Who am I (cont'). On September 11, 2001 I was driving up to visit a potential client in Long Island. While crossing the Outerbridge Crossing which connects Perth Amboy, NJ to Staten Island, NY. I was listening to Imus and heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Maybe it's too much Tom Clancy but my first thought was terrorism. I called my Wife and told her to put on the news. I called my Dad and he was already watching. I think he didn't believe it was terrorism at first. As I was talking to him, the second plane hit. I recall looking to the left while on the Staten Island Expressway and seeing throught the trees and buildings a huge flash and a ton of smoke. I recall myself saying out loud "Holy Shit" and listening to Imus say pretty much the same thing.

I came up to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge about twenty-to-thirty minutes later. I looked at drivers on my right and saw shock and total disbelief. Most of the people had New York tags and let me tell you, New Yorkers are tough people. They aren't easily shocked. I saw shock. They had the Verrazano Bridge shut down out-bound from Brooklyn to Staten Island for emergency vehicles. You can't even imagine how many fire companies from Staten Island and New Jersey were rushing to the scene. Let me explain the view from the VN Bridge. You can see downtown very clearly; especially on that day. The smoke coming out of the towers would've made anyone think twice about going within ten miles let alone attempting to aid in putting out the fire. I reached the Belt Parkway (Shore Pkwy) in Brooklyn when the first tower fell. I never, never even thought that the towers would come down. I watched it tumble and felt disbelief and rage. I looked to my right and saw a woman just start crying. I tried to exit the Belt and make my way to Manhattan since I have alot of emergency response training. I thought I could help with...with...well I really didn't know. I do know that at that time i knew thousands must be dead but there were many survivors, there had to be. I couldn't move, I was trapped in traffic and eventually they announced on the radio that all entrances to Manhattan were shut down.
I continued my trek to the Southern Parkway to Long Island.
To be continued...