Emmett, MI - Day 19

We are in Emmett,  Michigan.  Internet connection poor.  More tomorrow.

Our campsite - First day open for 2011

Waterloo, ON - Day 20

Yea, We're here!  Our mega cross country tour is done.  And guess what?  It's supposed to snow in the next day or so.  What???

As Wayne says, "We're not in Kansas anymore - or California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma or Missouri."
Oh well it will warm up sooner or later.  Hope my tan doesn't fade.

Our border crossing was pretty uneventful.  We missed the duty free shop because of road construction.  So no cheap booze.   We were randomly selected for a further inspection.  We had to go park near the building.  Two border guards came and asked us a few questions and that was that.  We don't think that they wanted to go to the trouble of opening the trailer.  Slides would have to come out etc.  Took all of 30 seconds and we were on our way.

I didn't want to take Highway 401 as it would bring us to the wrong side of Kitchener Waterloo.  I had a general idea from my map how to take the smaller highways.   However the gps had a very round about route.  Once we started - we had to continue with gps as my map didn't have all the smaller roads on it.  We even went through PunkerDoodle Corners.  No kidding.

Ontario Farm

Michigan Farm 

Farms look much the same.  They have in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ontario..

It's good to be home.  Tomorrow we will see family and start socializing.  We also need to do laundry and give the trailer a good cleaning inside and out.  We'll be busy, busy.

The trailer also needs some repairs.  We hope to get these done while here.

Elkhart, IN - Day 18

This is Wayne determined to stay in shorts for one more day.  I think the hoody is a nice touch.  Oh, by the way, that is our sewer hose being stowed.  One of the least pleasant jobs to do.

We are now in Indiana, another new state.  I don't have a picture as we were in heavy traffic after passing through south Chicago.  I took one but too blurry to use.

We are in the Elkhart area.  This is where most RV's are built.  Manufacturers have factory tours, but we arrived too late to attend.  Next time.  This area is home to many Amish people.  We went for supper at an Amish restaurant and shop complex.  Supper was delicious and I also bought some quilting fabric.  Forgot to take my camera though.

We met a lady from Barrie.  She is opening an rv dealership with her husband.  They are here meeting with factory reps etc.  Pretty cool.

Tomorrow we will be in Michigan.  Our last state.  Then home.

Kankakee, IL - Day 17

Boy does it stink!  No it's not Wayne.  The water at this park has a strong rotten egg smell.   Yuck!

But I digress. 

The first 50 miles of our trip today were bypassing St. Louis, MO.  It was a very urban, busy road - up to six lanes in each direction.  We waited until the morning rush was over before heading out.  We had looked at the route on Google Earth last night, so we knew exactly what we were getting into.

After crossing the Mississippi River,  we were in a new state - Illinois.  Abruptly we had left the city and were in a very rural agricultural area.  For the next 200 miles or so the road passed through farmland.

Welcome to Illinois

The countryside was very peaceful and flat.  Really flat.  Flatter than Saskatchewan.

Tomorrow we head for Elkhart, Indiana.  The RV capital of the world.  And deep into Amish country.  Can't wait.

Eureka, MO - Day 16

This part of Missouri is very similar to rural Ontario. Green, hilly with lots of farms. I didn't realize that we would be travelling through the Ozarks. But here we are.

We had a few seconds of excitement this morning.  A deer came bounding across a field on a collision course with us.  At the last second it veered away from the road.  Our hearts were going pitter patter.  We didn't have enough time to react.  Could have been disastrous.

These horses are in a field behind the trailer. The first thing I did when we arrived was take an antihistamine. There is also an old cemetery adjacent to the campground.

View from our campsite.

Tomorrow first thing we are travelling through St. Louis. My least favourite thing - large city. Oh well, we'll wait until after the morning rush and get it out of the way. Our drive will be one of our longest. Still shorter than several of the days travelling through northern Ontario last fall. We're getting closer to home. Woo hoo!

Springfield, MO - Day 15

Today's state is Missouri.  We are in the city of Springfield

Springfield is the location of the head office of Bass Pro Sports. We went to their flagship store. Wayne bought 2 pairs of shorts and a henley shirt. It was lots of fun to look around. The store is huge and is being remodelled. Each section was about the size of the whole store in Vaughan.

Live alligator.  One eye was open just a slit.

Checking out the fish.  Huge gar and catfish among others.

New buddy.

Not quite so nice.

This race car is on display.  It won the Daytona 500 in 2005.

Budweiser Clydesdales in the parking lot.

Beautiful horses.

Checotah, OK - Day 14

I'd like to begin today with a picture of the sunset last night.

Today the country side was much greener with gentle hills.  It's still hot though.  We have the air conditioning on in the rig for the second night in a row.

We passed through Oklahoma City including Tinker AFB.

These small oil rigs are scattered along the highway.  We saw some in Alberta last fall as well.

Say this road name out loud. Then check out the next photo.

Pretty funny, we thought.

Our premium campsite

Premium because of this nice swing and a fancy firepit.

Campground chickens including a rooster.  Wonder who will wake up first.  Wayne or the rooster?

Elk City, OK - Day 13

Today we left New Mexico, travelled through Texas and finished in Oklahoma.  Not bad, three states in one day.

Very stinky feed lot.  Thousands of cows.

This is a very bad picture of the Cadillac Ranch. There is a row of 6 or 8 cars buried in the ground. However there was no advance warning and I was only able to snap one picture. Just caught the one car.

Apparently this is the largest cross in the western hemisphere.

This says TEXAS to me.

Welcome to Oklahoma

More farms less cattle ranches.

So hot today and very windy too!

Tucumari, NM - Day 12

Today I convinced Wayne that we needed to stop at a tourist stop.  Clines Corners is really similar to the French River Trading Post.  It was lots of fun to check out all the touristy goodies.  We each bought a t-shirt and some other items.

I am very glad that today was a short travel day.  We have noticed that the wind picks up each afternoon.  Today they are quite strong beginning as we finished setting up camp.  The breeze does a great job of reducing the temperature.  It was 85 F.   I got quite a dose of sun while we were travelling.  My face and arms are red.  They don't hurt though.

Undulating prairie grasslands

Cattle country

Still a few mesas

We have been stopping at rest stations all along the interstates.

Picnic shelter

Bathroom facilities

Me with lava rocks

Petrified wood

Thousands of years ago, trees died and instead of rotting away they petrified.  The tree feels like stone.  That's how dry it is.

Tomorrow is a big day.  We travel through 2 states - Texas and Oklahoma.  We will stop at Elk City, OK for the night.

Albuquerque, NM - Day 11

As you can see we are still in Albuquerque.  While doing a vehicle check this morning, Wayne noticed the engine coolant level was low.  We had to take the truck in for service.  It took most of the day to determine that we just needed to top up the level.  They checked the whole system for leaks and finished at about 2:30pm.  The bill was very reasonable.

After returning to the camp site, I got out to direct Wayne.  Unfortunately I couldn't see the other side of the front of the trailer.  We backed into it slightly, gouging the fiberglass.  Between dinging the trim at the border and this incident the rig is looking a bit bruised.  Hopefully we can get it fixed while in Waterloo.

Today was laid back as we had no transport to go siteseeing.  We did laundry and relaxed.  Tomorrow we'll be back on the road.

I've been saving Route 66 pictures.  Today's the day.  These are either original sites from the "Mother Road" or modern sites built in the same kitchy style.

Drive In Restaurant?

Abandoned gas station

Old style motel

Trading post - old style

Many, many signs

Restaurant

Trading Post - looked like an old fort

New style trading post

Get your kicks on Route 66

More signs complete with a couple of horses

Casino with huge arrows in the parking lot