Day 3. Change of Plans.

I woke up early the next morning and took the dog for a walk on the beach next to our camp site. It was early so I let her off her leash and we played a little fetch. She was very happy to be able to stretch her legs. A man and his dog on the beach, iconic happiness.

We had been told by multiple people to go to Mackinac Island and do some hiking and this was what we had on the schedule for today. Both Heather and I felt that we hadn’t stopped moving since the moving truck had shown up almost one week ago and if we didn’t slow down that something or someone was going to break. So the island hike got the boot. Thank you to everyone who sent us information on it, but we just couldn’t fit it in.

So today became a short ( 4 hour ) trip down lake Michigan to the next camp site. It was nice to get somewhere and not be in a huge rush.

Day 2. Toronto to Sault Ste Marie

Driving out of Toronto, Heather and I agreed that it was a beautiful city and deserved more of our time. Driving north the highway slowly shrank from a 12 lane divided to a 2 lane highway and evidence of civilization slipped away the farther we went. This was a very pretty drive and reminded me a lot of when I drove to Maine. The speed limit on this road was slower than Heather and I would have liked to go but, as the signs kept reminding us, the cost for speeding was very steep. $200 if you were caught going 75 mph. We decided not to take our chances. These were not the only signs on the highway, others reminded you “Speed Kills”, “Fatigue Kills” and “Big vehicles need more room”. There were more and Heather and dubbed this highway “Canada’s learn how to drive highway”.

Along the road there were many rock outcroppings that had been cut into to create the road. By themselves they were pretty cool, but there was a strange thing going on with them. On top of almost every one there was a small cairn. Heather and I couldn’t figure out why they were there or who would have taken the time to stack all those rocks across a 400+ mile stretch. And then I saw it. A cherry picker, like the ones used by the electric company, but it had snow tracks where there should have been tires. The volume of now that they must get to need that must be astounding. The cairns were there to mark these rock outcroppings.

Around 8pm we finally crossed back into the states. The U.S. customs agent was much more attentive than the first but I forgot to mention the dog again. I think that we technically smuggled a dog into Canada and then into the U.S., oops. U.S. customs, if your reading this please don’t arrest me, I had all the required paperwork at the time.

We stopped for dinner, restocked our food supplies and set up the tent in the dark. Everyone crashed, excused from a long day of driving. Well almost everyone. Raiden spent about half an hour bouncing back and forth between Heather and I, then fell asleep.

Toronto

So we made it out of Rochester around 11 and headed west. We had just recently been to Niagara Falls with Judy so we cruzed right on by there and into Canada. At the border we must have had the most uninterested customs agent who asked us all the required questions, but I’m not sure he cared about or heard the answers. No ID was checked and we didn’t declare the dog. He didn’t seem too bothered by the whole thing so neither were we. Two more hours on the QEW and we were in Toronto, late. Just before we got in we hit a weird patch of traffic that delayed us by 30 minutes and since we had already left late we were going to miss our dinner reservations.

Determined to make it, we sped to the hotel and checked in. Heather and the kids jumped in the shower while I hauled bags and the dog kennel up to the room. I got 3 separate comments on the kennel and what I had planned for it later, I love hotel. By this time it was 15 minutes before dinner and I hadn’t even gotten in the shower. Any other time I would have blown it off and gone somewhere else but we had reservations at the restaurant in the CN Tower, 360. If you eat there you can bypass the hours and hours worth of line to get up in the tower as well as the rigorous security checks. Because we were only spending the one night in Toronto it was our only chance to get up there with the kids. Heather called and got our reservations extended to 6 but if we were any later they would not seat us. I rushed to get cleaned up and get everyone dressed and out the door. At 5:45 we grabbed a cab outside of the hotel, 5:55 we were dropped off and began run-walking to get to the check-in. Over the glass bridge, down the stairs, up the corridor, through security, get our check-in slips. Time on the slip reads 6:00 pm on the nose. We had made it.

The 360 is a nice restaurant in the CN Tower. The floor of the restaurant turns 1 full rotation in 72 minutes. Heather and I found this more interesting than the kids did. The food was good and they had an extensive wine list that included a bottle of red for $11,280. While we were tempted to trade in the car and everything in it for 700 mL of grape juice, we refrained.

After dinner we wondered around the outside of the tower for a short while and then decided to head back to the hotel. As I was flagging down a taxi I was approached by a rickshaw driver who offered us a ride. I’m not sure if it was dinner or what but my radar for avoiding this stuff was off and I agreed. The four of us piled in and he started off. Never having ridden in one before I started to wonder what they cost. I figured they couldn’t be more than what I had in my pocket and the kids were having fun so I didn’t ask. Bad Idea. 18 blocks later we arrived and were informed that it cost $3 per adult per block. I didn’t have $108.00 in my pocket. After I picked my jaw up off the ground I informed the person I needed to get cash out of an ATM. It has just so happened that he dropped us off right next to one. I ran in to grab the cash to find an out of order sign on it. Walking back out I informed the man that I needed to find another one. “No problem.”, he told me, “Hop on I’ll give you a ride”. The second ATM worked and I paid for a lesson well learned.

The Great ( Disconnected ) North

We have made it out of cell phone purgatory and I’ve got a chance to do some writing. Don’t worry Heather is driving. It turns out that American Verizon phones go into roaming in Canada, if they work at all. The same goes for Michigan’s upper peninsula. Makes it a little hard to get your geek on.

After an exhausting week of moving out of our old house it has finally arrived. Day 1 of the summer of '07 trip dubbed "Judy here we come!". Today's adventures take us by Niagara Falls and into Toronto. There we are taking a break, staying in a hotel and recovering. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

The move was crazy, weeks and weeks of planning and prep still don't prepare you for a 28 foot semi sitting in your driveway. We used UPack as our moving service. They drop off a trailer and you load it up. The process of loading it can best be described as 3d Tetris where the goal is to get things as tight and stable as possible. At 12:30 Friday morning I had finally gotten everything in and sealed the truck. I should have a picture of that later today. If I learned anything this time it was that you should not assume your kayak is 14 feet and measure it. It is 17 feet and now rests in Dave's backyard.

That brings me to where I am this fine morning while my family slumbers. While taking the kayak over to Dave's house I secured it a little too well and the pressure of the kayak cracked the windshield. So the car is at the glass shop and I'm at Dunkin writing and drinking coffee. Once this is done we pack up and go.

Goodbye Rochester.

Backstory

If you know us, you know. For those of you who bet we would come back, the final tally is 2 years, 11 months. If you made money, you owe me a beer.