getting a bit of vertigo lol. Glad I was sitting for that.

[YardleyBill]

Bill, I got there about 1/4 after 1, lol. I wasn't THAT late haha.

I honestly forgot what time you arrived, so I took an average of times I thought it was. I was too busy trying to stay away from that squirrel and finding the nearest hospital on my iPhone in case anyone got bit.

If we hadn't been following each other I think we could have cut down on the driving time with some really aggressive driving, but I don't think it would have even saved that much. 15 lanes or whatever it is going down to 2 to the tunnel is what caused all the problem.

[LUNAT1C]

Yeah, as we got near the street for the tunnel I had an opening to shoot ahead by several cars and took it. Cut off a Civic, but only because a bus decided to make the turn in front of me and forced me over lmao.