Rahway is a small industrial city in Union County, New Jersey, about thirty kilometres from Manhattan, and about as far from the Green Mountains of Vermont as the map allows. It sits on the river of the same name, which was once a power source for mills, and a dense grid of brick buildings, rail tracks and refineries shapes the town, with the New Jersey Turnpike roaring past on its eastern side.
The city has a mixed reputation. Its prison was made famous in the late 1970s by a documentary in which teenagers were exposed to inmates in an effort to scare them straight, and the film won an Academy Award. At the same time Rahway has a modern story of renewal, with an arts district around the old train station, theatres, restaurants and a new generation of residents priced out of Manhattan. The pharmaceutical company Merck has long had a major campus here, which brings research and engineering jobs to the area.
Riding in this region is practical rather than scenic. The roads are straight and busy, with heavy truck traffic from the ports of Newark and Elizabeth, and the surface is worn. The Rahway River Parkway offers a quieter alternative, a leafy county park road with trees and a stream, built in the 1920s as part of the Union County park system, and it gives a surprising taste of green in the middle of the industrial belt. Watch for potholes, glass and joints in the road.
Fuel is plentiful, with stations on every main road, and in New Jersey the old custom of an attendant pumping the fuel for you has lasted longer than almost anywhere else. Rahway and Linden have diners, Portuguese and Brazilian bakeries and Indian restaurants, since the area has diverse communities. A hot breakfast in a diner here is a good way to end a long ride.
The shoulder seasons are best. Summer is humid and busy, and winter brings snow and salt on the road. Trains from Rahway's station reach Manhattan in under an hour, which is handy if the ride ends here and you want to continue into the city.