Driving to meet Mr Driver.

SOMERSET, NEW JERSEY, 10 March, 2023.

Some sleep overnight but fitful, of course. We land early before 8am but don't reach the gate for a further 45 minutes. Then we have a 65 minutes queue through border control. An Airtrain takes us to car rental. A quick process and we pick up a Honda Civic. It's quite battered. RJ reports back to the office and is tolls to take photos for our protection. There must be at least ten photos. And, that doesn't include the fact that the petrol locking cap pops open every time we lock the car.

The speed of traffic takes some getting used to especially as we cross the dual level bridge but even so we arrive at Somerset at 1pm. It's a little early to check in so we walk across to a small strip mall with difficulty, there are very few pavements in the sticks. The only option for a coffee is Dunkin Donut. The woman assistant tells us about the local shops particularly "Dollar Tree", her favourite. In fact, she reckons that her car stops automatically outside the door. We have a donut each with our coffee, it would have been churlish not to!

At 1:30pm, we try our luck at the hotel, check in should be from 3pm. We're allowed into the room. It's on two floors, two double beds upstairs, although one has a leg missing, and sink, TV and armchairs downstairs. It's spacious if a little tired.

We drive to the park, Colonial Park, to check on the venue for tomorrow. It's a lovely park which we enjoy walking around. The first photo is of the BBQ area. We pop into the office where an Oriental woman interrupts her phone conversation, which sounded like business, to answer our questions. By phoning someone else! We drive around a little to explore the neighbourhood. Some lovely looking buildings around here. Lots of different ethnic churches, as well. Clearly a multicultural part of the States.

We decide on Chinese for dinner, it's a byob, so we call at "Bottle Republic" for a bottle of wine. They're promoting two types of whisky, Irish and peanut butter! A former NJ ice hockey player called Bruce Driver is signing action photos of himself. We finally succumb and end up with two t-shirts, can/bottle holder and a bag. Oh, and a $30 bottle of whisky! (We'd sampled the peanut butter one. PG thought that it tastes of caramel. Yes, carmel he was corrected.)

The Chinese is very good. Deep fried noodles instead of prawn crackers, shrimp tempura and steamed dumplings for starters and chicken and mango with boiled rice. We have half the bottle of merlot and take the rest back to the hotel for a nightcap. The owners are originally from Hong Kong so have a conversation with RJ. We're in bed by 8pm.