Hello. How ‘bout that ride in? I guess that’s why they call in the Great White North. You guys may not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when I met Mike Dreher (Dre-her not Dreyer), I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack… it grew by one. So there… there were two of us in the wolf pack… I was alone first in the pack, and then Mike joined later. And a week ago, when Mike introduced me to you guys, I thought, “Wait a second, could it be?” And now, I know for sure, I just added three more to my wolf pack. Five of us wolves, running around the northeast together, in New York, Canada, and Pennsylvania, looking for strippers and cocaine. So tonight, I make a toast!
As many of you know, I have left the friendly confines of Norman, OK to embark on a road trip spanning 15 days, 2 countries, 10 states, 3800 miles of driving, and one epic story. Today marks day 7 of the trip, and I bring you act one of the three-act blog.
Act one is titled, “My Wolf Pack.”
I flew into Philadelphia, PA on December 28th. It was here when Mike picked me up and brought me back to his hometown just outside of Allentown. Although I had never been to PA before, I was familiar with Allentown thanks to Billy Joel. I knew it to be a dark, shady place, where work was hard to find due to the factories closing and the all of the coal being stripped from the ground. Well, I was wrong. It is actually a fantastic place that has Yocco’s (the King of Hot Dogs), Wawa, and some great people. After dinner at a local diner we watched a great movie that would supply us with an arsenal of quotes for the remainder of the trip. That movie was The Hangover. This was the beginning of what we would each come to recognize as, “Our Wolf Pack.”
Our wolf pack was comprised of Michael Dreher, Rachel Hoyer, Courtney Matisko, Justin Farnish, and myself, Joshua Voth. Our true journey began the day after I arrived in PA, when we would make our way to destination number one, New York, NY. This day was very close to being, literal status update day, where I would update my status with things such as, “Josh Voth is in a large city,” or “Josh Voth is cold.” Thankfully for you all, this did not happen and I merely tried to update it regularly with more witty approach. The gold medal for status of the day goes to the first one of the morning, “Josh Voth just went through the Lincoln Tunnel, but somehow missed the sea of swirly, twirly gumdrops.” Luckily for me, others in the wolf pack shared my love the movie Elf.
I’m thankful for my day in New York City because of the many lessons I learned.
Lesson1: There is a delicate balance between looking straight up, and not running into people. I was never able to master this feat, but I made significant progress throughout the day. I would say my average bpm (bumps per minute) decreased by a factor of at least 5 before 2:00.
Lesson 2: A crowded train is no excuse for improper sexual conduct. This was announced loudly as we stepped onto the subway train. I was really hoping that at some point during the day we would encounter a level 8 sketchy ride on the subway. Sadly though, we barely reached a level 4.
Lesson 3: You can’t put a price on green peanut M&M’s. Okay, that’s a lie. There is a price and it is $13/lb and worth every penny.
Lesson 4: The subway is an excellent place for an epic battle.
Lesson 5: Honking is not allowed in New York and can result in a $300 fine. Although we did not receive this fine, I think Mike owes the city of New York somewhere in the neighborhood of $4200.
Although my time in New York was short, I feel that I have left a better person for the lessons this city has taught me. Throughout our trip we selected a song we think will accurately depict the experience we are about to embark upon. I believe we got this one right with a little number written by Jay-Z called, “Empire State of Mind.” I will end this act with a few of the lyrics.
"In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
Theres nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
These streets will make you feel brand new,
The lights will inspire you,
Lets hear it for New York, New York, New York
."
