After saying my goodbyes to the Obama’s, I set out for New York.

My relatively short 236 mile jaunt, touches 5 states. It’s a very different cadence than the 900 miles I spent in Texas. The delta in density is dramatic.

I enter New York though the Holland Tunnel and I’m immediately dumped into the middle of the intensity of NYC.

I head to Brooklyn to catch up with my good friend Niko, who I went to college with. He and his business partner Yohay are building an impressive hotel/office mixed-use tower adjacent to the Brooklyn Brewery. They give me a tour of the project, which features a complex and very expressive cast-in-place concrete superstructure. The building is looking great and the view of Manhattan from the future office spaces is spectacular.

After the site tour and introductions to the team working on the building, we go for a late lunch at Gottliebs Resturant. The kosher deli opened in Williamsburg in 1962 and serves up a delicious pastrami sandwich. We chase our sandwiches with a pastrami knish, a lukshen kugel and an apple kugel for good measure.

I head out of Brooklyn and over the Manhattan Bridge.

I spend the next few hours weaving through Manhattan checking out the recent additions to the skyline. The latest is the new residential complex by Bjarke Ingels.

Riding around Manhattan on a motorcycle is actually something I’ve never experienced before. The gauntlet of aggressive drivers, pedestrians and potholes capable of swallowing a motorcycle tire, proves entertaining and very taxing. I takes more acuity to ride a mile in NYC than it did to traverse entire states in the southwest.

I meet up with my brother Justin and his family for dinner when he and Tanya get done with their work days. I may be slightly biased, but my niece and nephew are two of the most adorable kids ever.

[Angie & Andre]