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Mister, you may have travelled near or far,
But you haven't seen the country,
'Till you've seen the country by car!
December 4, 2009
Day Zero: New York
The beginning
New York was cold. It always is, they say. But it was not cold enough for Srini to be shivering all the time. He was obsessed about the weather, right from the time we planned this drive. He wanted to avoid colder climes – that meant almost all of the north. So in one sweeping stroke, he eliminated Detroit and Chicago – thereby truncating our trip. In our hotel room, The Weather Channel dominated; the anchors seemed to be very excited, as a record early snowfall hit Houston. Wait a minute, I thought, Houston is way below south and that meant only one thing… we will hit snow on the way.
John, the lanky New Yorker who came to show us the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro that we were supposed to drive across the US (we promptly named her Veronica), was quick to point out that he had put snow tyres on. ‘The ride will be harsh, but you’ll be better off with them,’ he said, immediately adding another worry line to Srini’s already crowded face. After getting familiar with the car, GM’s OnStar assistance system and so on, we got dropped at the colourful Columbus Square near Central Park and did what most people who come to NY on the run-up to Xmas would do – strained our necks, looked around in total awe and breathed in the crisp and cold air. We walked around a stunningly beautiful local fair with handicraft shops (wooden toys and flattened liquor bottles, anyone?). When the cold became unbearable, we decided to get some food and hit the bed. It was already a long day; my friend Thomas and I had travelled from Miami to reach NY, while adding to Srini’s woes was a foggy jet lag that was beginning to hit him.
In the quiet of the NY night, interspaced by howling sirens of course, I could hear an Imperial Blue Camaro calling out to us. 'Come and get me guys, we have some way to go,' she whispered!
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