So, after a quick work trip to Atlanta and our yearly Independence Day party we are off to Canada!
Leg 1 is a quick drive from home (just north of the KC suburbs) to pick up the in-laws in Indy. A very uneventful drive, gotta love that. A couple showers near Hannibal, MO but that was all. Highway 36 across Missouri is so much better than I-70. It’s 4 lane the entire way, less traffic and a far fewer amount of big trucks.
Not a lot to do on Hwy 36 in Missouri. Hannibal is probably the highlight. Here is their travel site; https://www.visithannibal.com/ The Mark Twain cave is pretty cool and worth taking the tour. Good luck finding good food and drink in Hannibal. We stayed there one night a couple years ago and that was enough.
After crossing into Illinois Hwy 36 turns into Interstate 72. Just for the record the eastern half of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana all look exactly the same. At least on 36, I-72 and I-74. Flat, corn fields and bean fields, with the occasional wheat field thrown in.
There isn’t much on the trip through Illinois either. You could stop in Springfield. We did that once for a night. That was more than enough. I guess if you’re a history buff there is all the Lincoln stuff you could check out. Their claim to fame for food is the Horseshoe. I had to try one when we stayed there a few years ago. Never again!
Made it into the Indy suburb of Westfield in time to eat at Wolfie’s. Not bad food, I enjoyed the meal. Had the Cheesy Pig burger. They didn’t have any local craft IPA’s on tap so I had to settle on a Goose Island IPA. Things could be much worse.
After a quick stop at an Independence Day party it was time to catch some quick sleep and get up early to head to Toronto. Hopefully we make it in time to catch the Royals and Jays game!
Day 1, 3 states and 500 miles.
Up and on the road by 7:30 or so. First stop, Marathon at Gas City. Don’t stop here. If you’re travelling north on I-69 go to Love’s at the next exit. It has to be better than this place.
Northern Indiana looks just like the rest of the trip. Corn and beans. Maybe more wheat fields mixed in now. Same with the Northwest corner of Ohio. First visit to Toledo. OK, we didn’t really visit we just kind of drove through. I didn’t see anything related to the Toledo Mudhens, that’s all I know about Toledo. Crossed the border into Michigan for my first visit to that state outside of a 2 hour layover at the Detroit airport.
Not very photo happy to get the trip started but here is the view coming into Detroit.
Not exactly a friendly welcome as we crossed the border into Canada. The line was short which was good, but we must look somewhat suspicious. Where are you from? Why are you here? Whose car is this? How long are you here? What do you do for a living? Who do you work for? How much liquor are you bringing? How many cigarettes? I’m only going to ask this once, answer it honestly now and there will be no problem. If you lie and we search your car you are going to jail. Do you have any weapons? I guess we answered everything to her satisfaction and she handed our passports back and we were on our way.
Wow, once you get out of Windsor southern Ontario looks just like Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. What a boring drive.
Two small knocks on Canada on our first day here. Why on earth do you have such good highways with such low speed limits? Tim Horton’s, really? I just don’t get it.
Day 2, 2 countries, 3 states, 1 province and 500+ miles.
Made it in time to catch the Royals game. More on that in the very near future.
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