So, pork and sauerkraut dose numero uno did NOT bring me good luck.  Although I only gave it 2 hours to work, so that's probably not a fair shot.  ESPECIALLY since it was my first pork and sauerkraut experience, and the luck fairies weren't expecting to have to send some my way.

I left off Saturday morning telling you about my adventures to the land of Dunkin' Donut's and toll roads (aka New England).  I'd hoped that I'd have more luck driving into Manhattan than I did driving through CT. 

Fail.  Epic fail.

After downing some delicious pork and sauerkraut with Keck potatoes, I jumped on the road to make it to Courtney's by 6pm, so we could go to her cousin's apartment for round two of pork and sauerkraut.  All was well until I got off the highway and dove into Manhattan.  First, let me set the scene.

It was dark.  There were lots of headlights driving towards me (the new super-bright light up a stadium power headlights), and they were blinding me.  There were only remnants of lane lines.  People were flicking schmutz onto my windshield.  My windshield wipers were leaving two giant streaks right across my windshield, eye level.  I couldn't read the street signs because I don't see well at night, until I had pretty much passed them. 

Okay, scene set.  So, I got off the highway and ended up at 5th ave and about W 138th street.  I was supposed to go straight, but instead I got myself trapped in a right turn only lane.  That was my fault.  And then, all hell broke loose.  Note: I have no idea where 5th ave and W 138th is on a map.  I do now.  I'd be fine now.  But now is not then.  And then was bad.

In brief, I go north on 5th ave, which loops me back almost to where I start, but on a one way street where I can only turn back onto 5th, at which point, I turn left onto 142nd to try to meander in the general direction I was supposed to.  But unfortunately, I don't end up running into 3rd ave when I think I should, so I turned south on... something, and then east on 125th, then tried to find 3rd again.  Fail.  Then I drove in some more circles, past a park, under a bridge, south on something, west on something, north on something, and sometime around here, Courtney called.  I drove in more circles, while she googled my approximate location, and we decided I'd just meet her at her cousin's for dinner.  So she gave me new directions, sent the to me, and I found the road I needed and headed north. 

All was well for about 2.36 minutes, until I couldn't get to the exit I needed because some... New Yorker... wouldn't let me over.  So, I went up to the next exit, which happened to dump me somewhere further north in the city.  I THOUGHT I could just ride a road up from 177th to 207th where I was heading, but when I got to 190th, it ran me in a big u-turn and I was going south again.  Seriously?  So I got BACK on the Harlem River Parkway (or whatever), went back to where I started, went in more circles trying to figure out how to get on going north, which, PS, is not possible.  So, I went further south, got off at 116th, and then ended up in a parking lot.  Where I parked. 

I tried to use the GPS in my phone to start over, but it turns out Epocrates decided to update, and messed up my phone so I couldn't get the space bar to work.  Seriously?  I pulled out my atlas to figure out where I was, and was reminded, by a big hole in right in the middle of New York City, that I thought it would be a good idea to cut out a portion of the atlas to put on a collage coffee table.  Helpful.  So I restarted my phone, and loaded the directions.  These were helpful.  I headed north, got where I was supposed to be, and parked (quite excellently in a small spot backing over a snow bank). 

I met Courtney on the street, gave her a hug, handed her the keys, and told her she was driving home.

It was all uphill from there, though!  I had a great visit once I didn't have to drive!  We explored the upper west side a bit, found a great brunch spot, went for a run in central park, went to the Guggenheim, saw The King's Speech (excellent), made dinner, and had a grand old time.  This morning, my drive out of the city went flawlessly (except for the Dunkin' Donut's that never was off a highway exit). 

I suppose the pork and sauerkraut finally kicked in!  I can see my luck steadily improving for the next 362 days.

But probably not enough for me to venture into Manhattan in my car, in the dark, after a blizzard, any time soon.

That's what they have trains.