Driving Rts. 23, 519, 206 & 10

I need to fully flesh out this entry, but I'm too tired and it's too late now. I just wanted to get it down on the right date. That's what I did today...drove OH, SO CLOSE to the highest point in NJ...if only I wasn't irrationally paranoid the car wouldn't make it up the "steep upgrade"...and if only there wasn't a "Caution: Wide Load!" HOUSE on a truck in front of me, going about 10mph. It's OK, I've been to High Point (literal, us Jerseyans) before. The most fun came on green-dotted scenic Route 519 and then on Route 10, a major road i've somewhere NEVER been on in my life. I rode its full proper length right into downtown Newark...through some VERY bad areas where I literally could've been shot as I nervously waited at a light. I have so many very odd things to say about today's road jaunt...I can't even bore you with most of them. At one point, I found myself talking to some kind of large rodent (a muskrat? beaver? just not sure) who was definitely injured along the marshy side of what I THINK was Lake Hopatcong. It was very cute, though...and basically limping and crawling back into the woods. I felt so bad for it as it stared at me with sad eyes while falling onto a log. And I searched for literally about 25, 30 miles for a clean looking Chinese restaurant...to no avail. Sushi or Japanese, sure...but no quality Chinese takeout in sight!!?!?! I simply can't eat food from a dirty looking place. Ok, I need to collapse...