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Driving Quickly Back East
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August 16, 2006



Hello again to everyone and thank you for stopping by. I hope you have been enjoying my photos and stories of our adventures.

It has been an exhausting journey so far. We've visited 25 states and 3 provinces in just 11 months. We've also driven about 60,000 miles in the process between the two vehicles! Cricket and I have realized we need a break for a while. So we're going to make a beeline straight to Maine to see her mother before driving back to Florida. There we'll take a break for a while.

We left Denver on Saturday around noon after one last stop by the Greene's house to say goodbye. I drove the entire day all the way over to Lexington, Nebraska and stayed the night at Wal-Mart. Nebraska was pretty flat. We did drive through a storm front that was heading east. Later that night it past us back. Between the storm and all the truckers that had also parked at Wal-Mart for the night, we didn't get much sleep.

On Sunday we continued down I-80 driving across Nebraska and all the way through Iowa. I was surprised in Iowa thinking that it too was flat. However it turned out to be hilly. We also caught up to and past through that storm front once more so it was raining most of the time. Crossing the border into Illinois, we stayed about 19 miles into it at a town called Geneseo. There was a Wal-Mart there right off I-80, but they did not allow overnight parking. Fortunately though there was a vacant building next door and we camped there for the night.

Monday's drive took us all the way through Illinois and partly into Indiana until we turned northward up into Michigan. In Michigan we took a short detour into Battle Creek to visit Kellogg's Cereal City. There we got to see how Kellogg's Corn Flakes are made. While they have not had a real factory tour for many years, the Kellogg's Cereal City has some of the older machines in place that provide an example of what takes place. There's also a display showing the history of Kellogg's, its characters, and box covers. And speaking of box covers, you can't leave there without getting your own personalized box of Frosted Flakes. Ours now has Tony the Tiger along with Adam and Lucas on it.



After Kellogg's, we ended our drive on Monday night by stopping at Port Huron, Michigan. Port Huron is right on the border of Michigan and Canada. There we found a Sam's Club store to park for the night.

Tuesday morning we took just a short drive down to the Blue River which separates Michigan and Canada. There by the bridge we ate breakfast while enjoying the views of the bridge. Then after a few photos, we continued our way across the border into Ontario and headed eastward.



Our original plan was stay overnight at Niagara Falls. However upon arriving there around noon and seeing the huge crowds, we decided to continue driving. We did get a good view while crossing the Rainbow Bridge back into the United States. We also agreed that we will return again one day when we could to spend more time than just overnight.

So after the day was over, we ended up driving 590 miles yesterday from Michigan, all the way though Ontario and New York, ending up in Chicopee, Massachusetts. We were beyond tired at that point. Fortunately the Wal-Mart we stayed at was actually quiet and we slept great!

Just a few miles down from Chicopee was another small town called Holyoke where Cricket was actually born. She was still a baby when she left and didn't remember anything. So we drove through it. What was once a thriving factory town is now a modern day ghost town. Most of the businesses were boarded up and closed. The whole town was run down and dirty. It was kinda sad.

Today was a short drive day. We arrived back where we first stopped at White's Beach Campground just outside Lisbon, Maine. We're here to visit Cricket's mom for a while and to take a break. And now that there's better weather here than 11 months ago, we'll check out Maine.

See you back real soon,
Mark











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