Bad Day at Bush Terminal

I’m writing this from the same room I was in last night at the Hampton Inn in Linden, NJ. It’s a nice room but certainly not where I want to be.

I won’t call it misrepresentation but the storage facility in Bush Terminal (Sunset Park) was nothing like the image projected by the website. It was a decrepit old building (a gun factory in WWII) and the storage rooms were dark pits with only a single bulb in a ceiling fixture. We’re talking 15-amp service here.

It looked like there might be a solution but it was not to be. While I was waiting for some one to come back with a flashlight I noticed light at the end of the corridor. There was a large “picture” window and adequate space for the plant racks. Perhaps this was the “light at the end of the tunnel.” Unfortunately, I learned that city building inspectors will not allow any material in the aisles. End of that idea.

I took the time to get to know Ruben from Ecuador, the guy who manages the spaces for the owner. He understood my need and acknowledged that not only was it dark but that the building got cold inside if the weather outside turned cold and windy. He is a guy who likes plants in his yard and in his home. He gave me a lead on another building nearby but there was no one there. Having this happen on a weekend is bad timing.

Finding a hotel room in Brooklyn (with parking) when you’re pushing a 26’ truck around is problematic so that prompted the decision to drive back over the Verrazano Bridge to the Hampton Inn to rest and regroup. I’m trying to understand why this project is so difficult.

BFN, BB

Welcome to New York

The ref was counting yesterday but I’m back on my feet.

Don Sherman was most helpful in locating a temporary storage facility in Brooklyn on Craigslist. It’s just over a mile down the hill on the waterfront from where I was born in Sunset Park (Finntown back in those days). How serendipitous is that?

That’s where I was headed yesterday after my visit with Rich Parker of Parker Interior Plantscape. My Mapquest route was through the Holland and Brooklyn Battery Tunnels. See the banner on InsideGreenNYC.

Well, it didn’t happen. I got all the way to the Holland Tunnel entrance. There was a guy on the street peddling bottled water. He asked if I was planning on driving my truck through the tunnel. Duh, well of course I was. He said, “You can’t go through there with a truck. No trucks allowed since 9/11.” He then proceeded to give me directions to the Lincoln tunnel. A most helpful guy he was.

However, this was the start of an episode of The Raiders of the Lost Ark. Think pits of pythons, packs of jackals, pterosaurs flying overhead. The detour route marked by little temporary signs with concrete road barriers everywhere was indescribable.

The result was that I did a couple of tricky u-turns, missed the turn to the Lincoln Tunnel and ended up on the NJ Turnpike heading to the George Washington Bridge. That definitely ain’t the best way to Brooklyn

That when I pulled in to a rest area about 5:30 pm and called the storage place. There was no way I would get there by closing at 7 pm. When I told the guy about crossing Manhattan he said don’t do that, come over the Verrazano Bridge and you’ll land in Brooklyn not far from us.

Duh, who ever thought of getting there by the Verrazano Bridge? So to end this for now, I finally found a Hampton Inn at the same exit I need to go to cross the bridge. The room is bigger than the apartments I’m likely to find in Brooklyn. There’s even a Jacuzzi next to the bed. It looks like the general manager’s suite.

So, it’s on to the waterfront in Sunset Park to see what’s in store for today’s adventure.

It needs to be said that there would be no adventures if not for the professional truck packing job done by Matt Wood. Hell, I didn’t even know how important it was. If he hadn’t done such a superb job of loading the plants on the rack and the racks on the truck I would never have made it this far. I had no idea how many bad roads we have across the country. Some of them shook the hell out of the truck. It’s amazing that everything (so far as I know) stayed intact. We’ve got a lot of infrastructure work to do, that’s for sure.

BFN BB