We have arrived--Day 9

Hello all--so sorry to leave you hanging without completing this journey.  We woke up on Day 9, all so very excited to arrive home today and finish our long days of driving.  I found it interesting that a few days ago I was mourning the end of the trip and entering reality.  But after the last few long days of driving with very little sightseeing (except Niagara Falls), I was more than ready to reach our destination and get out of the car.  I was tired of packing and unpacking the car 2 times a day and living off of car-ready food.  I guess it is like being pregnant.  The thought of birthing a child is scary, until the final weeks when you are so tired of being huge and swollen, that you rejoice in the fact that the baby will arrive soon, without fear. 
      After hitting multiple tolls in Ohio and Pennsylvania and spending amazing amounts of money every couple of hours, I bought an EZ pass during our potty break at a service area.  I got online and registered my pass, stuck it on the dashboard and BAM!  I could just drive through the tolls without stopping; unable to tally the amount at each toll until I look my statement.  It was quite liberating and began my authenticity to the east coast--my toll pass.  Amazing how the small things can be such a large statement.  We drove for 6 and 1/2 hours straight; stopping only for gas and toilets.  I was dead set on arriving in NH before rush hour hit.  We were heading through Massachusetts which has always been notorious for their traffic jams at rush hour.  Without exceeding the speed limit too much--Mass police are less forgiving than Auburn police if you can believe that!--I made excellent time.  I also forgot how insane the people in Mass drive.  They call them massholes for a reason!  My sister and her husband were texting the count down with me...."when you reach exit ......, it is 2 hours", etc., until we were almost there.  We made it at 4:30, just before the rush hour.  It was quite surreal to have finally arrived.  It felt like we had just arrived for a visit like we had in the past, but actually we were here to stay.  The kids immediately changed into their bathing suits and jumped in the pool with their cousins and swam until it was time for bed.  A great ending to a great trip, yet just the beginning of our journey!

Day 8--Onto Niagara Falls!

We get up and the kids decided to hang out at the dock on the pond while I pack up.  I hear a male voice talking by the kids.  I peer over at them and the old man mowing his camp area in the picture, is sitting on the bench and talking with the kids.  I had a conversation with him yesterday and he is a cute, lonely guy.  His wife passed away 17 months ago to the day.  He was quite a chatterbox with me yesterday, having to excuse myself after a while.  Anyways, he was chatting it up with the kids, keeping them busy while I packed up.  We were finally ready to go, heading for Niagara Falls.  It was 4 hours away, but took a bit longer--it was actually quite difficult to find.  We had to go through town, and had to find the US side vs following the signs to the Canadian side.  We finally made it, and wow what a rush.  The water was moving so fast it creeped me out, seeing the power of the water.  The kids were amazed as well, and enjoyed the gusts of mist blowing off the water.  Down below at the bottom of the falls, were ships that were going out to tour near the falls.  We almost went on one, but Ian seemed a little hesitant and we did need to get on with our drive.  We still had a few hours ahead of us, to get to Syracuse, NY, in order to cut down our drive tomorrow to 6 hours instead of 9 hours.  Here are some pictures:

 

 

 

 

We ended our sightseeing with some ice cream overlooking the falls!

As we were driving to Niagara Falls, I had a huge epiphany!  I was reviewing my life and all the experiences, good and bad, and could relate each experience as a stepping stone to this moment right now.  I could pick out each phase of my life and piece it all together like a puzzle laid out on a table, to make a complete picture.  A map that explained each experience and the necessity of each moment, that led up to life right now, allowing this experience to happen.  All the waiting and discomfort was all necessary to make this experience so amazing and possible.  It was so comforting and complete.  I felt like this epiphany completed my trip as it comes to an end.  The whole experience was absolutely perfect in every aspect.  Every so often I have an "aha" moment and this was one of those times, changing my perspective.  I know that all of this exists, but when I experience it wholly and completely, it confirms that my path in life is so right and so pure, without fear or questioning.  Live in the moment and let the future unfold!  Tomorrow is our final day and we will land in New Hampshire!  A few days ago, I was not ready to enter back into the world of reality, but I am now done with driving and living out of my car.  I think the kids are ready as well to be more grounded.  I will be writing a final blog of our day tomorrow in the next day or so to complete my journey.  I now need to go to bed, so I can be fresh to do the final 6 hours tomorrow.  Thank you to all of you that have been reading my blog and supporting me along the way.  It has helped me to get across the country.  Until tomorrow.........

Day 7--more of the Midwest

 Ian and Sky at Bob Evans

I woke up early yesterday--before the sun came up and could not get back to sleep, so I finished the last blog post.  But that left me very tired and not very creative with my last post.  Well, I slept in today and am feeling so much better--I can feel the creative juices flowing today!  I will need it with another long drive of nothing.  I will apologize ahead of time to anyone from the Midwest for my cynicism and boredom!  But today actually ended up being quite eventful in spite of the long drive with nothing planned.  Our morning started with breakfast at Bob Evans restaurant that was next to our motel.  This is actually the first eating out we have done since we left.  The place we found out later is a chain and is basically a Denny's.  But man was it good in a bad sort of way.  I chatted it up with the waitress, telling her our tale and praising her up and down for the wonderful food that has been served to us.  No camping stove, no digging through a cooler, just food served to me at my request.  How nice!

         First of all, I have to apologize for my geography faux pas--I always think that Indiana is west of the rest of the "I" states as I so fondly refer to them.  But it is actually the most east.  So, we got on the freeway in Illinois, and saw signs for Indiana.  As I drove along, passing many major city signs: Chicago (Illinois), Memphis (Tennessee), Toledo (Ohio)--added in the states, since most Californians do not know any geography past the Western states.  It is all just East to West Coasters.  Anyways, the only signs I saw for Indiana stated Indiana--no major cities.  I thought, how sad!  Indiana must have a low self esteem.  All the other states must be laughing at it.  There are no major upcoming cities advertised, like all the other states, saying "Hey, by the way, there is absolutely nothing of interest in Indiana.  So, just pass through, because we have nothing to offer you."  I mean there is the ever famous Indianapolis--where are the signs??  Pictures to prove this.

Oh Look, Indiana is coming up...
But there is Chicago and Danville--that looks much more interesting!

 
There are all 3 signs together--which place would you choose?  Hey look, there is Toledo and Detroit--let's go!

      A couple of hours into our drive, I see a big billow of smoke up ahead and it looks close to the freeway.  Some excitement, I think--a brush fire.  Some emergency trucks pass me, but as I get closer.....

 

 

 


Holy cow!!! I think, not really processing the sight at first.  There is a mini van off the side of the road and the front end is dented in.  There are 5 young guys under the overpass, watching the event.  I am assuming they were in the mini van.  The car is overturned in the middle of the freeway and just blazing. An ambulance is leaving as I get up to the accident, so I hope that means that they got the guy out before the blaze started.  If not.....It was crazy!  The other side of the freeway was shut down completely and who knows for how long.  They were not even trying to control the fire yet!  Actually there was no fire truck present yet.  I thought that was kind of odd.  There were police cars and emergency pick up trucks driving to the scene and an ambulance on its way out, but no fire truck--sort of important in this situation!

     A big issue I have been working on during this whole trip is time.  I have always been very focused on time.  If I plan to be somewhere at a certain time--when going on a trip--and have a late start, I continuously calculate in my head how much later I will arrive and what time I would have been there, if I left on time..  During this trip, I have been trying to let go of this mind clutter.  I started out strong in the head trip of time each day, and most days have been foiled by waking up later than expected due to the time change.  So, if we woke up at 9:00 am it is actually still early for us west coast time, but did not allow us to get an early start by the time we packed up and reorganized the car.  Or each time I thought we would make good time, we would go through a time change and lose an hour.  I have finally let go of time and just allowed us to arrive whenever we arrive.  Calculating has not made our trip any faster or made us get anywhere any sooner.  By letting go of calculating, it has allowed me to let go of an underlying stress to "get there".  I find I have an underlying level of stress when I am focused on time and can not fully enjoy the moment in front of me.  So one of my lessons on this trip is to let go of time and just be.  Whatever and however it unfolds will be perfect.

    We landed at the campground I found on line early that evening.  We landed in New London, Ohio.  I spoke to a woman in the morning who ensured me that they had a camping spot for us.  She was a warm woman and I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with her.  I felt very good about my choice.  The night before I opted for another motel room, because the owners of the campground I found in that area, did not exude any good energy and appeared difficult to say the least.  I followed the directions to the campground and it led me up a driveway that went past their house--the woman had described it to me in case no one was at the campground when we arrived.  I thought--oh boy, the campground is on their property.  But it was so quaint and sweet.  I met up with the husband in the campground.  He was very personable and gave us a choice of some spots.  I noticed a small playground at the back of the campground.  I asked about it and there was 1 camping spot away from the small circle of other sites that was set by the pond.  I took it immediately.  Granted the whole campground could be walked in a few minutes.  The "swimming hole" aka pond was actually quite murky--not for swimming, but made for nice ambiance.  It had a spouted fountain in the middle and a very small sandy beach.  The husband gave me the low down on the folks staying there--some were year round and some seasonal, but all more long term than us.  We set up camp and then took a walk to the pit toilets--gross smelling, but very clean.  Ian was not so hot on these toilets, even though he is used to port-o-pottys when we do festival camping.  We took a walk around the pond and gave each of the campers a "howdy".  I found it interesting that people would choose to live here all year or for the summer.  Given that it is quaint, it was still strange to pick some one's property to camp out at for long periods of time.  There was a young guy--in his 20's and his significant other--she looked a little older hanging out at the pond.  He fished all evening and then first thing in the morning.  It appeared that was all he did--I think he was a year 'round camper with no job, just a drive to fish in the murky pond.  So interesting.

 

 

 

 

This is one of the seasonal campers, maintaining his area!

 

Ian loved the spot and said it was the best place we have camped so far.  I found that interesting, but there was definitely a tranquility about the place.  The temp was perfect and no crazy winds to blow us away.  The husband was tending to the grounds and as he walked by, we started to chat.  We talked for quite a while.  He was a big history buff and gave me the low down on the Native American history in the area.  He was married with 3 teenage kids, but no older than myself.  He talked about the campground, which is his love in life; something he has always dreamed of doing and hopes to expand in the future.  He was sooo happy to hear that Ian loved this camp spot the most.  You could see his pride in his place exuding from him after I shared Ian's love for the property with him.  He was so knowledgeable, yet so simple minded at the same time.  He was a pleasure to converse with, until it was time to retire the kids to the tent. 

      Once in the tent, the kids had a quick snack and all of a sudden Skyler spit out something in her hand and stated--I just lost my tooth.  It is one of the bottom front teeth, and has been hanging on by a thread.  I had tried to pull it 2 days ago and it was not ready yet.  So out it came!

Skyler decided to wait to call the tooth fairy until we get to NH.  So I will have to make sure I put in the call, once we get to my sister's house!

Day 6--driving through the Midwest

Day 6 and this is the first day of pure driving with nothing on the itinerary to see.  I could find absolutely nothing of major interest to go and see on this stretch of the drive.  About half way through our day, I asked the kids if they wanted to stop and try to find something to do, or just keep going.  They wanted to stop and wanted to go to a Children's museum.  Well, lo and behold, I googled Children's Museums and I found one on our driving course!  So, we stopped there.  At first I was not so sure it would be that interesting for Ian, but both kids had a blast.  It was a mixture of a Children's Museum and a Science Museum.  The most interesting thing was that it was in a mall.  It was at the end, but attached to the mall.  When entering the Mall, there was a small ice skating rink in the middle and a movie theater as well as the Children's Museum and then a bunch of stores.  It was kind of like a mini Mall of America.  Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car, so no pictures.  We made it through Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa and into Illinois.  Tomorrow we will end up in Ohio and camp there.  We are in another motel---I am starting to get used to the slum land.  It is so much easier to park right outside the door and basically live out of the car.  To top it off, to use up the food in the cooler, I have been sparking up the camping stove outside our room and cooking dinner.  I do have a picture of this!

Nice huh?  Pasta coming up!  Tonight was grilled cheese sandwiches.












Since there will be not a whole lot to report the next day or so, I decided I will be writing about observations and stories that have not been relayed yet.  So, for today, the one thing I have been seeing a lot of through all of the states we traversed were humugus billboards on the sides of the freeways for adult superstores.  What is up with that?  If you are from this area or any of these states, you know that these stores exist.  If you are a traveler, the signs will not entice someone to visit as if it is a huge attraction of the area.  I would not be driving across the country and see the sign and say "Wow! Look at that!  I need to go there and see what is in there and get a souvenir to take home!"  I mean really, it is quite weird.  The signs are huge! 

In Wyoming, there was a town we drove through called Shell and the population was 50--it is probably made up of one family.

Ian is so cute!  He has been collecting souvenirs from each place we visit.  He told me that he vowed ( he actually used this word) to get a souvenir at each stop, so he has bought some great things with the money he made at our moving sale.  In his OC way, he has them all locked in a box he brought with him in the car, coveting each item, telling me over and over, why each thing is special and listing them in order from the best item to least.  At first, I was trying to get him to save his money, but then when I realized the preciseness of each choice, I have been supporting his spending.  There is only 1 more souvenir to be had--Niagara Falls in a couple of days.  Well that is all I can dredge from my brain right now.  I have so many great things that go through my head, but I always forget them until I am back on the road with nothing to do but drive and think.  Farewell for now--only 3 days left of my journey and then onto real life again.

End of Day 4--The Badlands and Day 5

Now it is just a short drive to The Badlands.  There is nothing around us but flat prarie land.  Then out of nowhere, large buttes rise up and engulf us as we drive.  It was pretty incredible!  We get to our campground and it is a balmy night, but windy.  The expected low is 60 degrees--much warmer than our 40 degrees at Yellowstone.  We set up camp with lots of laughs as we try to get our tent up without it blowing away!   The kids run in the open field, catch grasshoppers that were everywhere and then we attend a night star gazing event with one of the Rangers.  We did not last long--as the sun faded, so did we from the big day.  We headed back to camp and got into our tent.  The wind was whipping, which contorted our tent in all directions.  Ian was very nervous, thinking that the tent was going to blow away--it sure felt like it was!  It was a restless night for us--the tent blowing was very loud and woke us up all night long.  Morning came and we packed up camp as it started to drizzle.  We were going to explore The Badlands today before getting on the road.  We hit the Visitor Center and Ian got his suvenior from this stop--a really cool walking stick.  We drive down the road that leads through the Badlands and come across a trailhead and see people high up in the Buttes.  We decide to join in on the climb.  After our climb, we head to a fossil trail area where we see lots of fossils and the kids continue to explore the Buttes.  The rain began to come down hard, so we decided to end our hikes, and get on the road to a long drive ahead with no plans, but to get to our next destination:  Albert Lea, MN.

From the top of the Buttes

There is absolutely nothing that looks exciting to visit along the way on our drive to Minnesota.  As we drive and I think about the past few days events, I smile and am so grateful to god that I have been given the opportunity to give my kids this wonderful experience.  I look at Sky in my rear view mirror and somehow she looks older, with her head tilted up and her cheekbones bronzed by the sun.

      We stop in a town for gas and there is a place called Corn Palace and it was free!  Ian immediately vetoes going there and Skyler wants to go only if we are going to get some corn.  So I can not report on the fun things we missed at the Corn Palace. Oh Well!  We landed at a place to stay later than expected--we went through another time zone and lost an hour.  We have now officially driven just over 2,000 miles!