Live. Travel. Play.

…and we’re still living and working and travelling together without too much drama. However, I think we may be experiencing a bit of “van fever”. Today, Gregor decided he would speak to me in the third person.

For example:
“I’m going to speak about Janice like she’s not here.”
“I’ll make Janice some coffee, and she can make breakfast.”
“Janice seems annoyed. What’s bothering her?”
“If Janice just agreed with me, we wouldn’t be arguing right now.”

We’re in Nova Scotia! Can’t believe how the time is flying. I’ll rewind a bit…

After crossing the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, we raced through the prairies of Nebraska and Iowa so that we could spend Gregor’s 47th birthday (June 30) in Chicago, Illinois. It was 3 days of boring flatness – full of corn fields and smelly cow manure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The prairie states have lots of large “Travel Centers” along the interstate. Designed primarily for truckers, Travel Centers have huge gas bars and provide amenities such as showers, TV rooms, restaurants, and groceries – and some even have video arcades, a barber shop, massage therapists, and Sunday services. We picked up surprisingly good coffee at the Travel Center near Grand Island, Nebraska. But it’s not as good as the drip cone coffee Gregor makes every morning in the van. That’s the best coffee.

We pulled into Chicago on the evening of Gregor’s birthday during rush hour. This was the first time we had encountered bad traffic in about a month. Gregor valiantly piloted the van through freeways, underpasses, and one-way streets to a trendy district called Lincoln Park. We were hoping to book a hotel there so that we could stay out late listening to live Chicago blues and then stumble back to a room with a real mattress. But we couldn’t find a hotel that had a parking complex tall enough to fit the van with the Thule, and there was absolutely no street parking available. We couldn’t stay in the inner city! I was very disappointed.

At 10 pm, we headed back to the outskirts of Chicago towards the town of Oak Park. While driving on the freeway, we got caught in a wicked hailstorm that brought all traffic to a complete standstill. Fortunately, we managed to sneak below an underpass and escaped hail damage. Just before midnight, we arrived at the hotel and Gregor finally got to enjoy a birthday burger and beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gregor’s birthday weekend was action-packed. First, we walked through the quaint shops of historic Oak Park. Gregor bought himself a pair of “five-finger” shoes (which I think are a bit goofy-looking). We also did a walking tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright studio and residences in Oak Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then took the L-train into the city. We had a greasy-meat-and-carb-fest at the Taste of Chicago, then enjoyed live blues at Kingston Mines in Lincoln Park. Carl Weathersby and Joanna Connor played that night. Both are fantastic guitar players – so awesome to hear them play live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Northern Indiana and Ohio were a blur to us – the towns we passed were highly industrial and we experienced a real “working class” vibe in the region. Oddly, the locals in these states had a very strong “twang” in their accents. And our van got a lot of stares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent US Independence Day in Selkirk Shores State Park, New York, located along Lake Ontario. We listened to fellow campers launching fireworks near the forest (WTF?!). In between the explosions, we heard the waves of the lake lapping on the shoreline.

Next on our tour was upstate New York and Adirondack State Park. The towns in this region are very quaint and the people are ridiculously friendly. Gregor did an oil change in the driveway of fellow VW-Vanagon owners Bill and Donna. Gregor found this very friendly couple via TheSamba.com, which is an online forum for VW van enthusiasts like Gregor. People on the list often lend their driveways for things like oil changes and overnight stopovers. Very cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Adirondacks, we headed north to Montreal, where gas was waaaay more expensive than in the US (almost 40 cents more per litre!) and where traffic is of road-rage calibre. But we love Montreal – the cultural diversity, the lively neighbourhoods, and the fantastic shops and restaurants (and pastries! – I have a weakness for croissants and croissant-like edibles). We spent the weekend with Marc and Tuan, who Gregor met through a former employer. They spoiled us rotten with tasty home-cooked food, gave us great tips on places to visit in Montreal, and shared fascinating insights into Quebecois culture. We were very fortunate to share our Montreal weekend with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our GPS needs to take French lessons. We spent the first part of this week listening to her butchering French place names as we travelled through Quebec and New Brunswick. For example, the street name “Boul. St. Laurent” would be pronounced “bool-var sent lorong” in Quebecois. But she pronounced it “bowel street law-rent”. Very annoying.

We’ll be in Newfoundland this weekend! We’re in Arm of Gold Campground in North Sydney, NS, and we take the overnight ferry to Argentia, NL, tomorrow evening.

By the way, ever since we entered the Maritimes, the quality of cellular reception has dropped dramatically and the sun has stopped shining. As I type this, we are experiencing the infamous Atlantic “RDF” (Rain. Drizzle. Fog). What are we getting ourselves into?