My Trips and Adventures

It was about 2:00 A.M. and me, Ronnie and James couldn’t think of anything to do. Somehow the conversation of Sunrise at the Montauk Lighthouse came up and we agreed that that would be cool. So we hopped in my car and headed east because why the fuck not. To travel the 92 miles, we took the Southern State to the appropriately named Sunrise Highway. There was absolutely nobody on the road. Towns that are normally teaming with life when I go to my Aunt Frans house were completely dead. It was kind of creepy to be honest. The only time the Hamptons close to this is during the winter. The towns are completely dead, but this was more quiet. There wasn’t a soul out, and after we passed through South Hampton, we saw no one else on the road. James wanted to get some night photographs at the light house so we tried to get there fast. Unfortunately the sun was already starting to rise as we pulled up to the lighthouse parking lot. We stayed for about an hour as the sun rose softly. The horizon changed from a medium blue to a dark blue, to a light green, to a yellow, to a orange and then a red. Once the sun rose we left and headed back west. We decided to stop at the Montauk Station and see if anything was going on there. The station was quiet, but the main attraction for us was the mark in the street from when a locomotive went farther east than any other. It went through the bumper, derailed, and went across the street. Nobody was injured or killed in the indecent, but I think it is quite funny how that is the only train to ever pass the Montauk station instead of terminating there. After we left the station, we went back through the towns we went through on our way out. The atmosphere in the villages was very different from when we were going out. The towns were full of people and there was traffic everywhere like normal for the summer. It was a drastic change! We stopped for to use the Bathroom and to get food at a gas station outside of East Hampton. After that we headed to Lindenhurst to a great Bagel Place and headed home. I got home around 8:00 A.M.

ABOVE: Sunrise at the Montauk Lighthouse. (Photo Courtesy of Ronnie Schenpf)

                During the fall season, the Long Island Railroad operates a train called the “Sandite” or “Slime” train. The Sandite train sprays the rails with a substance which is a mixture of a substance that prevents the leaves from sticking to the rails, and sand, so that trains have traction and can operate through the area. We decided to chase it two nights, Once from Stuart Manor in Garden City, up and down the  Oyster Bay branch then off to Huntington, and the other from Mineola to Oyster bay. We arrived at Garden City station at around 8:00 P.M. and realized that it wont be coming through for a while, so we headed to Domino's in Westbury to get James food. We went down to Stuart Manor and arrived just in time. Next it was off to New Hyde Park and watch it go through. Next was a crossing near the Mineola train station. We wanted to do all the stations on the line but in one trip we knew that would not be realistic. Next was Seacliff, Locust Valley, and finally Oyster Bay. Keep in mind I was in my work cloths which was a Navy Blue long sleeve shirt and slacks with a funny hat on. The crew started to notice it was the same people appearing at each station so they started waving. Later when I talked to the engineer he said “… As we were going along I said to my conductor "wow there's a lot of people out watching us tonight" and I noticed your hat and I said ‘wait that’s the same people!” So they started waving and blowing the horn for us. We followed them back down the Oyster Bay branch and they stopped in Mineola for clearance to head east. They stopped at the platform and I asked them what they were doing. The Engineer said that they were heading to Huntington, then heading back west to Jamaica. by this time, we realized that we had been listening to the same CD for over an hour. After that we declared that "I am Revolution" by Voyager would be our chase music. We decided to go to Cold Spring Harbor station and then cut off the chase at Huntington. Once at Huntington I went up to the platform and talked with the Engineer and Brakeman for about 10 minutes before they had to head back west and we headed home.

ABOVE: The Sandite Train pulling into Mineola to head down the Oyster Bay Branch.

                During the same time that the Sandite train runs, The Long Island also runs a train called “The Leaf Crusher.” All it is is 7 Ballast cars filled with Ballast, and two MP15’s. It is sent through the dark of night to crush leaves that come down on the easternmost non-electrified branches, The Montauk Branch from Babylon to Montauk and the Greenport line, from Ronkonkama to Greenport. We went over to Ronkonkama and saw where the leaf crusher was. We sat for a about 10 minutes before the crew came out and started the train. They passed us at the crossing just east of the Ronkonkama railroad station anfd the chase was on. First stop: Yapank. I set my iPhone down between the rails as the train was rounding the curve just west of the relatively small station. We jumped in the car after the train had passed doing at least 40 Miles Per Hour and headed east. Again, Voyager was playing as we raced down the Long Island Expressway doing 70. Next up, Riverhead. Riverhead was not a place you wanted to be at night so we saw the train and headed to Southold. The train had slowed down to 30 because of bad track conditions at the time and we watched the train go by on the platform. Last stop, Greenport. we raced ahead of it and we were about to cross a bridge that went over the tracks when we realized that the train would go under us as we crossed the bridge. That was a pretty cool thing to see. at Greenport they stopped for a while and the three of us got our pictures and waited for them to leave. After they left we decided to call it a night and we became homeward bound.

ABOVE: End of the line, The Leaf Crusher sits in Greenport waiting to head back to Ronkonkama. (Photo courtesy of James Duffy)

For this next adventure, you first have to understand that my friends and I call Deer, “Derp”. Oxford Dictionary’s definition of “Derp” is as follows: “(Derp is)used as a substitute for speech regarded as meaningless or stupid, or to comment on a foolish or stupid action.” The reason why we call Deer “Derp”, as horrible as it may sound, Is because they run in front of cars as if they were committing suicide even though they were not. Also, whenever we see the sign with a deer on it with however many miles below it, we point and go “Uh oh, we renewed our Derp subscription!”

One night, We decided to go to Orient Point at around 10:30 P.M because why the fuck not. Before heading to Orient Point however, we went to the South Shore to the Shinicock Canal so that Ronnie can try to get a non-Blurry photograph of a train going over the bridge. I had my Pentax K1000 with me so I decided to give it a shot as well. I had to position my camera on a frost covered Garbage can which, unfortunately for me, had a round top. Both James and Ronnie said that the photograph would not come out because it was too dark and the camera would shake(When I developed the film roll it came out very nicely). After the train came through, we headed up Flanders Road to get a picture of the Big Duck, which was conveniently on the way to Orient Point from where we were. We saw it and started to make fun of it and said that it was “Evil” because it had red eyes. Ronnie wanted a picture of it, but James didn’t so he stayed in that car as me and Ronnie got out and found a good angle for a photograph. The wind had picked up a little, but it wasn’t that bad. Once we left, we were Orient Point bound, non-stop, or so we thought.

ABOVE: The Big Duck in Riverhead during a cold and snow filled night. (Photo Courtesy of Ronnie Schenpf)

 We passed through Riverhead and decided we did not need gas because we had a quarter of a tank left in my gas tank and we thought it would last us the 30 miles we had to go. Problem was we didn’t think of the return trip, which really made it 60. By now its about 1:00 A.M. Passing through Greenport , and with almost 9 miles to go, we saw I had less than a Quarter of a tank and the gas light had come on. We then said “Oh shit, We need gas NOW!”  We turned around. By now the wind had picked up to at least 40 M.P.H. On our adventure down Rt 25 looking for an open gas station, we passed a tree which had come down onto someones house. There were firetrucks and Ambulances out scrambling all over as we frantically searched for an open gas station at such an odd hour of the day. The only open gas station which is open at 2:00 A.M was a Velaro right outside the town of Mattituck. Once we got gas we headed back out and continued our adventures through the north fork of Long Island. We passed Southhold and the wind was still pushing the car around. Greenport was Dead and even on main street the wind was still blowing! East Marion was no different. We had just passed Orient Harbor when we had our first Derp encounter. It was on the left side of the road. We were about to pass it when a Derp backed up the reason we call them that. It ran in front of the car as we were doing 50 M.P.H! We narrowly avoided killing my car! James slammed the brakes and laid on the horn as I yelled “OH SHIT” thinking that I am about to die from a Derp-Car collision and those would be my final words. As James laid on the horn, what had to have been 50 pairs of eyes suddenly appeared on the right side of the road! We all looked at them as they looked at us and we kept going.

We arrived at Orient Point at around 3:00 A.M. We got out and experienced first hand what 50 M.P.H. wind felt like. Ronnie and I needed to take a leak and I went first. I went down to near the water and I didn’t even hear it hit the ground, it just flew away into the dark of night. I was also freezing! I went back into the car and sat there as they took pictures. Once they were done, it was homeward bound. Passing the place where we almost smashed a Derp, We turned the brights on and 50 heads popped up again, then disappeared. I got home around 5:00 A.M and slept very well till about 10.

Another night we would go out to Orient Point again because the last trip, it was too windy to take any good pictures. This time it was me, Bonnie from the Minersville trip, Ronnie and James and we took my car again. This time however, we kept an eye open for Derp and when ever we saw one I would yell as loud as I can so that they would run away. Passing Orient Harbor we turned on the brights and again, at least 50 heads popped up. In response James laid on the horn as I yelled out the window and they scattered in every different direction. When we arrived at Orient Point, it wasn’t the wind this time that made me stay in the car, it was the cold that did it. After Orient Point, we went down 25 and stayed on 25 until we reached the William Floyd Parkway. The William Floyd Parkway is also Derp heaven, but the difference is that these Derp are much bigger than the ones more east, so they Derp even harder as well. We saw a few head for the road, but I laid on the horn and they scurried back into the woods. That night I arrived home at about 5:30 A.M.

ABOVE: An exposure of a cold night in Orient Point. (Photo courtesy of James Duffy)