theopenroad

We left Indiana after halloween with a week ahead of no college parties. They were great fun but to get back into tourist mode was great. We headed down to Memphis from Indiana hoping that it would take us around 5 hours, it ended up taking about 10 and Norman was feeling pretty ropey, shaking like a drunk in need of alcohol! In the end we stopped just outside Memphis and checked into a super 8 motel. These hotels are just like the hotel from my name is earl, horrible! The next morning we headed to Graceland, the main reason for coming to Memphis. The house was just off a main road, not what we thought it would be like. The grounds were huge and we parked across the road and were shuttle over. The tour ... read more

Norman (our car) was having problems with his brakes so we got some prices on getting them fixed and then headed to the Henry Ford museum. It was a great place, so much to see. It had every sort of historic technology from the model T to tractor and train equipment. It showed how Henry Ford transformed factory working into a production line which was pretty interesting but the best thing of all was the sheer amount of cars that were on show. It had everything from old mustangs to the JFK car. We got some pics of some great old cars and then stumbled across a 1980's Honda accord, what would anyone want to look at one of them things for!!!... read more

We headed for Detroit in the morning, and at last the sun had come out so we went to a place called luna pier on Lake Erie. It was really quiet with nothing open so took some pics and headed for the city. When we got there Detroit seemed to be everything that we had been told. Run down and burnt out. Driving down the main road into the city all you can see is huge buildings that have been left to rot away or be burnt down by thugs. It was not a nice place but we headed to the football stadium and had a look at that before heading out of the city to Grosse Point, where a we were staying with a friend, Catherine. When we got there we were welcomed with some ... read more

We hit the road and headed for Cleveland where we hoped we would find more to do than in Buffalo. After a couple of hours driving we drive through Cleveland, it wasn't better than Buffalo and there was no way we were going to park the car and leave it with all of our stuff in it! So we headed on through and found a hotel with pool and gym so hit the treadmills and pool and then headed out for dinner and beers in preparation for Detroit the next day!... read more

Feeling a little worse for wear we managed to get up in time for the wonderful pancakes that the hostel made for breakfast! They were actually ok surprisingly! After packing up and loading the car we hit the road and headed down towards Niagara falls. When we eventually arrived we stayed on the Canadian side as the views looked better. The falls were pretty spectacular but different to what we imagined. The city of Niagrara falls is built around the falls themselves, i thought that they would be outside the city but the falls actually divide the USA and Canada, pretty cool!! We wondered around a little further trying to find the museum that had everything about the people that had gone over the edge of the falls in barrels but all there was a imax ... read more

We wondered around the city during the day and visited the 'famous' famers market and university area before heading up to the CN tower for late afternoon. We got there and went up in the lift the 1110 feet to the observation tower. We couldn't go in the restaurant as it was by reservation only but the views up there were incredible. You overlooking lake ontario on one side and the city on the other. We stayed up there until the sun had set and the lights were all on. Then we went for a big night out in the capital but as we weren't allowed to drink our own beer in the hostel we went to the car park and drank a load of beers in norman before hitting some bars and clubs!... read more

We got on the road at a good time and headed for Halifax. When we arrive we picked up Megan from her college and she took us on the grand tour of Halifax! We went to the harbour and then sat in a coffee shop before heading to Megan's brothers place where we had dinner. Megan has learn't to cook and made muscles, we couldn't believe that she could do that as the last cooking experience that i had with Megan almost ended up with a house fire!... read more

After a good nights sleep we headed for Toronto where we were picking up our friend elliott for a week on the road in norman (our car). We got into the city around 3.30 and had to be at the airport for 5 so went to find a place to stay. We found a hostel right in the centre, about a 5 minute walk away from the airport. Then went off to pick up Elliott. We collected him and squeezed him and his stuff into the sideways seats in the back and went back to the hostel. After checking in we realised that the hostel in need of some new clientèle. Our room had about 10 people in it and 6 of them were living there. The smell was worse than anything i'd experienced in a ... read more

After waking up and packing up to go we hit Quebec city. We only had a few hours there and wondered into the old town inside the walls. It was a stunning place with some great views of the bay and ships. It seemed really strange being in Canada but the city was like anywhere in France. Then we headed into the farmers market and grabbed some much needed brekkie after last night's disaster meal! After strolling the streets we jumped back in the car and headed down the road for the 3 hour drive to Montreal. Arriving in Montreal you can tell that this was the main city in Quebec. Big high rise building and a huge Olympic building filled the skyline. We headed for the old town as the new area is very much ... read more

We headed off in the morning for Quebec city, only a 7 hour drive. We stopped at a couple of places along the way for fuel and managed to find a dollar store where we purchased some food to cook on our Walmart stove when we eventually got to a campsite. We got on the road again and stopped just outside Quebec in a place called Montgomy. We checked in to a campsite where the guy just said pay in the morning. It was getting dark and the tent area was on its own peninsula. The clouds were pretty grey and drissle was hitting us, wow it was cold. After setting up the tent we got our food on the go, i set up the grill and got the water on the boil. After about 40 ... read more