July 10, 2009

Today we arrived in NY early in the morning. Arriving was an event in itself. As we turned onto 9th Ave we could already see a crowd and several cars lined up. As we pulled up to the front of the hotel there was several Bullrun Crew Members directing us where to park and several on lookers snapping photographs. We were like movie stars with all these paparazzi around. We parked in the Bullrun designated parking area and took several pics with "fans". We then checked into the Hotel Ganesvoort and went up to the Penthouse to officially register for Bullrun. We were given a Pepsi Max Rally survival bag, Bullrun Tshirts, keychains, and K-Swiss shoes. We had some time to kill before the drivers meeting and party so we headed to the Subway and made our way to Little Italy for the best italian food ever. We had lunch at a place called "Pelligrinos". Italian food on the East Coast is a little different then from the West Coast. It is MUCH better!! We also took a stroll through Chinatown. It was crazy to see all the side walk markets. I watch a lot of TV and they always show fish, fruit, etc.. on ice in a market on the side of the street. This is exactly how it is. One of my goals while in NY was to go to Ground Zero and pay my respects. We walked from Little Italy (longer then we expected) to the Financial District and did just that. It was an eerie feeling but I felt that it was something we had to do while in NY. The memorial is under construction so we could only see the empty area with ongoing construction. As we stood there it brought back all the memories of seeing it happen live on TV. It put a better perspective on just how large this terrorist attack was.
The drivers meeting was held at 5:30 pm and afterwards there was a party at the Soho Private Club. Mike and Beth met us at the hotel and then we all headed over to party and had a great time. Wheels up was to be at 10:30 Sat morning so we headed to our room at around midnight.

I am a little tipsy from tonights party or I would also post it!! I will leave you with this.... the first actual day of the rally was amazing and our first checkpoint was at a raceway.....

Rally On!!

p.s you can view videos and pics at www.bullrun.com