Day 3: Conquering the empire state

Didn't spend too much time in London, maybe around 8 hours total. Sad because I was mildly interested to check it out. We were about 2 hours behind the original plan though, and thus shoved off after a small, crappy continental breakfast. The highway through southern Ontario was miles better than that between Sault St. Marie. Much closer to that of the U.S. freeways. Drove though Hamilton, although again, not much to see on the freeway going 70. We did catch glimpses of Lake Ontario though, my first I believe! Wish we could do it justice, next trip I suppose (Toronto/Adirondacks 2019???    : ) )

I wasn't super jazzed to see Niagara at first, but figured it was on our way and worth it. It was actually really cool to see! We walked around for an hour or so. Plenty of tourists, but not horribly so.

The I-90 stretch through upstate New York was also not something I was looking forward to, but better than I remembered it (still nothing amazing though). From Albany, we cut through Troy- up the Hudson River Valley (through construction and a stick- no easy task!) and into the Green Mountains.

Got into Bennington and parked at the hotel we will stay at after the trail. It was about a half mile to the bus stop that would take us up to Manchester where we are staying tonight. Quickly into our walk though, a slight drizzle transitioned into full on lightning with hail. And then in 8 minutes it was done again. Hopefully not a preview of our time on the trail- but I guess it could be worse.

For $2 each- we caught the bus up to Manchester Center and had them drop us at the grocery store. An interesting character on the bus nonetheless, but it comes with the territory of riding county transit. Manchester Center seemed ritzier than Bennington; lots of higher end shopping outlets sprinkling the downtown. We grabbed a pizza and ended up talking with a guy that was through hiking it. Very cool to talk to. Fresh out of high school giving it a shot before college. Vermont must feel like he's almost there. It just so happened that he was staying at the hiker's hostel we were also staying at, so we hitched a ride back to our place for the night. It's actually really nice! You never quite known what you'll get with hostels, but the guy runs a welcoming and tight ship.

Looking forward to tomorrow! 40 miles back to Bennington on foot.

Day two: 90 east towards Chicago

woke up early for a quick run with Andy before breakfast. Nice little trot around the ritzy houses on lake mendota. We didn't exactly slay it on our start this morning, but pushed off about as expected, at 9:30. Had to pit stop at rei in shaumberg, IL outside of Chicago for Kate to get a couple supplies. Man, Chicago is still and always massive. It felt like a good portion of our day was getting around the sucker. Glad we aren't headed through on he way back.

Stopped at 3 floyds for lunch in Munster Indiana, although it's within spitting distance of the border. This is one of the better regarded breweries in the country (surlys head brewer ditched out and headed here) and they had decent, if not outstanding food in their restaurant as well.

Afterward, to our dismay, we still continued in heavier traffic for another hour or so- basically into Michigan. It was never utterly stop and go, but still insanity given he swath we traveled.

Central L..P. Michigan is woodsy if nothing else. Kind of coo, to see the outskirts of towns I've heard of but never been to like Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Lansing, and flint. It would be interesting to see their downtowns if we had more time. Found some dinner in port Huron before crossing the border. A nice 2nd floor patio over looking the st. Clair (?) river right at the base of Huron.

We pressed on after dinner another hour or so and are holed up in London for the night. Andy had heard good things (the conversation was unrelated to our choice to stop here), but we'll probably be moving rather quickly tomorrow with a bus to catch by 5.

Didn't cover quite as much ground as I'd hoped today, but hey, it feels like we're getting somewhere at least.

Day 1: the road to Madison

We set off for our 4th summer road trip together (my 6th), Madison bound. This has become a bit of a way point for us going us, much as Montevideo is going west. A fort Kearney of sorts; not a full days drive but enough to get the sense that you are getting somewhere. Beyond each of these points lie less charted territories; places I've been to a handful of times at best.

We carpooled with Andy for most of the way and dropped him at the Wisconsin dells to pick up his car from the Amtrak station. I'd never been downtown dells before. I'd be fine with never going back. It's like a Branson or other self made second tier tourist attraction lined with Ripleys believe or not shows, t shirt stalls and fudge shops. Interesting to see I guess.

We also hauled andys canoe back for him (see picture). It's the same specs and color as ours. A great canoe. Grilling and a quick paddle on lake Mendota was all we really had time for after a late start, followed by an ice cream cone at the chocolate shop of course. It was cool seeing their house too. Very nice with a great garden.