Leaves!

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I swear it was South Park who took the piss out of New Yorkers for driving upstate to see the leaves change and fall off trees... I became one of those people to poke fun of and you know what, tease me all you like. I loved the next two weeks of my trip. As the landscape would be dominated by predominantly the maple leaf slowly but surely dying off to its feather-like descent towards its final resting place on the ground.

After Boston it was time to test out my ability to do this trip on a budget… After buying a GPS - of course. I figured I had wasted at least half a tank in the first 5 days with the car just from wrong turns so I had to. GPS’ weren’t in stock anywhere so my intention to get the cheapest deal around turned into $120. “Nice up sale there mate.” Was my comment as the credit card was swiped. He then included the tax.

This is one of the frustrations of travelling here. Fair enough on restaurant bills put taxes on. But in the states it’s everywhere, food, accessories. Just when you think you are getting a good deal this odd figure pops up which generally means you get a bunch of small change with it. (The 1 penny coin is still going around.) I don’t like the 25 - quarter coin. Probably because I have been brought up with a 20c coin. I think its because I have to think more when the 25 is in my hand. It’s not an even number. I don’t know?

The day was scheduled to end somewhere near the Adirondack’s in Upstate New York at a truck stop. That was the plan anyway but who knows. To get there I had to drive through a few states. Massachusetts to get out of Boston, New Hampshire and Vermont.

It was the last two where I was fortunate enough to see the leaves changing colour. The day started with mostly green top trees but as the day progressed. The closer to the Vermont Mountains the scene became shades of yellow tree line. After a visit to Ben and Jerry’s factory I hit Mt Mansfield State Forest in Vermont when my first true image of the famous leaves changing occurred.

Since it was higher up, a turn left from the car park after the tour led me to trees covered in leaves of brown, orange, yellow and the best of them all, red. I think I found this sight so exciting that I probably would get in a passionate argument if someone said that the red is not the best looking of the leaves changing colours. And what makes it, is that the trees are bunched up in forest forms so that’s your landscape until you leave the region.

The Ben and Jerry’s factory tour is not a must see by all means but if you are around the area it’s a good chance to see and appreciate a few things. A good wholesome American company that started from scratch and the American people loving the fact that an American company started from scratch and became a world dominating company.

The ice cream I have to admit I rarely have because it’s too expensive but still for $3 a tour why not to break the journey. The tour starts off at the ‘Cow over the moon’ Theatre where the over enthusiastic guide will tell you that you are about to watch a “mooooovie” This goes through the companies humble beginnings and their big break when their van on a nationwide tour giving away free ice-cream from the back broke down and burnt to the ground creating a media avalanche. A flavours test at the end of the tour is where the original taste testing at the factory took place.

People don’t mind success and failures as long as its success in the end and the failed flavours are at the cemetery out the back up on the hill. It celebrates it with gravestones of the flavours that have been lost to time until a special edition might see them resurrected. The Potato Mash flavour read horrible. They’ve been around for a while and a tour group of Americans stood there and reminisced on some of their tastebud memories.

It was dark whilst I made my way to Lake Chaplain. The upper part near the Canada border is near a series of lakes and islands so this cross over was done through a car ferry. For some reason I was put in the position of last to leave once we arrived. Not sure why but it could be my license plate. I have a Rhode Island plate, which has created intrigue and suspicion, you’ll soon find out over the next few blogs.

When I left it was time to hit my first truck stop and my first use of my brand new pillow bought from Wall Mart. Typical with all truck stops are bright lights generally of orange tinge. It’s a large tarred area next to a petrol station, which will have some snacks and a toilet at the least. At Exit 36 Truckstop on Hwy 87 they had a quality sub sandwich selection and WIFI.

It wasn’t that cold but was hard to sleep. The seat reclines at about a 120 degree and my legs can stretch out between the pedals around 160 degree. I didn’t park with the trucks because these guys are leaving pre sunrise so half asleep they could run me over without knowing. So no parking between them. I pick a spot near a tree but still an orange light beaming through my eyes lids. It would probably be my worst sleep of the trip thus far.

The pillow felt so good in the shop and when I looked at the plastic cover I picked the wrong one after trying the two possibilities. I got the one for side sleeping so when you run out of solutions, counting sheep never going to work, move into the fettle position. So I lean on the right, left leg up on the dashboard and right leg resting on the daypack resting on the legroom of the passenger side. There would be more days like these but I’d soon sort out a system.

The next morning I managed to keep sleep to a minimum thanks to the humming of the multiple trucks warming up for another day on the road. It was perfect because in the states the late afternoon and early mornings are always the best lighting. I headed along upstate New York and toward Lake Placid the venue of the 1980 Olympic Games. The ski jump and some others were closed and they charged a fee to see an ice-rink so I was like nah and used it more so as a direction through the Adirondack’s mountains. And how glad I was for doing it.

I could have gone around it but going through the up state New York ski mountain is a must if around the area, especially when driving in October. Another moment of the leaves changing occurred. As you drive through the narrow highway. One lane each way - single carriage way. The road is engulfed by the trees, some leaves prematurely have fallen whilst some float with the breeze and lightly tap the windshield of the car like a feather tap. It may sound lame but it is an awesome feeling to drive through. Believe me it’s not an excuse to find something enjoyable after travelling too much, I haven’t gone crazy. It was brilliant.

The other good thing about driving through the mountains is so you can see the real part of America not the road works of the main highway. There was a recent employment act called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It says on the signs its “Putting America to work.” The idea is to re-employ through constructing and re doing roads. Because of this the main highways are sometimes slow so I tried to avoid them but at some point however you have to take the main highway. It does speed things up although not by much. In New York and most of the east coast the max limit is 65m/hr but that is rarely seen. It’s more so 55 at the moment, which is 105 km/hr.

That is okay but I had nothing to listen to but the radio to keep me awake. So far the stations have its moments when the commercials aren’t on. Like the debate over whether it’s okay to sit or stand during the whole game of American football. Whether the decision to not allow death row prisoners a last meal request. Wether the death penalty should be abolished after a guy was in jail for around 20 years for rape because he was black. He was released because he didn’t do it.

Yet the classic talk back topic was when Boston were confirmed to have choked in what was called the greatest last day of regular season in baseball history. It was here that I realised that Boston Red Sox are the Collingwood or Manly of Baseball. One guy radio host said “Look I am not going to lie because I do hate the Red Sox and what happened yesterday was one of the greatest things I have seen for a long time in baseball. But that was the greatest choke ever. Think about it 7 game lead and you don’t even make the playoffs.”

He then berated by playing the team song sarcastically. He then poked a stick a bit more by saying. “You know what. People keep saying that Boston is a great sporting city. That’s wrong! It’s a great city who supports its own team but when their team is not in it anymore they won’t watch. They’ll do something else. That is not a great sporting city. A great sporting city will support the sport even if their team is not in it.” Soon after a Boston supporter called up. “I have been listening to your program for more than 10 years and you have lost me forever after the last 5 minutes of your show.” So yes at times the radio has its moments.

That baseball story was the day after I was in Buffalo heading towards Ann Arbor. Buffalo is the ‘All American City” according to the cities sign and its true. It does provide that small town feel whilst being in the city. Buffalo was my first hint of cold and I got that walking to get milk near the hostel.

For Christ sake I always struggle to find the right milk I want. Milk is getting so hard to figure out now. In Minsk, Belarus a few weeks earlier I was clueless mainly because of the Cyrillic and looked at the animal pictures on the bottle to see if I got it right. The first time I did, the second time that wasn’t in stock so I stood back and waited for a young person to get one. A young woman comes along and picks one. I choose the same and it was salty milk to compensate for the lack of iron in her diet. Luckily in America milk tastes like milk and even with a wrong call it can be drinkable.

At night I headed to Anchor Bar where the original Buffalo wings are made. They are chicken wings doused in some spicy sauce which go down well with a watery US beer (I was trying to be open minded but it is. I’ll leave the beer talk for another time.) and a bit of sport. I stayed back after I ate to watch the ‘greatest last day of the regular season in baseball history.’

A guy from Florida was away for work and we had a chat. We spoke about a few things and holidays came up. He gets 2 weeks a year whilst he looked on with jealousy for my 4 weeks. I mentioned how ridiculous it is as the only other nations who only have 2 weeks or less are 3 rd world countries. He took the comment well.

The next day I headed to Niagara Falls, which was only, a few minutes down the road. The two main falls are some of the highest flow rate falls in the world. There falls split the two countries. Pre fall is on the US side whilst at the end of the decent it hits Canada.

Surprisingly it’s Canada who prostitutes itself with casinos, hotels and other tall buildings. Whilst the US side is more nature orientated. The view to Canada didn’t encourage me to go over and I enjoyed the up close and personal view for the states. The sound pounds in the ears especially when you cross over to Goat Island. The island is between American Falls and the Horseshoe fall, which has ferries that go up close to the pounding fall whilst taking tourists in blue jackets.

Impressed again by a pounding waterfall it occupied a bit less than 2 hours as I took the free parking on the street instead of the expensive fee in the national park. Parking in America is really pissing me off it’s the hidden fee when you accept hiring a car for 11 weeks. So to avoid it I am waking up early to move the car before 7-8am and arrive in a city after 5-6pm to get free parking. So sleep is at a minimum.

Exhausted I took up a room at a Hotel 6 in the outskirts of Cleveland. Hotel 6 is the budget of budget hotel chains. A very casual check in process lead to a walk into a smoke smelling room but still it did the job and good enough for me to get ready for college football in a few days.

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Comments

[Sojourner1208]

bright lights
I know what you mean about having bright lights in truck stops etc. I free overnight park all the time myself and use a "sleep mask" which I bought for a couple of bucks that goes over my eyes and blocks out the light. Sure makes a difference. BTW: if you go to Walmart.com and click on locations you can easily find SuperWalmart locations to overnight park in. When I stay in motels I usually stay in Motel 6 as well. A basic room at a basic price as they claim.