Days 17 - 18

Day 17

Leaving St Louis we tried, again, in vain to obtain a Missouri (MO) bumper sticker. No luck. Today saw us in the car a long time. We drove through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and about half way through Ohio. After spending numerous wasted trips to gas stations and general stores we have decided to order all of the bumper stickers for all of the remaining states we will be passing through. They are being sent to Corie and we will pick them up in Connecticut. It’s not that we don’t like getting off the highway every 15 miles to search for them, but rather that we feel our time could be better utilized. We will continue to acquire additional stickers as we encounter them.

Two things to notice about the roads and drivers as we head East. Firstly, after the 75mph and occasional 80mph speed limits of the roads West of the Mississippi River, 65 seems SO pedestrian. And, with the exception of California, drivers certainly do get more annoying and less polite the further East you drive, especially after crossing the Mississippi river. THERE ARE THREE LANES FOR A REASON PEOPLE. You don’t have to just sit in the middle lane with your blinders on and your emotionless face staring straight ahead. Use your mirrors, indicator and move out of everyone’s way. Rant over.

I forget the name of the town we sopped in, but it had a sign that showed how many miles to various cities in the country. It read 930 to Denver and 925 to New York City.

We also made the decision to visit the camp Mayzie and I met at 18 years ago. We have contacted the camp and requested visitation. Friday after 2PM is our approved time.

We stopped for a late dinner in Columbus with the intention of driving another 45 miles or so till we stopped for the day. During dinner we discussed and decided to spend the night in Columbus. This will leave us with about 4 hours of driving to Erie tomorrow.

On the way to the motel I drove over a median which I didn’t see. The car took it well, even with low ground clearance on the back wheels. As of the time of writing, there has been no damage noticed or experienced from this maneuver.

Day 18

We had a pretty uneventful drive to Erie today. The campsite we were shooting for we could not make reservations at, Sara’s Campground. The website had stated that they start to fill up on Thursdays. With today being a Wednesday we kept our fingers crossed there would still be some spaces on the beach. There were. This is the view from our tent!

After setting up the tent, and playing in the lake for a little bit, we drove back into town and had some dinner. I think we are past the point of actually wanting to cook out. During dinner I tried to figure out which way the tent was facing. Could it be West? Would we see the sun set over the lake?

A quick stop at a hardware store to buy a bolt to fix Mayzie’s chair (Glad my crescent wrench didn’t sell at the yard sale and I bought it with me). As we returned to the campsite it turned out we would be seeing the sunset from our campsite.

We also had Ryan take a few pictures of Mayzie and I.

Niagara Falls is just 2 short hours from where we are. We are undecided whether we should detour there. Mayzie and I visited Niagara during our honeymoon. But the kids have never been. But it is detouring out of our way, and it would be nice to spend a day on the beach doing nothing. The private beach next to us had a fireworks display as well as lighting off “lanterns” into the sky. We were fortunate enough to be able to view these too. It would have been nice to start a fire on the beach (as some of our fellow campers), and toast some marshmallows. If we end up staying tomorrow I think we will.

Cliff