October 15, 2004

October 15, 2004

Rondeau Provincial Park to Findlay, Ohio

DAY 120

 

It was raining this morning. I didn't get to finish sanding my fibreglass repair. It was kind of miserable preparing for departure and travel, while it was raining.

We left Rondeau Provincial Park travelling northwest on County Road 15, then southwest and northwest on Hwy.3 to Blenheim where we stopped for a loaf of bread. We couldn't buy any other groceries as we were going to be crossing the border into the United States. From Blenheim we travelled northwest on Hwy. 11 to Hwy. 401. West on Hwy. 401 to Windsor. We crossed over the Detroit River on the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor to Detroit, Michigan. The border crossing was quick and easy. I guess the customs officer didn't want to be exposed to the cold rain any more than was absolutely necessary.

Once in Detroit, we took I-96 northwest to I-94, then I-94 southwest to the Detroit suburb of Belleville, where we stopped at Camping World to buy some RV specialty products. From Camping World it was west on I-94 to Ann Arbor, where we turned south on Hwy.23 towards Ohio. On impulse, we stopped at Cabela's in Dundee, Michigan. Cabela's is a huge sporting goods outfitter. I was curious to see one. My father used to mail order specialty "high end" fishing tackle from Cabela's.

What a "score" we made at Cabela's. We had been shopping for 4 months for a beach tent to use as a "cat gazebo". A beach tent is a small, maybe 5 ft. x 5 ft. x 4 ft. tall tent, with the top half made of nylon, but the bottom half made of mesh. It's meant to be used on the beach by children, to give them a shaded play area. Lorri pointed one out to us while were camped at Grand Beach. It would be a great "cat gazebo". We've been looking for one everywhere.

No, we didn't find a beach tent at Cabela's. We did even better. We bought a one person mesh bivouac. It's meant for use by bicycle or motorcycle campers, who need something small and light. It's like a "sleeping cylinder" made entirely of mesh, except for the nylon floor. It's 9 ft. long x 3.5 ft. wide. Room for one person and their sleeping bag, or ... 2 cats, a litter box, and a cat bed. It even has a nylon fly which was meant to be installed over top to provide protection from rain, but in our use, can be installed to provide shade. Perfect !

We continued south on Hwy. 23 towards Ohio. Once we were in Ohio, we joinedI-475 which is the I-75 bypass around Toledo. We stopped in Toledo to feed the cats, buy groceries, and fill up with diesel. We should have made supper and stopped for the night, but we decided to go a little further. We headed out of Toledo, southbound on I-75. We stopped at a road side rest area near Bowling Green, Ohio ( not to be confused with Bowling Green, Kentucky ), but the regulations prohibit over night parking, so we continued. We stopped at a Pilot Travel Centre near North Baltimore, Ohio ( not to be confused with Baltimore, Maryland ), a service centre like Flying J, but there were no other RV's there, only a lot of commercial trucks, so we continued. We finally stopped at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Findlay, Ohio, for the night. We stopped quite a bit later than we had planned, and decided to have supper in the restaurant instead of preparing it in the trailer. We had wanted to eat at a Cracker Barrel, but had not yet done so. It was a very busy place, considering it was after 8:00 P.M. when we went in for dinner. We had a very good "home cooking" style meal. It was nice to once again be in a restaurant in the United States where restaurant standards of service are much higher than they are in Canada.

Just as we were arriving at Findlay, I was thinking that the name of the place "rang a bell" with me. I eventually remembered why. This city is the home of "Pantasia", the high school steel pan band that performed at the Escapee Escapade in Goshen, Indiana.

DSK