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Sunday 13th April, 2008

Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls

Sometimes you have to wonder where you are when driving in the USA. A couple of days ago we drove through Berlin, today we drove through Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Poland and even a couple of local places from home like Palmyra and Medina. Then we ended up in Dunkirk!!!

We started the day in Tilton, New Hampshire and had hopes of making Buffalo which would be close to 500 miles. We took local roads across Vermont to get to I90 at Albany. We actually though we had been in Vermont with Jim and Bette back in 2001 but now we are nor so sure - perhaps this was a state we thought we had be to but actually hadn't. Now we have and it was a real treat - great scenery and even some snow.

Once we got to I90 it was a breeze and we just kept going till we got to Buffalo just after 5pm. We took the opportunity to have a look at the Niagara Falls. We saw the from the Canada side in 2006 and this time we stayed in the USA. It was coolish and the view is great - not as good as the view from Canada but still very impressive. We stayed there about an hour and then headed through Buffalo back to I90 and continued for about an hour to Dunkirk where we stopped at a Days Inn. Dinner at a Bob Evans Restaurant, great service and food and then a Wal-Mart where Gary actually bought 3 business shirts, a pair of trousers and a tie. Bette will be surprised.

So now we are just 800 miles from St Louis so we may get there Tuesday afternoon. Tomorrow is Cleveland and perhaps the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then beyond.

Nice to be heading west again and looking forward to time in St Louis and Minneapolis.

Once we hit I90 the Wal-Mart trucks came thick and fast - 4 in 3 minutes.  Final tally for the day was 32 including 8 double bankers (two trailers).  Under the strict Wal-Mart truck counting guidelines a double trailer truck still just counts as 1 truck!  Total Wal-Mart trucks for the trip is now 130 and we are over half way.

Monday 14th April, 2008

Today we left Dunkirk and continued down I90 to Cleveland.  Went right downtown to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  What a great place, we spent 4 hours there and really enjoyed the time.  We had hoped to see some reference to our friend Scott McKenzie and it was good to see his name on a Monterey Pop Fesitval Poster and his song, San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair, was played in its entirety in a video on the Fesitval.  Sadly no vision of Scott though.   We saw lots of rock and roll memorabilia - great place.
The Hall of Fame is right on Lake Erie, beautiful scenery and right next door is an awesome looking football stadium, home of the Cleveland Browns.

Around 3pm we set the GPS for Colombus and ended up going right through dthe middle of Cleveland, bit of stress there although we did see the baseball stadium home of the Cleveland Indians, another impressive looking place.

Down I71, we intended to go for an hour or two as we headed for our destination of St Louis.

We ended up going past Colombus and around 6:30pm made it to Mason just a few miles north of Cincinatti, Ohio.

Stayed in a Days Inn and had dinner at a Cracker Barrel, the first not so good one we have been to.

Just over 400 miles today and 4 good hours at the Hall of Fame, another good day. 

Tuesday 15th April, 2008

Today was just a driving day as we headed to St Louis.  Another day of just over 400 miles.

We started out in Mason and drove through peak hour Cincinatti traffic and into Kentucky - another state off the list of states we have been to.  Continued on I71 to Louisville and a GPS mistake saw us checking out downtown traffic there as well.  Finally onto I64 and Rayls took over driving and got us to the outskirts of St Louis before Gary took over and got us to our friends house in West Alton just north of St Louis.  We have known Eileen and Phil for a few years now and stayed with them on our 2006 trip.  Sadly Phil is away on business till Thursday but it has been nice to catch up with Eileen and chat about things - we will be here for around 3 days.

Today we did a first - five states in one day.  We started out in Ohio and were soon into Kentucky, then after Louisville and on the I64 we went into Indiana, Illinois and finally Missouri.  5 states, try doing that in one day in Australia.

The Wal-Mart truck count is at 154.