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New Jersey

     There is an old joke about New Jersey/ New York that goes like this:  Q: Why does New York have all the lawyers and New Jersey all the waste dumps?  A:  New Jersey got first choice.  My apologies to my daughter the lawyer.
     New Jersey is called the Garden State, but I do not know why.  I did not see many gardens there.  There were lots of trees and swamps in Southern NJ.  Next to the Bible Camp where we stayed there was a sod farm.  There seemed to be a few of those around.
     New Jersey is blessed with great beaches.  As we learned they are very popular with the folks in the Philadelphia area.  On the saturday we drove across NJ from Philly to Cape May the traffic was horrendous.  The eastbound lanes were congested with beach goers.  The beaches were crowded on the weekend.  The kids sure enjoyed the surf and asked to go back many times.
     In North Dakota the roads run north south east and west, in a grid.  We can thank the Northwest Ordinances for this.  In 1787 Congress passed the NO to deal with the new settlement of the Northwest Territories which now include the states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana.  The land was surveyed and sold using the system of sections, quarters, 80s, and 40s we are familiar with here in ND. Geography permitting roads run in grids a mile apart.  Not so in New Jersey which was founded and settled long before the NO.  Many of their roads are on top of old Indian trails.  They follow rivers and ridges to avoid the swamps.  They go in whatever direction so everything is at crazy angles.  Few of the intersections are at 90 degrees.  For someone used to a grid system the haphazardness of the NJ roads is very confusing.  I get lost easy enough as it is , so much of my traveling experience in NJ was quite an adventure.
     We were very concerned about the sleeping arrangements at the Bible camp.  We had heard that NJ nights were hot and muggy.  Thanks to some air conditioners donated by a church a few miles away and a couple of fans, the men's dorm was not too bad.  We slept upstairs in an open bay room with about 30-40 bunk beds.  There were not so many of us that anyone had to sleep on a top bunk, but some of the younger guys chose to.  We had no shower in the building.  That was about a 150 yards away.  We did have a toilet and sink.
     In southern NJ there were some areas that could be described as rural.  In northern NJ, as you get closer to New York City, there are few rural areas.  The NJ suburbs of NYC extend to the west and south probably 30-40 miles.  Our hotel was in Edison, NJ, about 20 miles from the city.  There was some concern about the hotel while we were still at the Bible Camp down south.  A lady from Edison asked where we were staying in Edison.  I told her the Edison Motel.  She went into hysterics.  Apparently,  the Edison Motel is a favorite hangout for prostitutes and drug dealers.  I knew I had not reserved rooms in such a place so I double checked.  It turned out I had booked the Edison Hotel not motel.  The Edison Hotel  was a nice place and actually very reasonable.
   

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