Aug 3rd-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ~ Cleveland, Ohio

Today we are heading to Cleveland, Ohio to visit the Rock and Roll hall of fame. This was the first terrible ride. We got caught in the rain!!! YUCK!!! As any rider knows to bring a rain suit, hoping that if you have it, you won't need it. WELL, I needed it. I rode at least 100 miles in the rain. I had a very hard time seeing through my windshield and visor. I have rain-x and fog-x in the camper, but you don't think I applied it, do you?

Lyd in her rain pants getting wet in the storm

I know it's blurry, it's kind of how I felt. LOL

Look at how good we look considering the ride we just had and don't think parking was too easy. It was definitely better than Toronto!

 This is the only museum dedicated to rock and roll

 Why is there a HUGE hotdog hanging in the entrance of the museum?

 Fred is rockin on the guitar. Play some Megadeth!!!!

 Look at those alien fingers. Do they look familiar? Go back and look at the pic of Fred and I and tell me if you see any similarities.

Goodbye Rock and Roll Hall of fame. We will definitely be back. 

This museum was absolutely amazing! You all have to go!!!!!!

Time to continue our travels to Sandusky, Ohio. where we will sleep tonight. 

It's about 120 miles. It has stopped raining, so I'm very happy!

August 2nd-Hockey Hall of Fame ~ Toronto, Canada

Woke up early went to the post office, they said come back at 10am, that's when the next truck comes. My passport came just as Deb promised. Then we hopped in the camper and started off to Toronto, Canada. After taking a "scenic route" we arrived in the city. Now the next problem was where to park the camper? Imagine driving a 23 foot camper into NYC. Well that's exactly what we did. Of course we couldn't fit in the underground garages and when we found an open parking garage, the guy told me it would cost $80 for the day and we had to fit down an alleyway that you couldn't get a car to go down. So we drove around some more and found the Sheraton Hotel which had a high entranceway. I haggled with one of the attendants and got to park for $30. Then we were off to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

 Here's Fred at the entrance

 My favorite goalie-Patrick Roy

My favorite goalie as a 7'6'' statue

Fred's boy-Mike Bossy

The "REAL" Stanley Cup

We won the cup!!!

 Who can pass this huge statue without a pic

Not I!

This place is awesome! James you totally have to go here. 

When we were done, I was FREEZING and we were both hungry. We found this restaurant. 

The obika mozzarella bar

Their mozzarella only comes from Itlay from special buffalos

Fred got a sandwhich with pancetta, mozz and arugala. I had the veg pizza with smoked mozz. It was sooo good! The cheese tasted like it came out of a fire, the way a marshmallow tastes after roasting it. 

Mmmm Mmmmmmm Mmmmmmmm

Then we walked around. You see that building in the middle of the pic? Does it look familiar? If you've been in the flatiron district in NYC you'll see one very similar to it! 

Then it was back to the camper and back to America.

You don't think that was easy.....not on this trip. I decided to take a nap and told Fred just stay on the QEW and that will bring you back to the border, which it did, but not the border NORTH of Grand Island, where we were staying. We crossed the border near Buffalo, NY, which is South of Grand Island. We did not know this when we crossed so we got onto I-90 going South, toward what we thought we be the campground, but we kept seeing signs to Buffalo and realized something must be wrong. I looked on my phone and I said "my phone thinks we are near Buffalo!!! It must be wrong" Until further investigation, I realized that we needed to get off the QEW and take rt 403 to the border North of Grand Island. It was another adventure to add to our trip. Can anything be easy?

August 1st-Niagara Falls, NY

Well, we were supposed to go to the hockey hall of fame today, BUT as we were checking in, I realized I forgot to bring my passport!!!!! I called up Debbie, and as usual, she's a lifesaver! She went to my apt found the passport and is sending it out overnight shipping. THANKS DEB! I guess things happen for a reason. I had to go the the hospital today because I had a UTI.  I made our first breakfast in the camper before we left and it came out mighty fine. MMM MMMM MMMMMMMM

We took the bike and scooter and found the hospital where one person took my name, another took my insurance, another took my "sample" and then I waited for the doctor for 38 minutes to come in and say "it's just as you thought, you have a uti" Wow! They are brilliant! All that just to get the meds I knew I needed. Well....off to the drugstore we went and also did a little grocery shopping.


 I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and reading while Freddy went and did some laundry. Of course that couldn't be easy, right! I was wondering what was taking SO long. He came back 2hrs later and told me how the washer broke during the spin cycle! LOL. And then he had to dry his clothes FOREVER!

We had some dinner and decided to take a ride to Niagara Falls, the New York side, of course. I didn't have my passport, remember :-) We did get a break. They do fireworks fri and sun ONLY, which of course we missed BUT they also do them on holidays....Monday just happened to be a holiday in Canada, their "Civil Holiday" So we got to see the fireworks after all!!!!!

 Look at the mist that occurs.

 Imagine canoeing down that cliff. Sorry, mom, no butterflies here. LOL

The water is ripping!

Yet so beautiful and calming at the same time

July 31-We leave NY-Finally!!!

After many long nights of getting the bike and scooter ready for the trip, thank you Warren, I get two hours of sleep and wake up to Fred telling me the toilet is not working. The gears in the back have finally broke but I can manually flush. As I get ready, fred goes and gets us some breakfast. 

After breakfast we get ready for our first long ride of the trip 420 miles to our first destination, Grand Island, NY.It's located 7 miles from Niagara Falls.

Our Mascot, thanks mom 

On the way up we completed about 300 miles and I was literally falling asleep at the "handlebars" I had to take a nap, which worked out perfectly because just as I laid down it started to rain and when Fred woke me up 30 minutes later, the rain had stopped. I thought "WOW, how lucky am I?" Riding in the rain sucks!

As we continued our journey, the sun was beating on my face so bad I knew if I didn't do something, I was going to be sunburned BAD! They say Necessity is the mother of invention. So I took the only thing I had available, my glove, and shoved it in my helmet at 70mph and covered as much of my face as possible. It may look funny, but i worked! 

WE FINALLY ARRIVE AT THE CAMPGROUND. 

I'm so tired, all I want to do is relax, but we have to hookup the camper. Fred plugs in the power, no problems...then he connects the water, as he goes inside, I say "Fred it's leaking out here" He came out and tightened the hoses and stopped the leak. Then I go inside and I hear more water leaking so I look over at where I hear the noise and there is water flowing out of the toilet. I say Fred "There's another leak in here" We used many, many, many towels to clean up the mess. Ok, so now I think everything is good and I can finally relax...you guessed it, NOT YET!

I saw Fred had out the water, I asked him if he could pour me a drink, he's says sure, as he reaches to grab the jug, YEP, it gets knocked over and yet, another mess to clean up. LOLOLOL!!!! The first mess was annoying, this was just funny! It's all cleaned up and we can finally relax!

Fred scooting around for the first time

A much needed haircut for the soon the be handsome frog

 Which was preparation for the big day on the scooter. Fred did fantastic on the scooter for the first time

Unfortunately, later that night, I had to the push the scooter for a mile up a hill. After many, many, many, many long hours of trying to figure out what the problem could be, the conclusion from Warren Norris is because the Chinese junk carburetor would not work properly. We found an OEM carburetor in Wisconsin. Thanks to the wonderful world of overnight shipping and many additional long hours of cleaning and prepping, I am now a certified expert at cleaning and installing carbs.

           (a word to the wise, don't cheap out, always buy OEM)

I rode the scooter home with a max speed of 71mph and Fred took it out for a 2 hr ride today!

Pennsylvania Outing

Here we are at the Maize Maze Farm in Pa. We successfully completed out first ever corn maze with a a little help from the staff since they had to close early due to the heat index. If you've ever been in a corn maze you'll know it's HOT! 

I of course forgot sunscreen, so I had to buy some

Fred finding pieces of the maze so we can find our way out

Good bye corn palace. Choo choo

We couldn't be done yet, we decided to go miniature golfing and had a spectacular time

The next day we ate breakfast at the Shady Maple with 200 feet of buffet. The had a dish called "mush"and another called scrapple. Neither one of us could stomach these weird PA dishes. Although Fred did try mush last time and warned me it was no good. 

Then we headed back to NY where we both encountered lots of traffic. 

June 24,2011

Lydia is officially on summer vacation!!! Our next outing will occur at Miller's in Lancaster, PA. Check out the awesome scooter that will accompany our big trip.