(I hope you’re enjoying the dated colouring of the 1936 Shell roadmap as much as I am! Did you spot the Massachusetts Speed Law? ‘Reasonable and Proper’)

It’s a ferry day! Few things make me as happy on these trips. Come with me now and see how it all panned out:

• Today’s Distance (miles): 40 miles
• Time in saddle: 4h 25
• Max/min temp – in full sun (°c): 41°/25°
• Climbing (feet) : 1,868
• Calories used: 2,753
• Today’s 2nd Breakfast: coffee and big pretzel aboard the Mary Ellen ferry
• Cafe time: 2h 26

I slept so well that I woke with no idea of where I was, which I always take as a good sign.

Explain this to me – every ferry I’ve ever been on smells of diesel. Not this one. The smell coming out of the vents up on deck was of fresh laundry. It was very nice, but also very disconcerting. What on earth is going on below decks? After a tour of the vessel…

…I decided it was great, but too hot, so I went inside. Of course I grabbed some coffee the moment they opened the cafeteria, plus a nice big warm pretzel.

The woman at the cafe said to a customer in front of me, ‘Do want mint tea, breakfast tea, green tea or Errol Grey?’.

I got a great view of the very spot where I’d just spent the night as we rounded the headland and sailed into the sound:

After the 90 minute crossing we docked at Orient Point, Long Island, and I was allowed to slide out of the fumes ahead of the other vehicles by this State Trooper.

STATE SONGS: Okay, we’ve reached that point again!

Welcome to New York State! I’ve always known which version of which fantastic song about New York City I’d chose for this slot. For me, nothing quite conveys the crazy, raucous mayhem of NYC than this truly unhinged arrangement of New York, New York by Django Bates, the jazz musician and composer I was in a youth orchestra with in the 1970s (and yes, he was named after the great jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt)

DJANGO STORY: He was always amazing – he once arranged Happy Birthday to play for the conductor, handed out on little scraps of manuscript, and we sight read it. Even aged 14 or 15, I was amazed that anyone could turn such a simple tune into something so beautiful, and for full symphony orchestra. He’d stayed up all night, not arranging it (he did that quickly in his head), but scribbling down the countless parts for us to play from. I absolutely guarantee that this will not be to everyone’s taste, but thanks for not unsubscribing! For me it’s like leaving a window open in the great city and hearing everything sort of coming in at you – traffic, voices, machinery, construction work…So hold on to your hat! (and check out the snatch of banjo for ‘these little town blues’ closely followed by a sudden Latin samba section – you may just spot, if you get that far, that it even ends with a tiny bit of ‘Oh Say can you see…)

In my second encounter with the police today, a State Police car just pulled up slowly and asked how I was, as I typed all of this at my camp table here in Wildwood State Park. The officer then asked if I’d seen a guy, about 21, in a Yankees shirt and red sneakers. I’d just been wondering why a helicopter kept passing overhead, and he confirmed that they were looking for this guy. I said no, but if I do, what should I do? ‘Call 911’ he said, miming pressing buttons on phone. ‘Have a good evening!’, he called with a wave, as he cruised away through the campground. Or a slightly less good evening now, I think he meant. I think I’d prefer to be just looking out for raccoons.

EMPTY ADIRONDACKS: I received a very topical message from Susie’s cousin Enid in Toronto (whose son Jacob I’m going to be staying with in NYC – more tomorrow) who told me she regularly passes ‘a grouping of adirondack chairs in the building across from us. In the 16 years we have been here we have never seen a soul sitting in them.’ Enid and Ed are almost the reason I started adventure cycling. We borrowed their beautiful penthouse apartment once nearly ten years ago, and I watched an amazing DVD they had, called Canada From The Air, and something inside me just shouted ‘I WANT TO SEE THAT!’. So thank you, Ed & Enid!

SIGNS THAT ARE FUNNY: There’s a pretty good haul from my ride across Long Island today.