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Published: January 5th 2014
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Very dodgy accommodation but we can’t blame Canada for that
We only got lost once leavingNew Orleans. We are heading north to eventually hitChicago; first stop isMemphisto see if Elvis is really all shook up. By the time we had finished driving today we will have passed through 5 states.
Our stop at Graceland was just ok, very cool to see where Elvis lived and is buried although we did have to capture our photos from the side walk as we refused to pay $32 each to go onto the grounds…. The life of a backpacker, too many things coming up we would rather spend our hard earned on.
After staying the night in sleepy Sikeston, Missouri it was onwards to Chicago today with one stop to make on the way. The small town of Arthur is the largest Amish settlement in Illinois, and going to this town made it feel like we were starring alongside Harrison Ford in the 1985 film ‘Witness’.
Complete with road signs warning of horse and cart, bonnet clad women riding in the horse and cart and men with very Amish beards, great to see how over centuries these people can still live by the basics and make it work.
It took the rest of the afternoon to get to Chicago, which included some lovely peak hour – it took Bree all day to get used to me without a beard after shaving for the first time last night in 4 months. We arrived and settled in for the night.
Our plan for today was to visit Grant Park which fronts the lake and take in a bike ride, and we couldn’t have picked a worse time to do this if we tried, with HallaPALOOZA music festival held while we are here. A large amount of streets on the waterfront were closed and parking was $24 an hour, so we decided instead to just take a drive around the city before making away out to the United Centre.
Home of the Chicago Bulls and where Michael Jordan plied his trade, somewhere I have always wanted to go. Unfortunately it is not basketball season so we had to make do with some photos with the great mans statue. We also took an unexpected drive past Oprah Winfrey’s Studios.
We would love to return to the ‘WindyCity’ and stay a bit closer to the city to really explore it
properly one day, but for now it was an early morning drive to Detroit. We had 2 things to see on our drive through, the first was a drive along 8 mile and also a stop at American Jewellery and Loan – otherwise known as the site of television show ‘Hardcore Pawn’.
Once we were in the city and in the area we wanted you would think we were on the set of ‘8 mile’ with the streets looking just as we imagined, people selling water and every other thing at all the traffic lights. The pawn shop was just how we imagined it, long lines for cash loans, racks full of fur coats, watches and necklaces full of bling and plenty of other odd objects.
Photos were taken and memorabilia was not purchased as we headed for the Canadian border, we decided to cut through to get to Niagara Falls. Roadwork detours aside we hit the border and showed them a rental pass from Avis, our passports and a smile and soon enough we were on the Ambassador Bridge heading for all things metric.
Our town for the night was London, Ontario. Very dodgy accommodation but
we can’t blame Canada for that, anyway it was only 1 night and then we were headed straight for the waterfalls.
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David
non-member comment
Beard
Hi, Well you now look more like what I remember when first meeting you. Hope all is going well not that you are back home and settled. Take care, David