Day 10- South Haven

We spent the day in the “beach town” of South Haven Michigan.  There was a little downtown area with some cafes, a bakery, and a few antique shops.  A lot of the locals were complaining about the economy, and rightly so, since half of the stores in those few blocks had gone out of business.  The rest of the day was spent relaxin’ at the campground.  If you’re ever in the south west area of Michigan and you need a campsite, check out South Haven Family Campground.  The campground is new, very clean, and run by lovely people!  And some of their lil’ cabins have hot tubs!

Day 9 - Cabela's and Ann Arbor

Today was a Super Fun day even though we didn’t do much sight-seeing.  There is a Cabela’s Outfitters the size of an airport near Petersburg, Michigan where we slept for the night.  The store was so big that our GPS located three different Cabela’s entrances.  We must have been inside for at least 2 hours.  For those of you who have never been to a Cabela’s, it has all of the hunting, fishing, boating, ATVing, camping, and hiking equipment you could ever dream of.  It’s a Rednecks paradise; and since Kenny and I are now a part of that club with our travel trailer and Dodge truck equipped with a CB radio, it felt like a little slice of heaven ;).  

I couldn’t pull Kenny away from the Gun Library; and he almost convinced me that I needed a pink rifle.  “Do I need a pink rifle?  It would be good for protection and the price is right since it’s slightly used… wait… no.”  Not only did the store sell outdoorsy equipment and clothes, it had an indoor aquarium and a display of nearly 100, if not more, mounted animals that were killed by the Cabela family over the years.  Not the best place to go if you are an animal lover.  I’m not a vegetarian or crazy PETA activist, but the number of stuffed dead animals in that building was a little disturbing.  Kenny didn’t think so; he went right up to the cafeteria and ate a wild boar sandwich.  Other items on the menu: Ostrich, Elk, Salmon, Venison or Buffalo…you get the idea.  

But the fun didn’t stop there!  We went around the corner to the Jerky Outlet where they had every kind of smoked dehydrated meat imaginable.  We picked up some regular beef jerky and kangaroo jerky, which I felt a little guilty eating, but it was delicious none the less.  It tasted like any other kind of jerky…yup, salty and chewy.

While we were on our way to Ann Arbor, Michigan we passed by a billboard which said “Northridge church is for LIARS!”  The next one read “Northridge church is for LOSERS!”  Kenny and I had a good laugh at that one…even though it’s not funny, not funny at all…

I found that Jackalope that you were looking for!

*Lesson of the Day*…We realized today that the lady selling radios to the truckers over the CB was really a hooker.  She was selling “Radios” for $200, “antennas” for $60, and something else that I can’t remember for $30.  I was wondering why most truckers were giving her an attitude and telling her to bug off…Little did I know that she was selling her vagina over the radio waves.  Unfortunately, one trucker did accept her offer to buy “her radio” at the rest stop.



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Stats:

              Miles  = 233.2

      Road Time = ~6

                Gas  = $53.00

               Tolls  = $0.00

  States Driven  = MI

Day 8 - Cleveland

We were staying at a campsite with a check-out time of 2 pm so, of course, we took advantage and slept for a while.  Besides, it was another rainy day and not much we could do outdoors.  We packed up the trailer at lunch time and hit the road to Cleveland.  The city which has been called “the mistake on the lake,” has reportedly gone to great lengths to improve its tourism over the years- we’ll see about that!  

We pulled up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame around 3 pm.  The building looks like a glass pyramid and is right on the water of Lake Erie, which I would imagine is lovely on a sunny day.  After paying $22 for tickets to the museum and getting our wrist bands (so rock n’ roll) we explored the first floor out of six.  The history of Rock was chronicled from the 1930s to the present with biographies of the artists and a lot of musical artifacts. 

The entryway to the main exhibits was lined with photos and biographies of early jazz and blues influences.  There were two large rooms dedicated to Elvis, another for Jimi Hendricks, and the top two smaller floors were all about Springsteen.  Les Paul, who perfected the electric guitar, had his own area.  One of the best parts of the museum for me was the collection of clothes and other donated items of the artists.  There were signed instruments, set lists, stage clothes- a lot of Stevie Nicks’ wardrobe, Michael Jackson’s red jacket from Thriller and his BEADAZZLED WHITE GLOVE on a rotating pedestal-, and a lot more that you’ll have to see for yourself :)

We left the city after a short driving tour, and while passing through the suburbs of the city happened upon a town called Lakewood, Ohio.  It looked like a neighborhood that you would see in a Thomas Kinkade painting- the homes so charming and with beautifully manicured landscapes.  If I didn’t worship the sun and beach so much, I might plan to live there one day.  

DETOUR > Our original plan was to go from Cleveland to Chicago, but we decided to take a trip up to Michigan, just to say we did…and so north we went.



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STATS

             Miles  = 188.4

      Road Time = 4-ish hours

                Gas  = $108.00

               Tolls  = $0.00

  States Driven  = OH, MI

No dog food no proplem.

Day 7 -- Driving.

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Nothing really happened today we mainly drove from campsite to campsite. We stayed at KOA in Lewiston NY (Right outside of Niagara Falls) last night. We stopped at Whirlpood State Park where King made a new friend. On our way out we found a dog park with ramps and barrels for the pups. It was a little rainy so we were the only ones there but King still had a blast.  Talked to truckers for about 4 hours, discussed food (a sandwich for 70 cents at a truckstop) and other unimportant topics.   Instead of staying at a KOA we found a nice RV park down a dirt road in Thompson Ohio. We set up and I almost immediately fell asleep for about 3 hours. The greatest part, check-out time was 2pm.

Stats:

              Miles  = 183.4

      Road Time = 4-ish hours

                Gas  = $60.00

               Tolls  = $?

  States Driven  = NY, PA, OH

Day 6- Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls...

what can I say...

that's a lot of water.

Day 5, Montreal to Niagara Falls

Today was the longest travel day so far. We left our campsite at around 11am and arrived in Niagara Falls around 10pm. Pulling a 5000 pound trailer behind a 2001 Dodge Ram means I have to stay under the posted speed limit. If it wasn't for going up and down mountains we might be able to speed a tad.



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We had lunch today at the Fifth Wheel Trucker Stop. First time for that. The food was decent, well better than we expected.

• 2 - Cups of bottomless coffee
• 5 - Sunny side up eggs
• 5 - Pieces of french toast
• 5 - Sausage links
• 5 - Strips of bacon

 All for $25 + tip. Not bad and King enjoyed the scraps. 

Note for today: Boarder crossing and me don't mix. I felt like I was being interrogated.  Every question I answered was followed by "Why". 

BA:  What were you doing in Canada? 

ME:  Traveling. On a road trip.

BA:  Why?

ME:   Uhhhh, because we wanted to and we had the time.

 BA:  Where are you going on your road trip? Coming from and to where?

ME:  Throughout Canada and the US. Montreal to Niagara Falls.

BA: Are you going back into Canada?

ME: Yea, Vancouver

BA: Why did you leave Canada?

ME: Uhhhhhhh? (because there is a whole country in between that we wanted to see)

There were countless other questions and smart remarks from the Boarder Agent. He acted as though he has never seen people on a road trip. I have to admit that I didn't help the situation but that's my nature I guess. Jean was laughing at me as we pulled away. The moral of the story, answer their questions with as little words as possible and don't bring me through a border crossing. We still have to cross in and out of Canada one more time.

Jean will posting tomorrow about Day 4 - Montreal. We had a great time a must see for anyone.

             Miles  = 422

      Road Time = 11 hours

                Gas  = $120.01

               Tolls  = $17.95

  States Driven  =  NY, Canada -Quebec and Ontario ,

       Starbucks  = NONE

          Roadkill  = 0

Day 4- Montreal

We woke up Friday morning to clouds and rain, so we decided to take it slow and make some breakfast and coffee.  Side note: I swear there was a mini earthquake in the middle of the night, but I only saw one documented in New Hampshire, so maybe it was a low flying plane shaking the trailer.  We were staying at the KOA in St. Philippe de LaPrarie, which was about 20 minutes outside the city of Montreal.  At about 1 pm the rain stopped and the clouds were clearing so we headed out to the city.  Kenny and I only took one wrong turn getting there, and I think that's pretty good considering all of the road signs were in French!

We spent the day wandering around Vieux Montreal (the historic district) and the downtown area.  The cobblestone streets and alleys of Vieux Montreal are lined with little cafes, art galleries, and shops.  Tres romantique!

The dowtown area was more trendy with recognizable stores like Old Navy, McDonalds, H&M but still predominantly French.  I noticed that more people were speaking English in that area of town.  Montreal is full of young hot fashionistas! I immediately realized that I looked like a tourist.  My clothes were too colorful and too bright.  I was seeing a lot of little leather jackets, boots, and dark colors.  I was sticking out like a sore thumb in my jeans, white sneakers, and lime green long sleeve t-shirt so I ended up buying a dark hoodie from H&M so I would feel less self-conscious.

 After walking and shopping for a few hours, we got dinner and drinks at a local brewary.  The amber beer was delicious!  The food was good too- typical bar food with a little French flare.  Kenny had a regular burger and I had a pesto burger- with chicken, goat cheese, and pesto sauce- Yum!  Overall, our day in Montreal was chilly but lovely.  The people were happy and friendly and would always try to speak English to accomodate us even if they were not fluent.  Hope to visit the city again soon!  La Fin.



             Miles  = 45

      Road Time = 1.5 hours

                Gas  = $81.65

               Tolls  = $0.00

       Starbucks  = once

Day 3 Northward Bound

 I locked my keys in the truck this morning which was fun. I made a shim kit out of a fishing pole, wire hanger and electrical tape. I couldn't reach the front doors, so I pulled the latch on the rear window and squeezed my way in. By the time we opened the truck it was 11am, which happened to be the time to checkout. We still had to do the general closeup tasks to get on the road. It took a little longer then expected because last night was the first time we used the sewer system.



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We headed north to one of two bridges that crossed Lake Champlain. The bridge we decided was out but they are running 24 hour ferries across the lake. While we waited for the ferry, Stephen Hawking gave us a weather update via our CB.  He might understand gravitational singularities in the framework of general relativity but he can't predict that storm clouds mean rain.





We stopped in Burlington Vermont for dinner and a walk with the pup. Burlington was quaint and charming. There is a walking street which offers food and shopping and a handful of homeless street performers. You know the normal stuff.  There were two people singing old punk songs, anti-flag and op ivy i think. (Will post photos of Burlington tomorrow because it's pouring outside and Jeans camera is in the truck) As we were walking to find food we saw a guy put on a wooden mask with antlers and a fur cape, playing a didgeridoo. King wouldn't go near this guy and kept looking for him as we walked away. This isn't my video but it is the guy.





Burlington was nice and so were the people. The last thing we saw was a crazy ass homeless man in his late 60's wearing padded yellow football pants blowing snot rockets on a wall next to our camper.

Arrived in Canada tonight just before a downpour. We are expecting rain for the next few days so we don't know what we will be doing for the next few days but we will keep you posted.

Stats:

              Miles  = 191

      Road Time = 6 hours

                Gas  = $55.00

               Tolls  = $2.45

  States Driven  =  NY, VT, Canada (Quebec)

       Starbucks  = Twice

          Roadkill  = 0

 

Day 2

Attention Hippies: The Woodstock festival was not located in Woodstock but more than 45 miles south-west in Bethel NY. With that said we did go to the town of Woodstock but didn't realize how far away we were from the actual event location. We are in the Adirondacks at the moment and leaving in 30 min on our way to Vermont then maybe Canada.

We will post more photos and give some more updates later on tonight.


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Stats:

             Miles  =  176.4

      Road Time = ~6 hours

                Gas  = $40.00

               Tolls  = $12.05

  States Driven  =  NY

       Starbucks  = Once

          Roadkill  = 0.0001  (A butterfly at 70mph)

Day 1

Well here's to the end of a great first day. We were going to leave first thing in the morning, however I slept in as always. I was up until 6am trying to set up this blog and finish last minute projects. We emptied the fridge, finished packing up the RV, replaced the tonneau cover on the truck and hit the road. We were shooting for the Adirondacks in upstate New York but ended up about two and half hours south of Lake George.



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Although we didn't make it to our intended destination, we did learn a couple of lessons that will most likely help us in the future.

1. Spare tire bike racks are not the most secure pieces of equipment. 
2. Velcro can and should be your best friend.
3. Starbucks and Burger King are expensive at rest stops.
4. German tourists travel in the weirdest vehicles. (see below)
5. Remember to pack coax cable so you can watch T.V. after spending 6 hours installing all of your AV equipment

  This is by far the weirdest RV/bus we have ever seen. At first it looked like a bus pulled in the campground but then it looked like a regular Class. They backed into their site and opened the doors. When the lights came on you could see 20 or so German tourists crammed into this thing like an emo kid stuffed in skinny jeans. We stared out the window above our sink wondering where in the hell all these people were going to sleep and right before out eyes the bus turned into a circus tent, seriously with music and all. ba da badibada ba da da da.... Not sure about the music but the whole rear of the bus turned into a tent full of bunk beds and why do Germans always sound pissed off? 

Tomorrow off to Woodstock and the Ben & Jerry's Factory in Vermont.

Day 1 Stats.

     

              Miles  =  194.7

      Road Time = ~5.5 hours

                Gas  = $43.37

               Tolls  = $14.50

  States Driven  = 2 (NJ, NY)

       Starbucks  = Twice

          Roadkill  = 0

"The bag's not for what I take,  it's for what I find along the way." MacGyver