1812 - the 4th Dimension = Living the Experience

Day 10, June 30, 2013 Sunday

1813 - the 4th Dimension = Living the Experience

Reliving all things 1812:  Tall Ships Bicentennial in Port Dalhousie, Brock’s National Monument and Queenston Heights.

Well, here we are 201 years later and the only thing separating us from Sir Isaac Brock, British Regulars, Upper Canada Militia and Chief Tecumseh, his group of mixed indian tribes, the Americans and musket balls... is time.  I am grateful for that!  I don’t know how I would react to a musket ball whizzing by my head, or being lodged in my body.

This little port town called Port Dalhousie is in St. Catharine’s area, is beautiful, but clearly they are not prepared to handle the crowds of people that show up today in terms of bathrooms and parking.  In fact one of the Volunteers said that their attendance was already higher than Toronto’s attendance for yesterday and today in terms of Canada Day(weekend)celebration... and they had 1 more day to go.  Parking was a real issue because most of the residential streets had tow away zones for most of the street.  I would say there was only a handful of parking spots on a street.  Thus, people were walking for some distances to get to the main activities.  We were fortunate enough to find a parking spot on a street about 4 blocks away from the activities...after driving around for about 45 minutes.

The celebrations include a midway/fair grounds with the usual rides - tilt a whirl, octopus and anything else that spins you around and around.  We head to the docks to see the ships.

Port Dalhousie was fortunate enough today to have 3  tall ships docked.  (2 of 3 ships are re-productions of ships circa 1812, and 1 is a replica of a ship from the 1830’s.)

We get to board and tour these mighty ships, and meet their crew.  They had 5 days to go from Toronto to Port Dalhousie,  arrived a couple days ago, and sat out on Lake Ontario waiting to come to the port.  They finally phoned on Friday and got permission to dock early.  They have a day and a half to get to their next destination, and we are told it is further than what they travelled from Toronto to here.  I guess the masts will be full!

The first ship is the Lynx “America’s Privateer”  from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.   A square top-sale schooner. Lynx crew wear period uniforms and operate the ship in keeping with the maritime traditions of the early 19th century America. This ship has been designed and built to interpret a privateer or naval schooner from 1812.  It’s  beautiful, and the tour went below as well so we could see how the crew live.  

  

We meet the 3rd mate who explains watch, and the typical things they would be responsible for.  They sail 24 hours a day, so their watches are 4 hours on, 8 hours off.

Lucas and 3rd Mate 

The second ship we tour is the Unicorn - this is crewed by females only.  Whoop whoop!!.  I got to meet the Captain (Dawn) dressed in pink shorts and shirt and beautiful blond hair.  She is the owner of the ship, and her husband is at home.  She is so friendly and tells me about the programs.  This ship has a female youth sailing program and a woman’s program, where you “learn the ropes”, work on the ship, and sail around for a week or two weeks.   This year for the women’s sailing program is sold out, however next year isn’t and they will be sailing the East Coast from Boston....hmmm sounds very interesting.....  Something I want to check out. Todays crew is a group of young girls  who were on a scholarship program or their father’s were in the military.  Two of the young girls were from B.C. - one from Vancouver and one from Victoria.  They were having the time of their life. Their slogan is “This ain’t no cruise sister, it’s an adventure of a life time” and judging by the smiles on the young ladies it was.

Me on the Unicorn...maybe one day I will sail on this...??

The Unicorn

The 3rd ship we toured was the Balitmore Clipper Privateer circa War of 1812 “Pride of Baltimore” - this was the nicest one, and you could tell it was a little more upscale than the other two.  

I didn’t get a printed pamphlet on this, so I don’t know much about it. Crewed again by young people who want an adventure of a life time.

After touring the ships we head out to Queenston Heights and the Sir Isaac Brock National Historical Monument.  The 56 metre (185 ft) column sits atop Queenston Heights and is dedicated to Major General Sir Isaac Brock, on of Canada’s heros of the war of 1812.  He and Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonell are interred at the monuments’s base, on the heights above the battlefield where both fell during the Battle of Queenston Heights. The monument was constructed between 1853 and 1856.  

It is the tallest structure of it’s kind in Canada.  We took the 235 steps up a tight narrow spiral staircase to the top observation deck ( only about 2.5 feet wide by 3 feet- only 3 people could fit on it comfortably!) to see the views from the 365 degree advantage point.

We also took the self- guided walk at the points of interest around the park’s perimeter and followed where Brock, the English, the Americans and the indians were and who was doing what when.  When Thomas Jefferson said “taking Canada would be a mere matter of marching”  I don’t think he saw the cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, nor the steep terrain before Queenston heights!  I was plumb out of breath, and we had steps to aid our walking up and down the terrain!

Twas a full day of 1812 history, and we all enjoyed it, and are tired and happy and ready for bed!  Until tomorrow...

Lucas’ statement:  In Stratford Ont, it takes 3 McDonalds employees to order a serving of Hot Cakes :-(

What do Justin Bieber, Ontario Pork Congress and Shakespeare have in common...?

Day 9, June 29, 2013 Saturday

A quiz for you...what do Justin Bieber, Ontario Pork Congress and Shakespeare  have in common.....??  If you guessed Stratford, Ontario you would be right, however I would never have strung those 3 things together even in my wildest dreams!

Last night was an incredible performance of the Shakespeare play “Measure for Measure” and today we tour the prop house of the Stratford Festival.  It was incredible. This warehouse is huge. Along with the isles and isles of hard props 

(chairs, tables, trunks, framed pictures, mirrors bed frames etc.)  it also contains 55,000 costumes!

We are told that back in the day, when the Stratford festival first started, it cost $150,000.00 to run the season.  It now costs them $60,000,000.00, yes, that is Sixty Million.  After we take in the tour we know why.  The costumes are hand stitched, no zippers or velcro or tozzels or hook and eyes - the actors need to be able to do a costume change in 7 seconds. In most of the older costumes they used upholstery material because it matched the period material better and had the richness of colour and texture, however made the costumes very heavy. They now use more modern fabrics which can be dyed and lighting can be used to get the same features long ago fabric had. Depending on the era, and the director, and to stay true to a certain certain period of time, if  the women had 5 layers to their skirts...well they made 5 layers for their skirts for the play.  The cost to make costumes can run up to $5,000.00 per costume, which is mostly the man hours because they are  hand stitched, except for the hems.

The tour was fascinating, wished we had more time to see everything.  At the end we got to try on some old/falling apart costumes.  This was fun.

(Phil doing his best Henry the 8th)

If anyone is ever this way in southern Ontario, I highly recommend Stratford.  The town is picturesque, the theatre is spectacular, and the place we stayed called the Arden is a beautiful hotel with awesome food.

(Lucas being the best nobleman)

Phil and I take a drive over to St. Marys, which is a little picturesque town on a river.  It’s called stone town, because  most of their buildings are old and made of stone.  We took a 15 minute walk and crossed 3 bridges, all different styles.  The castle looking building was the opera house, which has since been converted to apartments.

Southern Ontario has been quite a surprise to me in it's beauty and all things old looking.  As one Ontarian said " people get as far as London Ontario, and think that is it, nothing out there but country, however this area is dotted with beautiful rolling hills, farms and the quaintest towns and counties I have ever seen. Picture west coast without the mountains and saskatchewan without the dryness.  Anyway, we've thoroughly enjoyed our trip thus far, and we know we will be back!

Tonight we are headed out to see Romeo & Juliet so we are all looking forward to it, and have a greater appreciation and understanding of what all goes on behind the scenes that make the plays work like a seamless and beautiful thing.

Lucas’ Statement:  In professional theatre it takes 1 hour of choreography to do one second of a fight scene.  If the fight scene takes 22 seconds they practice it for 22 hours.

A Merry Olde Day in London...

Day 8, June 28 2013 Friday

A Merry olde day in London...

Last night we had thundershowers and today heavy rain - good thing today’s plan’s were to be indoors!  Our timing is impeccable...today...

First on our list of things to see was the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum (the first Canadian regiment in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1883).  The museum told the history of this regiment from the Northwest Rebellion to Afghanistan.  It houses numerous uniforms, weapons, artifacts, medals, dioramas, and interesting stories of the people who fought and still fight to maintain our freedom.

Next on our tour of London was the Elgin County Rail Museum, which is housed in a very old building in St. Thomas which was the hub of railroading in Canada.  In it’s day it had the largest roundhouse in North America.  The museum is in an old building and one of the last one’s standing.  In fact parts of the building we couldn’t tour because it wasn’t structurally sound (concrete roof was not safe).  

Included in the museum was a 5700 steam engine, the largest ever built in Canada.  The English couldn’t figure out why such a big steam engine was required - they probably did not really understand the size and scope of Canada’s land mass.  This engine’s top speed was 100 mph.

We also see a bike adapted to fit the rails we were told farm kids would ride these to school and home, to lessen their distance traveled - the bike was not legal, however there was a legal adapted bike called the Kalamazoo Velocipede ( the red one below) built in 1888 which was legal and the railway workers would use this to inspect the lines.

London Museum was reported to have an exhibit of 1812.  The guys drop me off so I can tour an old house (Eldon House) built in 1834 by John Harris and Amelia Ryerse Harris, which was lived in and until the 1950’s by the Harris family descendants.

Within 5 minutes of me touring the house, the guys show up for the tour. The London Museum is actually an art gallery apparently isn’t required to have anything of note in their exhibit of 1812 history to call it an exhibit of 1812 history.  Disappointing would be the kindest way to put it.

So...we continue with the Eldon House.  This is the second oldest building in London, and the oldest house.  The oldest building was up the street - the old city hall, which was built to look like and be used as a fortress, in case the Americans tried to come up the Thames river and attack.

The Eldon house was what you would expect a wealthy family of the 1800’s to have.  It was big, beautiful, carved black walnut banisters.  It also had  British Columbia Redwood Cedar on the ceiling in the dining room and parlor.  Like many wealthy families, the house was passed down through generations and finally ended up with a female descendant, Millie Harris who remained single all her life, and was particularly careful with the house and realized the importance of the preservation of it.  When her nieces and nephews inherited it they donated it to the city of London and most of it’s original contents...except for the original dining table and the china.

I loved the Japanese wall paper - it was heavily embossed and the background color was made to look like rich leather.  Funny thing about this story is... about 20 years ago it was discovered that the wallpaper was hung wrong - it was supposed to be hung horizontally (the rolls of paper were to go across the wall)  instead of vertically (not up and down) which is why the birds look peculiar...I thought it was made that way to make the birds look like flowers, because it looked odd to me too -now I know why.  

What’s even funnier about this is the tour guide has had a chance to read the diaries of Amelia Harris and discovered that she was very materialistic and was a “snippet”  somewhat of a perfectionist.  She said she thinks she was a woman that she wouldn’t like.  Imagine a woman of this caliber discovering that her wall paper was put on incorrectly!!!  She was spared this horrible indignity, in fact the whole family was spared this indignity.  The person who pointed it out was on a tour and knew a lot about Japanese wallpaper of the era and it was pointed out long after the house was given to the city. Check out the wallpaper pictures and see what you think...

The grandson of the patriarch worked in Africa as a mining engineer.  He hunted and so hunted game to eat.  The entry hall is covered with rare and beautiful horns of all kinds of wildlife in Africa that he shot, and ate, mounted the antlers/horns and brought them all back to Canada.  Included with these were all 4 feet from an elephant, and a foot of a Rhino.  The house only has 2 of the elephant’s feet (front foot and back foot) and are used as umbrella holders.  The Rhino foot is used as a container for the good liquor.

The Harris family women were prolific diary keepers, so there is 5 generations worth of diaries of the family.  Their life documented gives great insight to history in the area, as well as their personalities, quirks and foibles.  I would like to read some of this stuff when I get home. 

The Eldon House had an 1812 exhibit and which also celebrates the Bicentennial of John Harris’ arrival in Upper Canada.  Four exhibits chronicle the lives of John and Amelia during the war of 1812, that would eventually bring them together.

We end the day with a Shakespeare play called "Measure for Measure" in the world famous location for the Stratford Festival right here in Stratford....Ontario.  

Lucas’ Statement: In the train shops, the floors were wood blocks, set vertically and slightly different heights so it was easier for the workers to stand on, instead of concrete.

It's all north from here...

Day 7    June 27, 2013  Thursday

It’s all north from here....

Point Pelee is the southern most tip of mainland found in Canada, and it is literally a point of land that disappears into beautiful Lake Erie.

The national park is about 8 miles long with beaches and marshland and trails stretching out into Lake Erie.  We find some wild turkeys, lots of flies and bugs and lots and lots of birds.

A  great visitor center and a warm hello greets us, and from here we take the shuttle to the drop off area to see the point.  We are warned numerous times not to go in the water and swim as the under tow and current are really strong in this area.  We didn’t have swimming in mind at all, just dipping our toes, feet and ankles  an into the water will suffice.

What surprised me was that the point is really a point - it is only about 12 feet across - just didn’t expect it to be so small, but I suppose it changes with the tides.  

On the shuttle we meet a young man and student of university of Windsor named Jeremy.  A wonderful, friendly and warm young man who tells us all about his new found passion formed about a year ago, which is birding.  He told us about the numerous species of birds in the area, the migration and behavior, songs and “tweets” of the many birds in the area.  His specific mission today was to see black headed gull.  It’s a rarely seen gull in this area, and he is hoping to see and photograph this gull and has been trying for a week or so.  

At the end of the shuttle ride, he offers to walk with us down the path to to the point.  There are lizards here (skink) which have yellow stripe and blue tails which hopefully we see, and the numerous birds.   I love to listen to people who talk about their passions. Even though we know nothing about birding, he pulls us into his enthusiasm and we begin to see birds in a different light.  It’s also fun to walk with Jeremy-you can see his eyes scan the bushes, trees and skies for birds. To me it was like visiting with a mom with young children, distracted chat which can stop mid sentence because they are focusing on something else.

Water’s cold!  We take about  half an hour at the point to get pictures, walk in the water, and watch the wild turkeys on the beach and head back to the shuttle.  

Jeremy also walked back with us saying “ his goal was to get out here at 7:00 am (it was around 11:00am) and we laugh and tell him that is our goal each evening before we venture out for the day, yet somehow it doesn’t happen.  It’s great to know there are people out there just like us!  Jeremy has a blog (here is the link if you are interested in his bird photos and his birding activities) I think one day we may see him in National Geographic.  http://jeremybirder.blogspot.ca 

We like to get recommendations of where to eat from locals, they always seem to know the lesser known places with good food. He (Jeremy) recommends we stop by the “double decker” bus for lunch called Birdee’s (seriously!) and so we did.  In the middle of nowhere (actually Essex county) there is a british double decker bus/restaurant that sits roadside and make really great lunch food. I would highly recommend it to travelers in this area.

After lunch we head out to do some mini-golfing, and then to  see the Milner Heritage house in Chatham. This was a lovely old house where the lady of the house Emma Milner was quite the accomplished artist.  The house contains her original pencil drawings which are from portraits of her family.  She won a gold medallion  in some competition ( sorry can’t remember it specifically) for her drawing.  The judges actually had to pull the framed drawing apart and look at it closely because they could not believe the drawing was not a photo - that is how good she was.  We of course could not take a picture of the drawings of the portraits, so you will have to take our word for it...or google it.

The museum across the street has an 1812 exhibit, which included a table from the McRae family who lived and farmed in the area around 1813/1813.  The story goes Tecumseh and his men stayed & camped on his farmland.  McRae was a friend of the Shawnee chief, had conversations and shared meals at the very table.  To us it’s that 4th dimension thing - physically there was a piece of furniture where only time  separated us from one of the great historical greats of Canada.

The museum also had a mummy brought to this area by a local family (Sulman family) in the early 1900’s as a souvenir of their travels to Egypt. Apparently the wealthy did this sort of thing in the day.  The mummy is of a lady of 5’3’’.  The Sulman’s were told it was a mummy of an Egyptian princess, however since then it has been discovered (through modern technology and X-ray) this couldn’t be a princess because of the lack of gold  and jewelry in the cartouche,and also because the paint used on the cartouche was not real gold and enamel, so it was a lady of lesser importance, however the cartouche was still beautifully decorated and painted with Egyptian Hyroglyphics.

At the museum, one of the staff told us that the park across the street was famous and called Tecumseh park because he was there in 1813 the day before he died and took a musket ball to the arm in that very area.  We scoot over to the park and while walking, the grass cutter was busily doing his work.  When he saw us reading the commemorative sign, he stopped his lawn mower, and told us that if we followed the path there would be more information along the path that had to do with 1812/1813.  It never stops to amaze me how friendly folks are in this part of the country.  In some parts of the country we would almost be mowed down because they wanted to get it done and go home.

Another 2 thumbs up day!

Flies, Forts and a mysterious island...

June 26, 2013 Day 6 

Flies, Forts and a mysterious island...

Today is the day we are rewarded for 4.5 days cooped up in the car!

Our first stop on today’s agenda is to see the house of Hiram Walker close to the Detroit river.  Beautiful old house from the outside, however we didn’t get to see the inside-they open that up for summer tours in the summer, which begins in July.

We hit Coventry gardens  and riverfront walkway in Windsor, which is a beautiful park.  One of the fishermen we seen had a bucket full of fish, and just had a 10 lb sheepshead fish.  He says they are ugly, not great eating, so I guess it was a blessing that the fish broke his line and got away.

Amhurstburg, Ontario and the season for fish flies in this area.  Fish flies apparently don’t get their name from being around fish, or where fish are, but get their name because of their awful “fishy” smell - thus they are called Fish Flies!  We learned something new today. These things only live for a day, but have a prolific re-production rate!  Fortunately the season is ending for them, and they will be replaced by mosquitos. They are all over and stuck to everything

 Amhurstburg is also the site of Fort Maulden, which is the location key to the capture of Detroit in the war of 1812. 

Turns out over the banks is the Detroit river which was the key mode of transportation.  A deep and narrow channel important for shipping was on the Canadian side and just over the bank from Amhurstburg and the Americans wanted it.  They couldn’t get to Detroit via water without using the channel, which the British owned and had it protected by cannons.

Short story....the British captured a American ship while it was sailing by the fort, complete with papers and documents of how Detroit had planned to defend their fort.  The British stripped the ship, kept all the guns, amo and anything else they could get their hands on  and then took the Fort Detroit and held it until the end of the war.  

What matters even more to me is just how beautiful this small community is.  The population is about 21,000 and like Windsor, is situated on the Detroit river.  They still use this waterway for freighter boats, ferries and recreational sailing boats and speed boats.  There is a most beautiful park along the riverfront with a walkway, benches, flowers and friendly people.

This small community also has a heritage house called the Park house, and also the Black History Museum, which tells the story of the slaves who escaped the US via the “underground” railway to get to Canada where they were free.  This was a great spot for them to come into Canada because of the narrow water to cross to freedom.  There was a large population of African Americans here around the 1840s and they felt so comfortable and free, they built a church and stayed to farm and work in the area.  Alot of their descendants still live here today.

We have supper at Ricardos, which is a lovely italian restaurant just off the riverfront park with wonderful views of the Detroit river and Bob-Lo island. We eat outside and enjoy watching freighters and ferries and sail boats cruise the 

waters. 

The host at the tourist information center told us about Bob-Lo island.  It once had an amusement park,  dance hall center, and  rides, which are now mostly gone or abandoned. 

Being modern explorers, we take the 7:20pm ferry (runs every 20 minutes 24 hours a day) and arrive on the other at 7:23 and explore the island.  The owners of the amusement park went bankrupt, and sold most of the ride related structures, and now the island is home to beautiful homes all on the riverfront and on Crystal Bay.  Beautiful secluded island with beautiful homes and views and the odd old relic.  Everyone here gets around on golf carts, where are a few roads but mostly paths and trails.  The island also has an old abandoned fort which was refurbished for the bi- centennial celebrations of the war of 1812. 

We head to Leamington for the night and it’s on to Point Pelee tomorrow.  It was a 10 out of 10 day, “2 thumbs up” we all say.

Lucas’ statement:  “Mutton Chop” side burns became popular after soldiers grew them for the expressed purpose of protecting their face burning from their comrad’s musket charge,  who were standing beside them in battle.

Around the world in 4 states...

June 25, 2013 Day 5 Tuesday

Back in Canada!  Yipee!  There is no place like home....even if it’s Windsor, Ontario!

We had a full day of travel “around the world” in 4 states (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan) where we passed by exits to the towns of Princeton, Cambridge, Peru, Moscow, Ottawa, Marseilles and Holland!  

It was hot and muggy today - highs were 33 degrees, however the humidity makes it not seem so hot, to us it feels more like Hawaii, except for the smell of course.  In Hawaii you smell flowers once you get off the plane, in this part of the states you smell...well ....industry really.  In fact you could smell and taste Gary, Indiana.  

Our one quick stop today was to dip our feet into Lake Michigan - our goal is all six feet and 30 toes to be dipped into all the great lakes.  We found a perfect place to spend the day on the beach at the Ogden Dunes, near Gary, Indiana, but alas we were here only about 20 minutes.  We stop long enough to get a couple pictures, dip our feet in Lake Michigan, which was not that cold, pick up some rocks and shells, say hi to the locals, put shoes back on and head out again.

Much to our surprise, the traffic today was not bad at all - we passed by the outskirts of Chicago around noon which was our goal, and even though traffic went crazy fast and exits and on ramps were all over the place, it moved relatively well, and smoothly.  Jill (our GPS) got us through it all quickly.

Our other goal was to cross the Detroit/Windsor border crossing after 6:00pm so we would avoid the heavy traffic-after all, this crossing is the #1 busyest crossing to Canada.  The freeway goes directly in the middle of downtown Detroit.  Happily there is an express lane for the downtown, which we follow, and we sail through without a hitch, through the city and then across to Canada via the tunnel, no delays, and very light traffic - in fact we only encountered 3 vehicles going the other way.  The only slow part was at the border, where we find ourselves behind a US vehicle coming into Canada.  I was supposed to remind Phil to get behind a Canadian car when we cross (oops!)  The American car from Illinois was only stopped for about 3 minutes, all the Canadian cars were stopped for literally seconds.

We will miss the cheap gas prices in the US , where we paid between 89 cents  to $1.02 for a litre of gas.  In Canada we’ve paid as high as $1.449 per litre this year.

We are happy to be in Canada again after 4.5 days of heavy traveling, and now we can get on with what we came out here to see...forts, historical events and re-enactments, old houses, and whatever other “stuff” there is to see and do.

A day of we almost....

Day 4, June 24th, 2013

Today we leave behind Murdo, South Dakota and continue to follow I 90  east, across the rest of South Dakota, through Minnesota and then south down to Davenport Iowa, which is just before the Illinois border and a couple hours west of Chicago.

It has been a perfect day to travel, temperatures ranged from 18 - 23 degrees, it’s totally grey and overcast and we hit pockets of rain and severe wind along the eastern treck. 

Again, the rest stops see the most of us, and turns out, are our friends in the absence of humans.  Seriously, we covered a lot of ground, however had very little traffic and not too many vehicles on the road other than transport trucks and motorhomes, but these prove to be scarce as well.

We almost see go see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, but decide to pass being it is wet, windy and we want this long day not to be any longer...

We pass by the exit to  Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead site  - she wrote many of her Little House stories about this area, however it was rainy, windy and did not want to do the extra milage there and back added to our trip - it's already a long day and it's still the morning... we will see that another time.  

We pass the day by listening to John Grisham’s short stories on tape, chatting and listening to Fox radio discuss wether the US should help out Mexico and bring it to prosperity, and make it a great place for Mexicans to live, or if they just leave it alone and become (considering the US state of affairs) a 3rd state of Mexico (their opinion, not mine).  Interesting conversation, but I think the US has it’s hands full trying to save itself from itself. 

We almost see the Winnebago factory tour, however discover we cannot be there in time....decide to go to the visitors centre... it closed at 4:pm missed that by 15 minutes..  decide to get a Starbucks treat.  Ahh yes, that is better!

Iowa is on the list of states that we will be in, and Lucas is excited to be in this state because the musical "Music Man" took place in Iowa.  Iowa Stubborn was a song he remembers fondly.  Cheers to Iowa and the Music Man.  Incidentally, we will also be going through Gary Indiana tomorrow, and will be looking for a Wells Fargo wagon too... if you know what I mean.

Late in the afternoon, all thoughts of the guys are on the hockey game tonight, and we are lucky to catch the game from the drop of the puck on the radio.

Once we go through Iowa City and Cedar Rapids the volume of transport trucks immediately is apparent and the closer we go south and east towards Chicago the freeway gets fuller and fuller of the big rigs.   The speed limit is 70 MPH, which seems a little fast, however for most of these trucks it doesn’t seem to be a problem.  I suddenly don’t like all the traffic and instantly miss the loneliness of the wide open roads!

Really this is about all to write about, not a lot of pictures taken today because it’s been so grey and dreary and we barely got out of the car...except to pee!  Lots of roadwork on the way and slower than usual because of 2 way traffic on the freeway.

We are staying in Davenport, Iowa tonight and travel to Windsor, Ontario via the Windsor/Detroit border crossing tomorrow.  It will be another long day of travel (approx 8 hours or more - depending on road work etc)  and timing will be everything to avoid the Chicago area rush hour and the border crossing rush hour.  Once we are back in Canada it will be a lot less time in the car and a lot more playing tourist -seeing and doing all things southern Ontario.  Our butts will be happy to leave the soreness to our feet.

Not where things are made...

Day 3 June 23rd, Sunday

Late start today -we paid $77 in the town of  Sheridan Wyoming to sleep, but it felt more like a $25 sleep!  It seems they call double beds in the states queen beds, but these were no more  more queen beds than I am the queen of England.    I could only lay facing 1 way, if I faced the inside of the bed, I rolled into a cavern, where Phil already rolled into.  If  faced the outside, I had to hang on for dear life, for fears of rolling into the cavern.  Anyway, good thing we are packing our tea and kettle with us.  We hope to have a better sleep tonight.

Along the way, there are a couple things that surprise me 

1)I’ve forgotten just how big the sky is. From Montana to Wyoming it’s mostly rolling hills and ranch land.  You can see sky forever and land that goes on and on, cows all over the place.  

2)Every 3rd vehicle going west is a huge motorhome towing a vehicle or a trailer.  In fact there were several times that we saw “pods” of motorhomes traveling together in groups of 5-6.  They out number the transport trucks for sure.  We were almost wondering if they had a convention somewhere for these big rigs.  There were so any on the road.  

3) I’ve seen more dead dear on the road than I care to count.  I guess when you have miles and miles of ranch land, rolling hills and grass, the deer are plentiful, but out here - same as it is at home - they haven’t learned what a vehicle is yet.  In fact we have been warned more than a couple of times not to drive when it is dark, because the roads are full of wildlife.

I have to admit I feel pretty silly even admitting the following, but it made for some laughs in our car, and really that is what I am here for...comic relief!  For years I have been a fan of the Moorcroft pottery that so many people seem to have on the Antiques Roadshow.  I for some reason thought the manufacturing of it was done in the US, so you can imagine my excitement when we approach the town of Moorcroft.  I told Phil I wanted to visit the place where they make this famous stuff.  We enter the town of Moorcroft...my first inclination this may not be the place is when I read the population 1909 people, followed by numerous ramshackle buildings.  Hmp! I say, I wonder where it is.  

Quickly we google it and find it is actually located in....Stoke -on -Trent in Essex, England!  Yep, don’t know how I missed that tidbit of information.  I am glad we didn’t travel miles out of our way to see it!

We also passed though a town of Gillette, however they did not make the razors, and Phil assured me that Sundance is not where Robert Redford has his film festival.

We haven’t seen anything interesting or monumental today so we decide to take the 21 mile road to see the Devil’s Tower National Monument.  Was worth the side trip and felt to get out and walk for about an hour.  If you look closely at the last picture you can see some climbers on the rocks.  While there, a team of 4 made it to the top.

We check in early tonight ( 9:00 pm) in hopes of a good sleep and a full day tomorrow.