Please Think of me this weekend 8/18

[BILLYL]

Please think of me this weekend. My wife's family hold a big family reunion each year and it always includes a "BIG CAMPING" event. All of her cousins - aunts and uncles will gather at a local park and have a long weekend. Each year the event will be held in either PA, NJ, MD and New York. This year it will be in New York - on Long Island. So I will need to tow the MOOSE - over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge - navigate through Brooklyn - up the Brooklyn Queens Expressway - and onto the Long Island Expressway. A MOOSE in Brooklyn!!!!!!! As a former New Yorker this is going to be exciting. I hope my nerves hold out.

So on Friday - at around 1PM - please pause and think of a MOOSE in Brooklyn.........

Bill

[Ira]

BROOKLYN!!! MY HOME TURF!!!

Billy, you don't have to take the BQE. That will be a NIGHTMARE.

Get on the LOWER level of the Verrazano (less cross-wind), and just take the Belt Parkway east. From there, I would pick up the Grand Central to the LIE, or the Cross Island.

The BQE SUCKS! Narrow, terribly bumpy, with a lot of scary turns.

If you decide to take the Belt Parkway, say hello to Exit 13, Rockaway Parkway, as you pass. Birthplace of Ira.

And by the way--the Belt Parkway used to be no commercial traffic, but that doesn't include RVs, does it?

[BILLYL]

Ira-

Rockway? I am orginally from Astoria - Queens.

I agree the BQE is real scary - but I don't know if the Belt will let me drag a TD behind me. I see if I can find a defintion as to what is limited. If I can take the Belt then I would just go into Sunrise Highway and get out to the camp site that way.

I'll check

Bill

[Spotman]

Where on Long Island are you going camping? Born and raised in Brooklyn (Gerristan Beach) and Valley Stream, L.I.. Don't know about towing on Belt Pkwy. been on there a million times though!!

Bob

[Ira]

Hey, it's old home week! I grew up in Canarsie, and spent a lot of time in Gerritsen Beach. (Remember that roast beef place Brennan and Carr's? And Jahn's ice cream?)

Also Valley Stream--which was like the FIRST mall around in the 60s.

And onto Queens, I also lived in Kew Gardens for a number of years.

You guys are probably right about the Belt Parkway--that you can't tow on it. But what if you got off the Verazzano, took residential streets a little east, and then cut over Flatbush Avenue to bring you into Breezy Point/Neponsit/Reese Park...and then out to Far Rockaway?

From Far Rockaway, I think you can cut in and pick up some expressway to take you out east on the Island.

Just some suggestions--because you're talking to a guy here that will probably be towing from South Florida to St. Augustine on the local road! I'm a a total wuss.

[madjack]

..WUSSIES...I used to run the BQE with a streched coventional cab tractor with a 48'x 102" wide trailer...I would come across the Verazzano, do a pickup in Queens and head out on the GWB....that was the cheapest in tolls for a commercial vehicle(40 bucks...60 any other route)...in two years worth of a monthly run, I ONLY ran over 2 vehicles
madjack

[asianflava]

Last time we were on the GW, I think it was like $7 for a car, I wondered how much it would cost for a truck.

[Ira]

I ONLY ran over 2 vehicles

That's the thing:

You were in a big truck and the rest of us WEREN'T.

Also, and I doubt it's gotten any better since I lived there, but it was a really lousy road. Incredibly bumpy in parts, narrow lanes, and tight turns.

[madjack]

I actually spent 3 years going into the City onna regular basis...the first year I would shoot my way into Hunt's Point market and shoot my way back out...latter, with another company, I would deliver in Jersey, Yonkers or out on the Island and come back to Queens for my pickup on the way back out...this was all back in the mid '80s...I also once ran all the way down and back in Manhattan on Broadway(???)...that was one of the longest days of my life...I got back into Jersey, took a handful asprin and slept for 12 hours after that trip cause my left leg(clutch) didn't wanna work any longer...
madjack

[Spotman]

Bill;
You could check out the back way as Ira suggested, but let me tell you this. many years ago (70's) I used to work in East New York, Pitkin Ave to be exact, that part of the neighborhood you would have to go thru. I don't know if it is still the same shi**y neighborhoods with crime and many traffic lights, but as a worker there, you had to carry a weapon for self defense and pay some "kids" to watch your car, if you wanted to get home, with wheels!! you may want to search the online maps for something.

If you find a good route, let me know, I haven't been up that way in several years, (towing). Again, where are yo camping out there on L.I.?

Ira; I used to hang out at that mall all the time while in high school there. Don't miss that place at all, My brother-in-law still lives in Valley Stream, retired from FDNY.

[Ira]

Bill;
I used to work in East New York, Pitkin Ave to be exact, that part of the neighborhood you would have to go thru. I don't know if it is still the same shi**y neighborhoods with crime and many traffic lights, but as a worker there, you had to carry a weapon for self defense and pay some "kids" to watch your car,

My parents grew up near Pitkin Avenue, on Powell Street. (Does Livonia Avenue sound familiar to you also?) Growing up myself in Canarsie and them driving me around their old neighborhood for a "look," it was like Dresden bombed out after the war.

You talk about the scum of the earth destroying a neighborhood!

[Spotman]

Ira;
I never ventured far from work to enjoy the "ruins" of New York. Besides I valued my life too much!! One of my uncles still lives in the good part of Brooklyn, Ave U and Flatbush across from the park.

[BILLYL]

We were orginally scheduled to camp at Hecksher Park ( it is at the end of the Southern Parkway and is a NY state park in East Islip) Nice place to camp and right on the Great South Bay. WE get a call from them last week saying the camp ground is closed due to Wes Nile - so now everyone is in a panic. They suggest going to WildWood - on the NorthShore further out. But we found a Suffolk county park Blyunberg(sp) but we can't make reservations until 3 days before we get there. But there are many nice parks in the area - nice one in Bethpage off of 110.

Ira-

I like the idea of getting into the local streets and make my way towards the LIE. But I did send a email to NYC DOT to see if I can tow a small trailer on the Beltway.

Valley Stream mall was very interesting - my family moved from Astoria to Baldwin - I used to work at the Lafayette Radio in Lynbrook in the 60's and trucks would always get stuck under the LIRR bridge that was next to the store.

[Ira]

My aunt and uncle moved to Baldwin when they first started built houses out there. When we visited, they would also take me to this little amusement park called "Noonleys" (I think), which was in Oceanside (I think again).

[Spotman]

Billy; I remember Lafayette Radio, the Lynbrook Movies, good old White Castle, and a few neighborhood Taverns across the street. (Late nites).

Ira; I believe it was Nunnley's on Sunrise Highway, cool amusements and food. My sister in Fla., used to live in Baldwin too.


Bob