To Kentucky

 Today was mostly travel. We did a load of laundry at the park where we were because they had reasonably priced washer and dryer in the showerhouse!

Then we hit the road! Crossed the Ohio River 3 times as the interstate swings into West Virginia, back to Ohio, and then finally into Kentucky. Here's the middle of the three bridges.

We drove right along the Ohio River for part of the way. This was the best picture I could get from the car.

We stopped at a Denny's for lunch. That was a nice break from camp food. We did have dinners at the Trail Fest, and they were good, but this was just a nice stop.

We stopped to replenish supplies at a store, which Bill and Diane did while I drove to make sure we could leave a vehicle at the end point for hiking day 1. It will work fine. The Sheltowee blaze is a turtle, but this is the National Recreation Trail sign.

We arrived at our campground home for the next few days on Cave Run Lake. We have sites right across from each other. Two tents and a trailer. That's us.

OK, it's dark and the skeeters are out. Tomorrow is a day off to reorganize our gear and our brains. Hiking starts Tuesday. It's going to be a brutally hot week, so we're working on a plan to try to hike early in the day.

Gotta go. I'm being chewed!

See Ohio Trail Fest- Saturday

At Marianne's

 I think you are just going to get one picture. I am safely at Marianne's for the night, but not without one little adventure.

First of all I left home 4.5 hours later than I wanted to. OK, that's not too bad for me. But it did meant that I wouldn't quite make it to Marianne's before dark.

So, I'm under 10 miles from her place and one of my tires decides to expire. Not just go flat... it shredded. Now, I'm on the side of a 4 lane highway in the dark. I can see the Welcome to Ohio sign from where I am. But... what town should I call for service? And should I choose Michigan or Ohio? Didn't matter. The only numbers Google would give me were 800 numbers that just dispatch someone to wherever.

However, the guy I got spoke Spanglish so bad I couldn't understand him. When I finally figured out what he was saying, they can't take you anywhere unless you know where you want to go. What? I'm on a trip... I have no idea what places are in the area.

I called 911 thinking they might at least give me a couple of local numbers. I explained that there had not been an accident, and there was no health emergency, but I couldn't seem to get assistance. They said they would send someone, but wanted to know the address of where I was. Now, this seems odd to me. Last time I called 911 in a much more rural area, and I tried to tell them where I was, they said they just pulled the coordinates from my phone. So they can't do that in the greater metro Detroit-Toledo area? Weird.

But, it was easy to explain where I was. Southbound on US 23, right at the state line. I could literally see the sign. I offered to give them the coordinates, but they said they'd find me.

OK, let's clarify something. I know how to change a tire. But I wasn't interested in doing so in the dark on the edge of a busy highway. I am aware of way too many people who have died that way.

A huge SUV with flasher-flinger blue and red and white lights pulls up. I couldn't see a thing, but the guy finally comes far enough away that I could tell it was a Sheriff deputy.

Can you believe it!!!! He changed the tire. I had emptied the back of the car and gotten the tire out while I was waiting for them to come. Of course the car is loaded for a month of camping, right. But I succeeded. He said, "We don't usually do this..." Maybe looking like a little old lady was good for something tonight.

With the lights from his vehicle, we could see what we were doing, and the flashers kept traffic away from the edge of the road.

Anyway, I got to Marianne's an hour later than expected, and then we chatted for a while.

I'll deal with the tire in the morning. I hope I didn't ruin the wheel.

See On the Way to the Train

On the Road- Day 2

Missed the Ohio sign, but I got PA- with the appropriate addition for what it was like most of the way through Ohio.

Then NY.

To Sarah's house where we are spending the night. Another great meal with no picture. Meat on the grill, salad, asparagus, ice cream!

Then we got out the maps. Sarah is very familiar with the area where she will be spotting us beginning Thursday so we aren't likely to have snafus with meeting up. Of course we had to discuss the whole Adirondacks, loudly and with passion. These are the National Geographic maps spread out and lined up. The little yellow papers are stuck on along the NCT route.

Sarah, Bill, and Sarah's husband Jim.

One more travel day, but we will be setting up camp tomorrow and may or may not be able to blog. If you don't hear from me until 17th (when we have a motel for one night), don't worry. May be able to post occasionally on Facebook, and we may go into Old Forge for dinner tomorrow where there will be service. I'm just saying, it's the Adirondacks, and we can't count on having internet.

Our first hiking day is Thursday.

See On the Road- Day 1

On the Road, Day 1

Once again, I did not get all the appropriate pictures. I'll start at the end point. Tonight I'm at Bill's house.

His wife Anne fixed a yummy dinner. Bill and I, of course, spent our time yakking about maps, testing (again) electronic maps, and telling trail stories.

But on the way I stopped to see blogger buddies, Chuck and Sylvia. Again, it's been two years since I visited them. Hard to believe. And I forgot to take a picture of them, or of the nice lunch they fed me.

But I did get pictures of some of Sylvia's flowers. She's embarrassed about the weeds. Ha. She's 82, and hasn't had time to get to the flowers beds yet because she's been putting in their vegetable garden.

Peonies and iris.

The rhododendron bush is spectacular.

We had a great visit, although it really seemed too short. Better than nothing.

The car is packed. Bill and I head east in the morning. I'll be able to blog tomorrow night, not sure about after that. See you then.

See Letting You In on the Plan

From the Train

 I am safely at Marie's. Tomorrow we head for Philadelphia. Meanwhile, we are both ready to crash. It was not a good day for pictures.

Here, the train was standing still and so was I, but ha! One big blur. This is when I got on at Toledo, OH.

Got one look at Lake Erie where the tracks are close. I believe it froze over this year. But it was warm again today, so ice is melting everywhere.

By the time we got near Syracuse, NY, the sun was shining. This is Onondaga Lake.

The Adirondack Scenic Railway originates in Utica, NY. It used to go far into the Adirondacks, but now it has a rather limited schedule. The northern end is a bike-rail trail in some places. But I still like seeing the distinctive engine and cars

All efforts to take a picture of the Hudson River focued on the dirty and scratched train window.

The train was on time- even a little early. I was a little concerned about how I'd hold up on the ride, but it went wonderfully well. I managed to sleep some (not all night, but enough). I didn't have to take extra ibuprofen, I took enough food with me. It's a 12 hour train ride, but it's SO much cheaper than driving.

Marie picked me up at Albany, and we are back at her house. We're pretty much done for today, but she is making a list of what has to go to Philadelphia tomorrow.

See Sunrise from the Train

Travel Adventures

 First things first. I am safely home.

I spent more time in the car today than I have in a long, long time. What is usually an 8-hour drive took 11+. I'm pretty tired, but my back is not screaming too much, just a bit stiff. Can't complain about that.

This is the most heartwarming thing of the day. This car was ahead of me in line to cross from Canada to the USA. Notice the Ontario license plate. Also notice the M-22 sticker. M-22 is the scenic highway that goes up the northwest shore of Michigan. It has its own fan club, and these Ontarians are members!

The very worst thing about the day was that after an easy passage into Canada, and cool temps with a bit of rain across Ontario, the sky cleared, it got hot, and the line of cars and trucks waiting to get back to the US was 4 lanes wide and 1.5 miles long. It took more than 1.5 hours, and I have no air conditioning. Finally got back across the Blue Water Bridge. The water was beautifully blue, but I could not manage a picture.

Once I was back in Michigan, my priorities were a cup of ice, salt, and a restroom in that order. I was soaking wet with sweat. But again, I can't complain. The car did not overheat, I had plenty of gas, I was sweating out all the waste products instead of crossing my legs, I had a book on CD, and I had a cooler full of food thanks to Diane.

Another fortuitous event was that while I was still on I-69, the traffic in the opposite direction was a parking lot, but those traveling west were moving. Hooray! I'd had enough of "parking lot."

While cutting north on I-75 to US 10 I crossed the Zilwaukee Bridge over the Saginaw River. I thought I had blogged about this once long ago, but apparently not. If you are from Michigan, you know this is a rather infamous span. Construction was begun in 1979, but it wasn't completed until 1988. You can read all about its problems on Wikipedia, so I'll just tell you the most famous part of the story. One span of the concrete bridge hung out into space, supported only on one end for several years before construction was resumed. Supposedly, when it was finally finished, only one truck driver was brave enough to drive across it to test it out. There are still a lot of people who will not cross it, due to continued structural issues. It has been plagued with problems throughout its existence. However, it is beautiful. The best pictures can be taken from the river level, but I was NOT stopping once I actually got moving again.

I got home at about 7 pm. The house was closed and stuffy (of course), but I got fans going. The flower beds are in terrible need of cleaning (not today), and remember the bees? Well, some are still finding their way into the house and dying.

I'm giving myself one crash day tomorrow before I get busy. Life is good! Wonderful trip.

See Canalway Trail Again

On the Road

It's been years... like probably since the 1990s that I've crossed into Canada in Detroit. But here's one of the famous landmarks along I-94.

And it's the first time since Covid started that I went through Canada to get to NY.

Over the Ambassador Bridge. No waiting at all.

You realize I had to take these pictures with just "point and shoot." So not all the results are great. However, you can just see the towers for the new Gordie Howe bridge down the Detroit River a little bit.

It took longer than usual through Canada. I'm not sure why. Then "Wanda," the voice for my Google maps was being very insistent that I not use the Peace Bridge in Buffalo. She wanted me to go up to Niagara Falls. This was because the Peace Bridge was backed up, but I did NOT want to drive all those extra miles just to avoid waiting. It was a good thing I knew the route to the bridge without her help because she kept nagging me to turn north all the time! I finally shut her off until I got across the bridge.

Well, there was quite a wait to get back into the US at the Peace Bridge.

But eventually I made it! Buffalo skyline through the bridge, and between the semis in that lane.

Just a little farther! Where am I? I'll tell you tomorrow.

See Yipi, I'm in Ypsi

Sunrise from the Train

  Marianne from the Toledo area was a total trooper, agreeing to take me to the train station at 2 in the morning. I caught a quick nap on her sofa before we headed out. Our friendship began because of the trail, but discovered we have many more things than that in common, including trains.

The train was full, which is sort of interesting in its own right. This is the Lakeshore Limited from Chicago to New York and Boston, with a split at Albany. I got on in Toledo and got off in Albany. The first time I took this train was in 1975, the same year Amtrak established the line. I took toddler Steve and went to NY to see my mother. We had an entire train car to ourselves. That sure wasn't the case today.

I've taken this route four times, that 1975 trip, then once in the 1980s, and once in 2002, and today. This is the first time it's ever been full when I rode, and it's also the first time that it was pretty much on time. The worst was in the 1980's when I had to sleep on the floor in the station in Rochester and wait for 12 hours because there were mechanical problems.

Anyway, I managed to get a couple more hours of sleep on the train. My seat mate went to get breakfast at about sunrise, which was great for me, because I was able to scoot over to look out the window. The sunrise was spectacular with mammatus clouds lit from below. Even through the crummy train windows the pictures aren't bad. This color is accurate.

Sunrises and sunsets have to be just about the most ephemeral sources of beauty in our lives. It was still looking nice about 5 minutes later, but then the sun actually rose, and all the glory faded.

It's a long way across New York State, by train or car. Train was a great option for this trip. I didn't have to drive. The price was less than I would have spent on gas, and it didn't take much longer. I can't really do that 17-hour drive in one day any more, although I used to. And we were just going to park my car at Marie's house and only take one vehicle to Philadelphia, so there was no reason I had to take the car.

I packed enough food. There was a cafe car in the train, but I opted to not have to spend any extra money. I took my pillow and a blanket. I didn't need the blanket, but I think I'll get a neck pillow before the return trip.

Finally, we crossed the Hudson River to arrive at the Albany-Rensaleer train station.

Marie picked me up and we crossed back to the west side of the Hudson and headed south to her place. The Thruway runs between the Hudson and the Catskills. We think this is Timmerman Hill ahead.

We arrived just in time to fix dinner, and then go do some prep work on a project she is involved in. Now we are crashed. We'll take a picture of us tomorrow. For now, you know I'm here safely. Really tired, but all is well.

See Working My Way East

On the Road

 
Ready to roll!



Mostly I saw a lot of this.



Sandusky Bay was inviting



The ostrich was hungry, but he wouldn't let me camp there.



The two best pictures I was unable to capture in the camera.

I saw an egret standing in the edge of the marsh by Sandusky Bay.

The best was sunset on Lake Erie. The water was a shimmery, iridescent, silver-blue. The sky was a clear solid pink above it. Silhouetted on the water was a freighter going in one direction and a power boat going the other. But you can't slam on the brakes on the interstate and stop for a picture!

It's the great American Road Trip, right? I'm sleeping at a truck stop. That's fine. I just need a place to park, not an experience. Those will begin tomorrow.

See 2020 Interior Tour

On the Road

 
I'll bet you already guessed where I was heading. East. All pictures are blurry because of shooting through car windows with the point and click while driving method. Not too accurate.

Across this bridge in Toledo. I'm sure the engineers plan for all the stresses, but these always look flimsy to me.



Across Pennsylvania. First the tunnel through Allegheny Mountain.



On the far side the landscape opens into a wide valley with hills on the edges.



Then the Tuscarora Tunnel.



Then a double tunnel with maybe a tenth of a mile between the two. Need to look at that on a topo map. Kittatinny and Blue Mountains.





And where did this journey end. You guessed it. Philadelphia.



My goal was to make it before dark, and I just squeaked in.

See Philly