Border-line Behavior

I apologize if this blog posts twice--a little issue with the wireless connection.

So, everyone tells stories about crossing borders---how long it takes, how annoying getting searched is, etc. This "Crossing the Border" story is a little different. I think by the end of it all, the Border Patrol officer was hoping we would leave instead of the other way around.
When we approached the bridge, there was about 20 cars in front of us. If you figure each car has about a 3 or 4 minutes interview, longer for the RVs who all need to get searched, we surmised that we had about an hour wait ahead of us. This presented a bit of a problem for The Old 76 because she was running a little hot and we really wanted to get into Michigan to get some fresh oil in her.
When we finally got to the toll, the woman was very nice and pleasant, asked us normal questions and then asked us to turn off the car and hand her the keys with the bright orange chicken wing hanging from them so that she could get in and do a little search. Worst. Idea. Ever.
After the search, she told us we were all set. Bobby turned the key and absolutely nothing happened. She asked us if we'd had trouble before and just as Bobby said "No", I nodded my head "yes". Isn't that exactly what you're not supposed to do when the Border Patrol asks you a question?? Lol.
Bobby explained to her a little trick we learned back in Buffalo and she said she would let us try it. They are very cautious at the border; they don't want anyone to get out of their cars, especially not with a hammer and a screwdriver! But she let Bobby try his trick but unfortunately nothing happened. If there’s ever a place you don’t want to break down it’s on a bridge, in the toll, with a hundred angry and hot Canadians behind you. Or in the ghetto of Buffalo. Take your pick. I can’t imagine how ridiculous we must’ve looked to this very serious officer.
We were brought to a mechanic in Michigan where we spent the rest of the day waiting for The Old Seventy 6 to get a new battery, a new starter, and some fresh oil in her veins. At some point during this five hour wait, I took off the tiger’s eye charm that I’d purchased at Howe’s Cave, thinking it might be bringing us bad luck. I didn’t tell Bobby because these are the types of things he usually thinks are crazy. Sure enough, when he noticed and I explained it, he called me silly. I didn’t care, I wasn’t taking any chances.
When we finally got her back and in the best shape ever, we headed to a Walmart superstore, which was bigger than two Costcos put together. Walmarts in the Midwest mean business. We stocked up on motor oil, fresh bread, and a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. As we were leaving the Walmart, it began to absolutely downpour. The wind was unbelievable and a woman next to me said they’d seen funnel clouds in Kapec (?) about 45 minutes away. Okay—which direction is that and where to I drive to get away from it?? If you know me, you know that I’m afraid of two things= 1. Grizzly bears. You can’t outrun them, outswim them, or outclimb them. 2. Tornados. Wizard of Oz anyone??
We decided to camp as soon as we could to avoid driving through the rain. Luckily there was a KOA campground only 5 miles away, and it was beautiful. As Bobby was turning off the camper, I noticed the buffalo wing keychain had gone missing.
“Do you think one of the mechanics stole it?” I asked, thinking any guy would want a chicken wing key chain.
“No,” Bobby said, “I took it off at the border…thought it was bad luck.”

A bout of bad Luck?

On Wednesday, we woke up in the Walmart, rode our bikes to McDonald's and had some breakfast before getting back on the road. Our destination was Buffalo--at least to try the wings from the anchor bar, the place that claims to have originated the Buffalo Wing.








First of all, the wings were awesome--best wings we ever had.





Second of all, the bar was cool. Lots of Buffalo stuff to look at and Bobby's two favorite things are wings and the Bills. He even bought a key chain that looks exactly like a chicken wing. It's pretty funny.





Here's where the bad luck comes in.... we get out to the Ol Seventy 6 and the old girl won't start. I mean--nothing! Not even small grumble from the engine or a tick from the starter. Both of us know a little bit about cars and we figured it wasn't the battery since all the lights were working perfectly, so it had to be the starter or some kind of a problem with the ignition. Good the we are Good Sam's Club members (it's like the AAA of RVs). But actually, we didn't end up needing them, because, we have Billy Martin.





Wild Bill to the rescue. We called him and he had few ideas that we tried and nothing worked. The GSC sent out a kid to jump start us, even though we knew it wasn't the battery. The next step was a tow, when Daddy-O called back with a few new ideas.





One of these crazy ideas included touching the end of one screw driver to a bolt in the selonoid (sp?) and touching another screw driver to another bolt and crossing the metal parts to make a spark that could link the battery to the engine. God help us, it worked. We basically hot-wired our car!





We drove it straight to a mechanic who said we were probably all set, and so, we were off again.


we crossed the border into Ontario made it to a campsite in Woodstock.





We truly thought all of our worries were behind us. Unfortunately, it's what was behind us that we should've been looking at. When we got to the campground, the lady asked us to 'back up'. BAD IDEA. Bobby backed that Pawnee straight into their "Slow, Children at Play" sign. Then, to make matters worse, he drove forward and wedged us in real good. I'll be honest, the two of us couldn't help but laugh. It really wasn't funny....but after all we'd been through that day, it kind of was.

Once the business with the sign was taken care of, we set up camp at a beautful spot and had a fire, a homemade meal and some PBRs. We also roasted the biggest marshmallow ever, thanks to Kellyfromwilmington, and it was a great night. Hopefully the rain cloud over our heads is clearing up!!!

Nothing Makes a Road Trip Special Quite like Chili Dogs from Jacks

Our first stop had to be Jack's in North Adams where Bobby spent five years living off of their famous chili dogs. They really are something to marvel at--the only problem is that they aren't bigger. Thank goodness Jack's hadn't changed at all since Bo graduated, because it would be all he could talk about for the next three weeks. Anyone remember the Lil Stevies crisis?

Anyway, after stopping for lunch we continued heading out west. Our route into New York took us to a place called Howe's Cave, where we decided to stop for a little spelunking. We took an elevator 150 feet into the ground and then went on a walking/boat tour of a deep, dark cave. Of course, the guide told us not to touch the calcite on the cave walls and Bobby had to touch everything. :) We were actually with a family from New Hampshire, and the dad kept talking about the family that went in the cave years ago and two people never came back. It reminded me of my dad.

That night we stopped at Applebees for dinner and saw a few RVs parked in the Walmart across the street. We had planned on finding a campsite, but we'd heard that you can park in Walmarts anywhere in the country for free, so we decided to take the risk and just do it. We figured we'd never learn the ways of the RV-people until you dive right in.

Two problems:

One, we parked right under a street light. It didn't seem like a big deal until Bobby woke up at three in the morning and thought it was time to go.

Two, even the slightest bit of wind rocks the Pawnee right out of her rims. Trying to fall asleep, I could've sworn there were a bunch of teenagers trying to mess with us. Bobby went dashing out into the Walmart parking lot shoeless, shirtless, with a hammer in his hand and stalked around the camper looking for hooligans to scare off.

classic.

Our First Day on the Road

Well, after an amazing wedding weekend, we are off on our honeymoon. Most people know that we bought an old 1976 Dodge Camper to explore the U.S. after getting married, hence the title of this blog. Our original ideas for places we definitely wanted to visit included Nashville (since we are both country music fans), Memphis (since we are both Elvis fans) and we knew we wanted to inlcude a lot of Americana on our trip as well. We only recently got the idea in our heads that maybe we could even get as far as South Dakota and witness the sunset on Mount Rushmore.

So, we are going to see how far the old girl takes us. She is decked out with new curtains by JoAnn, a nice bike rack stocked with refurbished bikes from Anthony, and a really smart new radio by PJ and Riley that allows us to charge our phones, iPods and computers (which the original model of this vehicle did not come with). Here's where I have to apologize to my friend Cherilyn who so graciously came through with 8Tracks when we thought that was all we would be able to listen to. I guess we wont be needing them after all--although there was quite a nice selection!

So we will be posting updates and pictures and videos from our travels. If we emailed you this link and you are at all interested in keeping track of us across the country, make sure you follow this blog by adding yourself to that list over to the right ----->

See you soon!

Bobby and Shannon