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About the N.J. turnpike. First off, remember that out here we have freeways which are what the word implies free. I'm not used to someone sticking their hand in my pocket every couple of miles. The very word "turnpike" sounds like the bad old days when a robber baron would stick a pole, or pike, across the road. You had to lay some gold on him so he would turn the pike, and you could progress. I was driving a 30 ft. motorhome, towing a Civic hatchback.
Anyhow, It was the Sunday after the 911 fiasco and we were heading to N.Y. from Mass. The George Washington bridge was narrowed to 2 lanes. It took over 2 hours to get across. We decided to skip N.Y. and head south. Arrived at the the toll booth at dusk. Yankee stadium had a lot of traffic and I was a little confused. We were in the wrong lane and I didn't notice till I got to the toll booth. The truck lane was way to the right. The car lane was narrowed down and there was no backing up or turning around.
Eyeballing the opening I made a quick decision and decided the coach would get through with about an inch to spare. So we went for it. I hadn't counted on a large sign hanging down to keep large vehicles from going through the car toll. A loud scraping sound got my attention and my stomach was tied in a half hitch. With visions of my roof being peeled back like a banana, I was mentally rehearsing my explanation to the insurance co. The toll booth guy told me not to move, he had to call in the super. While a line of cars qued behind us, their drivers not happy campers, We waited for the super.
When the super finally got there, he told me to pull through...slowly. The noise was worse than the proverbial blackboard scraping finger nails. There was thumping and cracking and scraping. If the roof didn't peel off, at the very least the the AC units on the roof would be laying in my wake. And the toll guys made me pay full price!
We drove on to a travel plaza (truck stop) where we were to meet someone the next day. Got up on top and was happy to see we'd only lost a couple of plastic vents. We slept looking up at the stars that night with the sounds of a noisy reefer serenading us all night long.
Next day we circumvented Washington in to VA. That was when Anthrax was being mailed to people. All in all, it was a very eventful trip of about 8000 miles.
That's my New Jersey Turnpike story. Hows that for wordy?
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