Catch up!

Have had a few days without internet so will try to remember everything we have done!

3 October - met up with Lejla (from Adelaide - now residing in Toronto). Had our first taste of Poutine - a Canadian staple consisting of gravy, chips and bean curds. It took me a while to come to grips with the concept but must admit it was delicious and filling - didn't need to eat for the rest of the day.

After a walk around town Lejla took us across to the Toronto Islands on the ferry.  We walked around out there and it was just beautiful. Cool and crisp and the leaves were just beginning to turn autumn colours. We could look right across the water at Toronto and it looked gorgeous from there. The whole place was quite unique - some people still reside there after a fight with the powers that be and have leases to remain there - at least for the time being.

We got the ferry back to Toronto and walked down to the Distillery District and had some amazing food and an even more amazing desserts at Mills St Brewery. This chocolate concoction cannot be excelled!!

After dinner off to Snakes and Lattes - a coffee house where they have heaps of board games - everything you could imagine . Absolutely brilliant. Thank you Lejla for the best day!!

4 October - Started out for Montreal but never made it due to lots of road works and 85 million trucks!!

We had the opportunity to call into Bowmanville and catch up with one of my Pogo internet friends - Terry Fice. Had some coffee and a chat - was disappointed his sister Jo couldn't be there but she was incapacitated. Hope you get well soon Jo :)

Terry Fice - Ontario

We stayed the night at a RV site on lake Ontario called Rideau Acres - best sunset ever.

Bugs #759

Niagara Falls

1st October & 2 October -  Went to Niagara Falls yesterday and it is truly amazing - lots of photos taken but they will just not do the place justice. The Maid of the Mist took us right up to the falls - very cold windy and wet but worth every second.

We also went behind the falls and saw the 4D movie where you get VERY wet.

2 October - We are now in Toronto Ontario and it is 6 degrees C (42F) - straight to the mall and bought big warm coat ($280 - on special  - $156) plus socks and gloves and scarf. It is really cold and still only autumn.
138.9 miles (223 km) Bugs # 743

Not Niagara Falls

Was going to go to Niagara Falls today but a late  start together with the need to obtain Canadian dollars - banks don't have them doh!! - and the fact  it was pouring with rain - and we wanted to shop and we needed to go to the Post Office and also do laundry yada yada yada. Soooooooo....we didn't go but will be up early tomorrow and enjoy the sights.

Miles 40.5 (65 kms) Bugs # 728

Hmmmm ....I wonder.....

• The other day we saw a tanker carrying helium. Why didn't it float away? Did the driver have a funny voice?
• Toilets have self flushing capabilities here as I have previously mentioned. The paper towel dispenser is also automatic but the other day I noticed that it was "Motion activated"......now that is too much information....but very clever.

Escape from Detroit

27th September - Good night - 10 hours sleep yay!! Started off as a glorious day but ended up raining buckets. We spent the morning driving around Detroit trying hard to find good things we could say about it. We went to a lot of different areas thinking we had just hit the wrong suburbs but things didn't get any better.  We were accosted by a guy who ranted at us (his pupils were a bit the worse for wear) - I'm not sure if he was accusing us of being the Klu Klux Klan or associating with them. He said "I know a skin head when I see one" but we had hair and he didn't so not sure what that was about. We let him go on but I had my foot on the accelerator just in case.  Also we saw a car on blocks - all the wheels gone - more burned and wrecked buildings and houses and just had a total feeling of despair. We left Detroit and headed to Toledo.

Had lunch in Toledo and a quick look around - once again not a pretty place.

We booked into the Hickory Lake Caravan Park at West Salem  for the night. Nice spot but wasn't game to use the showers. Also they had bees - savage bees!!  Miles 250.2 miles (403 kms) Bugs# 701

28 September - West Salem is Amish country and we spied a few working in the fields and driving the horse and carts.

We drove on to Columbus Ohio where Lee met up with a friend Leigh whom she met on her previous travels in  NZ. Lovely lady who introduced to to Cayenne flavoured chocolate ice cream - it was beautiful and so was she. We drove on to Wheeling West Virginia for no better reason than  it is the name of one of my favourite  Neil Sedaka songs. What an amazing town - bridges every where ("on the banks of the O H I O") and the most incredible mix of architecture - even European looking in places.

 After touring the city and getting lost and going over every bridge in town several times we looked for a motel. We tried a Super 8 but they had no room at the inn so as we drove off we saw a big sign pointing us to Bethlehem...a suburb of Wheeling. A coincidence...I think not lol. We found a very dowdy motel that had free porn on the TV...as Lee found out accidently. Not something you want to watch while your mother is in the room bwahahahaha. Miles 288.2 (463 km) Bugs # 714


29 September -  Drove from Wheeling to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. First impressions - great looking skyline - crazy traffic caused by lots of road works and one way streets and pedestrians who just walked wherever they wanted regardless of red lights. No way we would ever find a park so after a good squiz around we left heading towards Buffalo NY. Along the way we exited the freeway to get supplies and entered a town called Meadville. They had all these sculptures made out of road signs - decorating the Dept of Transport.

 Off again and we are now in Buffalo and hopefully will be seeing Niagara Falls tomorrow (from the Canada side) Miles 313.9 (505 kms) Bug # 721

Heidelberg Project

Thanks to Erin have more info on this - very interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg_project

Detroit City Michigan......put your right foot in...take your foot out...and run....

When we arrived in Jackson last night - quite late - we unpacked and went to a restaurant for dinner. Came back , did my Blog and then, because it was so late by then we got into bed and turned the telly on and watched a whole string of Saturday Night Mysteries (even though it was Sunday night...hmm) At the same time we were playing Angry Birds on our I Phones. Next thing we knew it was 3.45 am. Lee went off to sleep but I just could not sleep. At 7 am I went to Starbucks next door and had some coffee and a blueberry scone (yum).  So with absolutely no sleep we left  to continue our trip. We decided to do short hops to make sure I didn't doze off - even thought I still wasn't tired at this stage.  Drove to Ann Arbor MI - pretty town so we  stopped for lunch at an Indian Restaurant.
 Headed off for the next "hop" - to Dearborn on the outskirts of Detroit. Visited the Henry Ford Museum. This is located next to the world HQ of Ford which is quite impressive in itself. The museum was really interesting - they had some amazing stuff there. Was very moved as I stood looking at the car in which President Kennedy was killed. It was an unexpectedly emotional feeling - I guess because I was a child of that era and we all remember his death so well.

What a silly Sausage

Was feeling very tired by now so inhaled a couple of coffees and left for what should have been a 20 minute trip into Detroit and a hotel for the night. Somehow we ended up  on Heidelberg Street by accident - most amazing sights - see for yourself. There were clocks on all the trees in the street and the houses were so weird. The whole street was quite scary so we decided to skedaddle but things just got worse. We turned into this 6 lane highway (Gratiot Avenue) that went for miles and it was like being in Beirut. Lots of burned buildings and those that were still there were falling apart. If you removed the cars and sent a few tumbleweeds down the street you would have a perfect setting for the day after the nuclear bomb was dropped. Now I know the whole city isn't like this but it did scare us - especially when Lee saw a man on this busy road with a rifle!!  We decided that we would explore the rest of Detroit tomorrow but would spend tonight just over the border in Windsor Canada. It took us ages to find a motel so am typing this with match sticks holding up my drooping eyelids. I really must stay awake till 9 pm or I'll be awake again at 2 am. When you look at Detroit from this side of the lake it look quite beautiful

Heidelberg Street - the whole street was like these

Bugs # 691   Miles today 161.5 (260 km)

Goodbye Chicago.....hello Jackson MI

 24th September - after having just a couple of hours sleep over the previous two nights I crashed last night and slept for 9 hours and felt good this morning. Still have a bit of pain and discomfort but am reassured by all the tests done that I'm not having a heart attack. Doctor said I did the right thing in going to the hospital but the wrong thing in waiting 24 hours :(  .
We went to the top of Sears Tower in Chicago - 103 floors - and stood out on a clear plastic ledge. Felt quite nauseated standing out there and indeed on the trip up. After a certain height the lift starts to shake - as did I. This building is the highest building in America and can be seen from 4 states. Took a nice long healthy heart caring, lung breathing, blood clot melting walk home :)

103 floors up

25 th September - Went for another healthy walk which incorporated a couple of Chicago's landmarks

Hey Adelaideans - this beats our Rundle Mall Balls - A giant bean lol

 Travelled today through Indiana to Jackson Michigan - on way to Detroit. 218.6 miles (351 miles) and yes we stopped for some breaks :) The pattern set on the road to St Louis continues. Milwaukee to Chicago has a highway speed limit of 55 mph (88 kph) but if you sit on that speed everything including the school bus will overtake you doing speeds up to 80 mph (130 kmh). It seemed I was the only one doing the right speed but no one was getting booked or chased or shot at! It was like they all knew a secret but weren't sharing it with me! Same thing today from Chicago to Jackson. I must be missing something.....weird.

Bugs # 683