On the home stretch [Mouser]

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So, we're here in Thunder Bay. Kyli and I drove over 2000 miles in 2 days so we could get here and get a site around noon and relax for an entire day. Ahhhh...

Canada has been pretty cool so far. Very big and quite rural. Even the big cities don't seem that big. 😊 The Canadian highway kinda sucks, but the view has been spectacular along the way.

I don't know when we'll get Internet again so I'm posting as much as I can about the last few days/week. I will elaborate on them as soon as I can. I was going to add more pictures as well, but I'll need to resize them first since the Internet connections take too long to upload. So be sure to check back (maybe it'll notify you when I edit and add photos).

Uhm, where did I leave off? Oh yeah:

Day 6 - August 14th
South Dakota - Minnesota - Wisconsin
894 miles!
Today was pretty much ALL driving (I thought Wyoming was big but South Dakota is now the winner!). We decided to drive as much as we can today since we’re just shy of the ½ way mark and almost a week into the trip.

We started out nice and early, got packed up and took showers. Said our goodbyes to all of the great older couples. It’s amazing how many of them come here for months at a time. It is a beautiful spot, but I’m not sure I could spend months here. The Black Hills are amazing but some of them have been doing this same thing for 15+ years. The guy who parked his truck by our tents last night makes stuff for Harley Davidson and he gave us a couple of pins he made for Sturgis ‘06.

After checking out, we headed downtown to Java Junkie to get some coffee and check email again before hitting the road. We chatted with a strange (but very nice) guy from Oregon who lived in Seattle for a little bit.

Once on the road we were still in the mountains so there were a few things left to see.
We drove the scenic loop through the Badlands. That was really cool. It’s strange to be driving through the Dakota plains and prairies and then all of sudden you get to this spot that looks a little like the Grand Canyon. It was amazing. We saw a bunch of wildlife as we drove through including some really cute prairie dogs. One said hi to Kyli before running off to it’s little hole.

It was really cool to see old homesteads as we drove through South Dakota. It made me realize how much history is out here. We passed by 1880’s Town which apparantly was used as a prop in Dances with Wolves. Kyli and I decided to check it out. Once we got down there and realized it cost $8 each, we got back in the car. Turned out we were able to see most of the town from the freeway so we at least got a peek at it.

The rest of South Dakota was pretty uneventful. There’s a lot of prairie and no hills. When you look at the map and see the brown for mountains on the left ½ and green for prairie on the right half… it’s just like that! So we just drove and played some car games.

We got into Minnesota and noticed that there are more trees than SD. We also noticed that it’s a much skinnier state and so decided we could drive straight through. It doesn’t look like it’s 300 miles across. It is.

Once we got through Minnesota we crossed the Mighty Mississippi. It was pitch black but we could see the reflections of the nearby town on the river as we crossed the bridge. We imagined magnificence. 😊

We stopped and slept at the rest stop for a few hours. I don’t think we’ll be doing that again. Kyli can at least move the seat back a little but mine is stuck upright because of the way things are packed in. Once it was light it was hard to keep sleeping (as if it wasn’t hard enough already) so I hit the road again. I stopped at a gas station right before the Illinois border to get a cup of coffee and get my bearings. Kyli and I had decided not to get a campsite last night so we can quickly move down to North Aurora to visit Chris’ family. With luck, we’ll stay there and then we’ll have extra budget to stay in a hotel Thursday.

Day 7 - Aug 16th
Wisconsin - North Aurora Illinois

Not much to talk about today. We made down to North Aurora and stayed with Chris’ mom. It was great to see them. It’s been a few years since I’d seen his mom and even longer since I’d seen his sister and her kids. They were huge. It was great that they remembered me. They were glad to meet Kyli too.

After sleeping in campsites for a week it felt great to sleep on the floor. (And they kept apologizing… sheesh)

Noticing that the midwest to east coast has a LOT of truckers. They're going constantly but fill the roads at night. Almost scary sometimes but most of them are really cool.

Day 8 - Aug 17th
North Aurora IL - MI - IN - Toledo OH
About 300 miles

After a refreshing sleep indoors we woke up happy and even hung out for a little bit before heading off. We said good bye to the boys (everyone else had already left for work early on. I heard them go, but decided to keep sleeping).

Since Kyli had never been to Chicago we decided to go downtown (it's weird paying tolls - especially when the funds obviously don’t go back to the highways). We stopped downtown and went to a coffeeshop. Kyli got stuck in the turn door (she's new). Stopped at a beach in S. Chicago - great view of the city and the lake.
Went to the Museum of Science and Industry - cool to see the Seattle model in the train exibit. A little home sick.

Followed the freeway out of town

Headed through Indiana, went North into Michigan at White Pigeon (just we could say we were there) then back down to I-90. Continued on to Ohio. Stopped in Toledo. Got a hotel! Ahhh… indoors again. Can't let ourselves get used to that.

Day 9 - Aug 18th
Toledo OH - MD - Gettysburg PA
About 300 miles

Sandusky OH - drove up to the lake and scenic loop. Played at the park and touched the water (Lk Erie)

PA - first impression: Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! - from the moment we drove across the state line… (Indiana was awesome as well, Kyli reminds me. So far our top 2)

Pittsburg PA - drove through the city. Very pretty.

Johnstown PA - Saw it on Discovery. Town was washed out in 18?? When the dam broke killing almost the entire town. I thought it’d be neat to see as we head through the state… but… traffic jam (saw a cute biker). Finally wound up there only to find that it’s nothing too spectacular. Although it does have the worlds steepest vehicular inclined plane. It looks like an elevator on train tracks. We watched it take a load of people up and bring one down. It was really bizarre.

Accidentally drove into Maryland. (oops Kyli)

Gettysburg PA. Getting late so we decided to camp at the KOA near Gettysburg. Figure it’s a good spot to start our east coast tour.

Today we noticed: Lots of ‘villes’, ‘burgs’ and ‘towns’ in the city names. And the bugs are getting louder!!

Day 10 - Aug 19th
Gettysburg PA - VT - DC - DE - New Jersey
394 miles

Woke up with a flat tire. So the day sucked right off the bat. It's Saturday (in freakin’ Gettysburg PA - like there’s anything there to begin with) so nothing was open. I put the spare on and decided I’d have the flat looked at later (thank goodness for full-size spares).

We dove through Gettysburg. Really cool/erie. You could feel the energy and the history that took place. Stopped at a coffee shop, picked up a new book (Kite Runner) that is part of a book share program. You find the book, register it, read it, then leave it somewhere else to continue the chain. Good book so far. Checked out the ghost walks but they’re done at night and we should be gone by then (fingers crossed).

Drove out to a reenactment site - very cool and informative. Did you know that the term 4F (when the army won’t take you) came out of the civil war? Apparantly if you were missing your 4 front teeth (2 top and 2 bottom) you were considered unfit to serve since you wouldn’t be able to pop the top off the gun powder tube with your mouth…

Headed toward DC. Interesting. Little scary in some parts (right where I wound up, of course). Very beautiful and the architecture was amazing!

Called Nina, left msg. and headed toward Philly. (didn’t hear from her until the next day). Wasn’t sure where she lived so we tried to stay near the Philly area. Wound up going North into Jersey and stumbled across an amazing area along the western river (near Stockton & Lambertville). There’s a long winding road (hwy 29) that makes you feel like you’ve entered into a Stephen King novel or something (maybe a little “Into the Mouth of Madness”-esque). It’s absolutely surreal and breathtaking (and this was at night). Unfortunately Kyli was sleeping by then so no photos or eyewitnesses.

I found a campground on the map so I headed in that direction. Kyli woke up along the way so we stopped at a really cool diner somewhere near Frenchtown. It was after midnight and everyone there (including the other patrons) were so friendly. Food was yummy too. We needed some nice hot meals cooked by someone else.
When we got to the campground (which looked awesome - right along the river in rural Jersey) it was pouring. Kyli, having gone back to sleep by then, woke up long enough to say that she didn’t want to camp in this weather so I decided to give in (hey, it was really raining… I mean really). Around 3am I was so tired and had realized that there wasn’t really any good places to just pull over in New Jersey. Any chance I had was left behind when I headed east out of rural-ville. So I decided to snag a motel. $80 for the night and I’m thinking you've got to be kidding… These places look like abandoned cabins. I had $40 in my pocket so - Long story short - I got the room for $40 which was about $40 too much. I’m pretty sure I have stumbled into one of the top 5 (at least) worst motels in the country. It was so bad, uhm let’s just say Kyli and I brought in our own blankies and slept on top of the bed. Kyli took a shower the next morning but didn’t let anything touch anything… so nuff said.


Day 11 - Aug 20th
New Jersey - Pinelands S.P. NJ - Asbury Park NJ - Red Bank NJ - Leonardo NJ - Cheesequake SP NJ
Only 167 miles today. (what the hell happened?)

Amazing that we spent an entire day in this state. It’s really not that big. I had a list of places I wanted to see (Kevin Smith inspired)

Pinelands S.P. - this was Kyli. She did a report on NJ and that was one of the things she found out about. Being the grand navigator she is, we got half way through the area before realizing we were even in it. Apparantly no signs, just a green area on the map.

We turned around and headed back North East towards the Jersey shore (my inspiration this whole time). I must admit (happily), it was as beautiful as I had imagined it. We stopped in Ocean Grove. Walked the boardwalk. Skipped over the casino to Asbury Park. Swam in the surf. I body surfed a bit. The water was warm. We saw a few really cool jellies. Ran my arm across some very large fish type animal that I couldn’t see and was gone before I could find out what it was (I moved closer to shore after that). Kyli didn’t feel comfortable coming too far into the surf so we spent some time wading. Basically had a great time. She did go in a couple times holding tightly to me (which makes it very hard to jump or float over the incoming waves… but a mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do…). We went into the arcade and played skeeball. It was amazing how different the two neighborhoods and beaches are with only an old battered casino between them - I wonder why.

North to Red Bank. Didn’t look for the Quick Stop (Jay and Silent Bob’s hangout) since we wanted to pitch tent before dark this time. Drove by Leonardo (Clerks was filmed there) on the way to the campground.

Camped at Cheesequake S.P. Nice park. I could see spending a few days there. Lots of little trails and walks to go on.

BTW - Sunset was amazing! I’d heard of east coast sunsets being awesome, but I just couldn’t believe it until I saw for myself. The colors are different. The vibes are different. It’s just amazing and hard to describe.

Day 12 - Aug 21st
Cheesequake SP NJ - Belleville NJ - Newark JN - NY NY - CT
About 217 miles

Kyli’s turn. Went to Belleville NJ - a town that someone in one of her favorite bands grew up.
From there we headed towards NY. I feel kinda stupid and hoped I wouldn’t be one of these statistics, but I really found it hard to get around. I must’ve paid $30 in tolls only to somehow wind up back in Jersey each time! (getting used to the toll thing though - was a little annoying at first - okay, it’s still annoying, but you do get used to it). We finally made it to Liberty park and checked out the statue, the skyline, the river. Decided not to do the tour and as we were leaving, one of the crew told us we weren’t missing a thing. 😊

Drove through the Holland tunnel and FINALLY made it into New York City. It was so cool. I had all the windows rolled down (much to Kyli’s dismay) so I could soak it all in. It sounded like New York. It smelled like New York. It was pretty cool. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be spending any time there. I gained back my natural internal navigation system (what the hell is with NJ?) and hopped onto the FDR expressway. We just stayed on it and let it take us out of town.

We are amazed at how big Long Island really is. We could still see it when we were in Hammonasset SP CT camping.


Day 13 - Aug 22nd
Hammonasset S.P. CT - MA - VT - NH - ME - New Brunswick
807 miles

After talking with Nina (but alas, couldn’t hook up - this time) Kyli and I decided to reroute ourselves to go up into Vermont. Nina’s description was too hard to resist. Thanks Nina. 😊

We still decided to keep the plan of hitting Maine and crossing over a 5th timezone into New Brunswick, CA. Since NJ got the better of us and we were about a day behind, we made the choice to drive as much as we possibly could.

Massachussetts was pretty cool. You could see the first leaves starting to change.

Vermont was every bit as beautiful as Nina had said. It was truly an entire rural state. With wonderful rolling hills (do they call them mts over here?). We’ve added it to our list of favorite states (so far we have, IN, PA & VT). About ½ way up the state we stopped to eat lunch. We picked an exit at random (Putnam) and headed toward the CT river. We totally lucked out and wound up at a little local fishing hole. Kyli swam in the river and we had an awesome picnic while looking across at NH.

I didn’t realize how small NH is at the top until I blinked and we already across. Unfortunately not much to say about it. Was getting dark by the time we were crossing over.

We were pretty hungry about ½ way through Maine so we decided to stop in Bangor. Unfortunately not a lot was open even through it was only about 7:30 or 8pm. We did find a neat little place and had some good eats. The stars were absolutely amazing as we drove through Maine. I’ve seen pretty rural night sky, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.

Continued into N.B. CA and almost made it to Quebec. Getting gas was my highlight of the night as every other station's attendant didn’t speak English. Hard to remember I’m only a few miles, I mean kilometers from the states and good 'ol English speaking folk. Wish I spoke French. I realized that I needed to stop saying Bojour when I enter the shops because that gives the impression that I know what they're saying. (I have no clue what the guy at the bar said to me when I needed to use the rest room. He went on and on and on.) Now I just say Merci as I leave.

Day 14 - Aug 23rd
New Brunswick to Ontario (little river rd)
1053 miles! The most yet.

We just decided to make up for lost time. Not a lot today but driving. I slept a few restless hours in the car at a truck stop and then decided to just hit the road again. (Later on I rearranged the car so I would be able to move a cooler and put my seat back if this happens again).

We did make a stop at Mont Tremblant at a spa that has scandinavian baths. This was a disaster that took about 4 hours out of our day. Granted the are was beautiful, but the roads are mostly dirt (and some are closed and/or under construction), the signs are all in French and no one around the area speaks english. I got directions to the place 3 times and finally we found the place as we gave up and were heading out of the area! We were so excited (at least I was, this was going to be a surprise for Kyli as a great spa day 1/2 way through our trip). We walked through the forest to the office and then found out that you have to be over 18 to partake. Could've said this on the website and saved me a day of driving in circles. Oh well. 😊 Back to driving.

The stars are still amazing but the fog has added a whole other element to the mix. It started as I crossed from New Brunswick to Quebec and it’s a fog that has a mind of it’s own. It doesn’t hug the road or the trees or even the hillsides like the typical fog. This hovers above the ground just high enough to see it and just at the right spot to capture the headlights of the occasional oncoming trucker (not as many on the roads as the US highways). It was like a light show just for me (my navigator slept through most of this).

Day 15 - Aug 24th
Ontario - Thunder Bay, Ontario.
374 miles.
Yay. Day of relaxation.

We drove through most of Ontario only stopping for gas or the occassional stretch. Stopped at a little picnic area on Lake Nipigon. It was a great spot with a little private beach.

The KOA in Thunder Bay is nice. We checked in around noon and set up camp. We went swimming. Took showers. Ate dinner. And it was still only 3:30 in the afternoon! Ahhhhhmazing.

Not much money left so we’ll probably start to get serious about driving and just roughing it at night. We’re liking the slower pace though. It’s nice to soak it in and give yourself time to breath. The last few weeks have felt like a lifetime. I try to tell someone about what we saw or the campground we stayed at and I can’t even tell them how many days ago it was. Hell, half the time I have to think really hard to remember which state it was without looking at my notes. 😊

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So that's about it.
It's around noon here now and we'll be hitting the road and passing through Manitoba. Not sure how long it will take with all of the construction going on, but hopefully we'll make it to Saskatchewan to camp.

Take care all. See you in a few days.
Heather & Kyli.

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