The Atlantic, New York City and a hacked Debit Card

Remember how Ben said he hated Kentucky, but it had some great people? Well, maybe they are not ALL so great. He called last night and someone in Kentucky hacked his debit card and charged $1100 in a Rite Aide (really? a drug store?). His card is shut down, and he needs to sign a form IN PERSON to get it going again. There has GOT to be a better way.

But let's back track a bit, since I haven't posted for awhile.

Hard Cider, maps and a bike light on a water bottle.

 After he fixed his bike in Virginia, and rode merrily along for a day, he met up with his friend Sunny from The Academy. They camped two nights and had lots of fun.

Sunny realizing how HEAVY a loaded bike is.

Looks fun and relaxing.

Then he rode on into Washington DC, where he met up with Sunny's folks who let him stay at their house near Baltimore. Good thing they were around, since he had hoped to meet up with his cousin Eric in Baltimore, but he was in Memphis for the Labor Day weekend.

He said Lincoln was MUCH smaller than he had thought.

He left their house the next morning, and started to ride north. Or at least, he THOUGHT he was heading north. The current maps he is using from the Adventure Cycling Association are designed to be followed from north to south, so he has to reverse all of the step-by-step directions and follow them backwards to go south to north (this is more than just turning the map upside down). He rode on a bike trail (covered with tall trees and isolated from the general surroundings) and met a guy who looked at his maps and gave him a "shortcut" to take. Well, I guess the guy thought he was heading south, because the shortcut went that direction.

By the time Ben realized what had happened, his trail dumped him out near Mt. Vernon, south of DC (He inherited his dad's sense of direction). He spent the night in an expensive RV campground, then called me the next day to see if I could help him figure out a way to bypass all the Holiday DC traffic (didn't want to do that a THIRD time). We got him to the Metro Rail, and then realized that could take him to the DC Central Station and Amtrak. A train ticket to New Haven, CT was cheaper than riding and paying for the expensive campgrounds in Pennsylvania and New York. So he took it.

Shouted "GUN!" to get everyone to leave the area.

He had a few more hours to kill in DC before his train left. Not sure how he managed to get this shot with virtually no people in the frame.

Next stop, Space Station.

In one of the train stations in the middle of the night he found this cool tunnel,

Then he arrived in New Haven, CT and somehow (he hasn't really talked to me since DC) he got down to his friend John's house in Milford, CT and took this shot of the Atlantic.

The Atlantic Ocean, finally!

We don't get many seashells in the desert.

Spent some time hanging around the area before John had to go back to San Francisco on Thursday.

He then bought a ticket to NYC to visit another friend, Jackie, and to see The City. While Jackie was at work, he spent a day walking around NYC , walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and taking the subway (which he said was smoother than BART, but much dirtier and harder to navigate).

I suspect, after months on his bike in desert, mountains and forests, Times Square was a bit much!

Life was good, until he found out Friday afternoon his card had been hacked, and he could not use it at all. Why do these things ALWAYS happen to him on weekends and holidays?Jackie's family lives in Flemington, NJ, and have graciously allowed Ben to stay with them until he gets this straightened out. I understand today they are going to Philadelphia.

He still wants to get to Vermont, but not sure when he will have access to money to do that.