Less than 2 hours left of driving!

We have stopped at a Pizza Hut in Emporia, Kansas for lunch so I am quickly updating the blog. For those who love trivia, I would like to inform you that the first Pizza Hut restaurant ever was in Wichita, Kansas. We have less than 2 hours of driving left until we reach Wichita, Kansas. Today has been another nice one weather-wise but a little too hot. It has been 86 F (30 C) since we started driving. Even when I open the window for a breeze, I get hit with air that feels like it is coming out of a hair dryer. Air conditioning is the only relief.

I found the landscape of Missouri very interesting since Indiana and Illinois seemed so flat and then Missouri was nothing but trees and hills. Kansas is known for being flat too so it seems that Missouri should be as well. Here are some pictures of the Missouri landscape:

We crossed the Missouri River again (but did not snap a picture this time) and we did not see a single state trooper in Missouri and none so far in Kansas! We have encountered road work in every single state we have driven though, however. I snapped this picture in Missouri. 

As we left the state of Missouri we passed the Kansas City Royals' stadium but we did not get a picture. We crossed into Kansas at 12:45pm.

I will update the Kansas state part of our trip in my next blog entry, which will involve more cow-coloured horse sightings and proof we are still in the Bible belt :-)

In Columbia, Missouri for the night - Day 4, May 3, 2012

Fatigue is definitely setting in from all of the driving. When we reached Columbia, Missouri last night we had to ask someone exactly where we were. We thought about driving the two hours to reach Kansas City for the night but neither one of us could fathom driving another minute. So Columbia, Missouri is where the driving ended. We ate at Whitecastle because Heidi said someone told her that Whitecastle burgers were to die for. Neither one of us are sure what that person was talking about. Here is a picture of one. They are cute - they fit in the palm of your hand - but looks are definitely not everything.

Here is the view from our hotel room.

We did go and eat there, since we did not eat much at Whitecastle, and also, just so we could say we had eaten at Hooters. We got to watch the NHL playoffs and talk to some guys about the St. Louis/Los Angeles series. The food at Hooters was good. We ate chicken strips which would have tasted so much better if Americans ate honey garlic sauce. 

Our day began in Richmond, Indiana and the weather was still beautiful and so very hot! It was like summer! The day began around 77 F (25 C) and the temperature kept rising to 84 F (29 C)! Guess I did not need to bring a coat after all. Maybe I will need it when I land in Halifax later.

Our day began enjoying our free breakfast at the hotel where we saw a crock pot full of stuff that was very unfamiliar to me but not to Heidi. She was drawn to it and excitedly exclaimed, "Yummy! Biscuits and gravy!" The next thing I knew, she had this concoction on her plate (see picture below) and ate it for breakfast:

I enjoyed my typical eggs and breakfast sausage as I do not enjoy eating soggy biscuits. The sauce was yummy though!

In the breakfast area in the hotel was a garbage can, as they are commonly referred to in Nova Scotia, clearly marked trash. I have always found the little differences in accents, dialect and vocabulary interesting. I have always referred to garbage as garbage and the receptacle in which you place your garbage as the garbage can. When Heidi first met my girls, she asked the youngest one, who was only 4 at the time, to please put something in the trash for her. Without hesitating, the little one took the piece of garbage from her and took one step before stopping, turning to Heidi and asking, "Can you please tell me, what is trash?" I thought of this when I saw the garbage can clearly marked trash so I took a picture.

One of the first things we saw while driving in Indiana, which seems to be mostly very flat farmland, were horses. But these were not your typical horses and I could not believe what I was seeing. The horses I see in Nova Scotia are mostly solid coloured and typically brown, white, black or even grey. 

Here are the horses I am used to seeing:

Heidi wants me to include my direct quote when I saw the horses in Indiana, "What?????? Cow-coloured horses??????" Upon first glance of these animals, I saw the tell-tale pattern black and white pattern of dairy cows, which looks like this:

So I thought I was seeing cows but I had to do a double-take because something did not seem right. Once I looked more closely I could see manes and long tails and definite horse-shaped bodies. These were horses, not cows! I could not believe my eyes! I did not get a picture of the horses I saw but they were similar to this one:

These are what I will forever now think of as a cow-coloured horse.

As we continued on through Indiana I never did see anymore cow-coloured horses but I did see many more crosses and lots of flatland and farms. Here are some pictures of the Indiana landscape where we were driving.

There were state troopers everywhere along the interstate in Indiana and not so many in Illinois. We reached Illinois at about 12:25pm and we got a picture of the sign for you!

We drove by the Indianapolis Colts stadium and got a picture of that too!

And here is a picture of me and Heidi at a rest area in Illinois:

We entered the state of Missouri just shortly after 2pm and got a picture of that sign for you too :-)

While driving through, we took a picture of the Missouri river:

We stopped at a thrift store in Missouri and outside the store was something that struck me very funny. I understand the concept of the can, since we also provide containers in which smokers can place their cigarette butt,s but we do not clearly label them "butt cans" as this person did. You also have to remember that we were so tired and it was so hot outside, which made this even funnier to me.

We drove in Missouri for another few hours before eating at Whitecastle and calling it a night. We have another five hours or so ahead of us tomorrow before we reach our final destination of Wichita, Kansas! Here we come Wichita!

In Richmond, Indiana for the night - Day 3, May 2, 2012

We made it to Richmond, Indiana for the night after a very long day of driving. Our day started out in Syracuse, New York and the weather had definitely changed from the rain we experienced yesterday! When we began driving at about 9:45am it was already 64 F (18 C) and sunny! The temperature got hotter and hotter as we moved inward and by the time we stopped for the night it was 86 F (30 C)! Those temperatures are what I normally do not experience until July and August! When I left Nova Scotia, the average temperatures were a high of 45 F (7 C)! In fact, we had light snow flurries on the weekend before we left.

Took this picture on a highway in Ohio just to show you how nice it was!

We spent many hours finishing our drive through New York state and did not reach the Pennsylvania  State line until 1:45pm, when the temperature had reached 74 F (23 C). I had my camera ready to take a picture of the state sign but as luck would have it, a tractor trailer was driving by at the exact moment and so I did not get a picture to share with you.  I did, however, get a picture of something that mentions the State line J

Pennsylvania State Line

I had to take a picture of the sign that showed a turnoff towards Pittsburgh, the new home of Sidney Crosby! For those that do not know him, he is the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the face of the NHL, and from my hometown of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia (see below) :-)

We reached Ohio in about an hour, at around 2:45pm, and had another long drive ahead of us through that state. To make the miles pass more quickly we began counting them in 10 mile increments instead of the overwhelming 200+ mile chunks of time Mapquest measured out for us. I remember driving through Ohio on the last trip we made from Kansas to Nova Scotia in July. It was the 4^th of July when we drove through that state and there were road work detours the majority of the trip. Nothing seems to have changed much - the road work simply has moved to the other side of the highway and we are driving through it going in this direction now. When we weren’t driving through road work, there was traffic. There were some peaceful parts of the drive and on those stretches we saw farm, after farm. To sum up Ohio  - road work, traffic and farms.

Ohio is more famously known for its buckeye trees so I snapped a few photos of trees, having no idea what a buckeye looked like, but assuming that if there are so many buckeyes in the state of Ohio that they name their sports teams after them, I should have no problem capturing one in a picture. Let’s see if I was successful. Here is a picture of a buckeye that I found on the internet:

And here are my pictures:

Another thing I noticed while driving in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio were the black butterflies. They were everywhere in the air! I am not sure what they were but they were plentiful! From moose to butterflies J That is quite a contrast in wildlife J

We crossed the Ohio/Indiana state line around 8pm.

The sign says Thank you for visiting Ohio!

 I missed getting a picture of the Indiana state sign but as soon as we passed that there was a giant cross on the right hand side of the road in Richmond, Indiana. I think we have just entered the Bible belt!

More later today or tomorrow about our travels from Richmond, Indiana to ????????

In New York State! Day 2 - May 1, 2012

We made it to the infamous state of New York today (Day 2 of the road trip, May 1, 2012), crossing the state line at about 6:45pm local time J  We drove for another couple of hours before we stopped in Syracuse, New York for the night. Mapquest tells us we will spend the first few hours of our trip tomorrow continuing to drive through New York.

If you look closely you can see the green sign to the right of the interstate welcoming us to the State of New York J

I had been craving steak all day long and we finally sat down to supper at Ruby Tuesday’s at about 9pm where we both ate delicious steaks and watched the Stanley Cup playoffs again! Gotta love hockey playoff time! It was a nice way to end a long day of driving which all began in the state of Maine…

Day 2’s driving began from Bangor, Maine and the weather was not pleasant. It was raining from the time we started driving until about suppertime, when the constant, and at times very heavy rain, turned into light showers. Despite the unpleasant weather, we drove through the rest of Maine and crossed the New Hampshire state line at around 1:30pm. We did not get a picture of the actual New Hampshire state sign as it was posted in the middle of a bridge. We did, however, get a picture of the bridge just before we crossed it. You can imagine the sign there J

Notice the nasty weather and the windshield wiper crossing the camera lens as I snap the picture of the bridge through which runs the Maine/New Hampshire state line

We passed through New Hampshire in about an hour. We did not see any moose warning signs in the part of the state we drove through which I found interesting since the only other time I saw a moose on the side of the road was in 2008 in New Hampshire. Many motorists, including me, pulled over and were able to snap pictures and take video of that moose. The lack of moose signs continued into the state of Massachusetts (very awkward name to say might I add) which we entered at about 2:30pm.

No pictures of any Massachusetts  state signs so I took this picture of interstate signs indicating Boston (on the left) and Worcester (on the right). This also gives you a better idea of the rain we were driving in. Visibility was definitely poor.

The thing I noticed most about the motorists in Massachusetts was that they were ALL talking on their cell phones as they drove! Guess it’s not illegal there! It is in Nova Scotia so this was very intriguing to me.

We are stopping at a service area in New York, so I am going to post this now. I will write about Day 3’s driving adventures tonight or tomorrow. And of course, will post any additions to Day 2’s adventures that I may have forgotten.

Important information I forgot to mention pertaining to Day 1 of the trip

I cannot believe I forgot to mention two events of note that occurred on Day 1 of the road trip, April 30, 2012.

The first is that we saw a moose! Well, I saw the moose. Heidi was driving but got a quick glance at a bog set back in the woods, not too far from the highway. As she thought to herself that she should tell me to look there because I might be able to see a moose, she noticed me paying particularly close attention to the same bog. I did not have to say a word when I turned to her. She could tell just by the look on my face that I had seen a moose! It was not very big and was standing in the bog drinking. It was soooooo close to the highway! It happened so quickly and unexpectedly that unfortunately I did not get a picture. Fortunately we did not encounter any moose on the highway.

The second important event of note is that we both got ID'd at the hotel lounge in Maine! Since I am well over the legal drinking age in both countries (19 in Canada and 21 in the United States), I did not even bring my wallet. Considering Heidi had graduated from high school when I had completed grade 8, she did not need hers either ;-) Perhaps they card everyone there but we had no sooner sat down and the bartender was asking us for our ID cards. Back up to the room we went to get my card. The bartender did seem a little surprised at the year of birth on both of our cards when she checked. The guy at the end of the bar told Heidi he guessed she was at most 27 or 28. Although he never said, I assume I must have been thought to be in that same age category ;-)

Well that is all for the update. Time to write the blog for Day 2 of the Nova Scotia-Kansas road trip!

We are in Bangor!

We had quite a day yesterday driving through two provinces and into one state. We left Nova Scotia in the early afternoon. Minutes before approaching the Nova Scotia/New Brunswick border we were met with what at first seemed to be a scene straight out of the War of the Worlds movie, where the aliens rise from the depths of the earth through roads and fields.  As we looked ahead, we could see only two, very long white objects that from our angle at the bottom of a slight hill, seemed to be coming out of the road. After our initial twinge of horror, we realized that these were blades from the many windmills on the side of the road. With great relief, we continued driving and even took a picture to share with you. Imagine not seeing the base of those windmills, just the blades on the horizon. Little bit freaky :-)

Shortly after our run in with the potential aliens, we reached the Nova Scotia/New Brunswick border and said goodbye to Terynn's home province of Nova Scotia.

 Nova Scotia flags as we leave Nova Scotia and approach New Brunswick. You can see the New Brunswick flags (yellow) farther along the highway.

The Welcome to New Brunswick sign

We spent the majority of our day driving through New Brunswick.  Along most of the highway are fences to prevent moose from ending up on the highway and many signs warning you to keep an eye out for moose. Hitting a moose is like being in a head-on collision. There are moose warning signs in Nova Scotia as well. We were on high moose alert the entire drive! Here are some pictures of our drive through New Brunswick.

 Flooding along the New Brunswick highway

 Moose fence and gates (above and below)

Attention Moose!!!!! 

We reached the Canada/United States border around 6pm. We were asked several questions and they made us open the trunk of the car but we were both approved entry into the United States of America, through Houlton, Maine. Goodbye Canada, hello US!

 Canada Border Inspection sign. The spots you see are dead bugs on the windshield of the car :-)

One Canadian and one American passport 

The landscape in Maine was much the same as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - trees, trees and more trees and moose signs. The only difference was they seemed to have a lot of bogs and bulrushes (aka cattails). It was getting late and we were getting quite hungry, so we stopped in Orono, the home of the University of Maine Black Bear,s to eat at a place called College Dogs. It boasted a college student's dream menu. Heidi had a steak and cheese sandwich and mozza sticks and Terynn had a hot dog and bowl of chili. Yummy! If you are ever in Orono, you should check it out.

We ended up stopping for the night in Bangor, Maine. We stayed at the White House Inn and even got our picture taken with Barack Obama :-)  

...and also with a lumberjack in the hotel lobby

In our room, we even had a "fresh" remote control for the tv, on which of course we watched the Stanley Cup playoffs!!!!! It came in its own little bag and everything :-)

After a few beverages in the hotel lounge, a hockey game, a great night's sleep and a yummy free breakfast, we are ready to drive for another eight to ten hours today. Check back tonight or tomorrow morning for more posts and pictures. Kansas, here we come!