Day 45 - Did someone leave the tap running?

We left Michigan, drove back through Ohio, Pennsylvania and into New York today - the driving is really not that fun anymore! We knew we had made it back into New York - after not driving through a toll road for 44 days - we went through 7 of them today! (Thanks for Papa Mac for paying the toll passes ;o) We eventually made it to Niagara Falls by late afternoon. What a lot of water!

It starts off ok looking a bit rough....

Then it tips over the edge....

and thunders into the side Niagara river....

all returns to calm again though!

The view from here would have been cool - but it was in Canada and it is apparently a pain in the rump to get over and back across the border.

This was a viewing point we could see from the bottom of the falls - no thanks!

We left Niagara and headed east once again. Tomorrow we are driving across New York and into New Hampshire to see Amy, Billy and the kids. Onwards and sideways....

Day 44 - Its all about the Sushi....

We got a great early start this morning and were packed and outta Effingham by 8am (which is a miracle for us). After giving it some good legs down the highway we sadly put the skids under our own good pace and it went like this....

Approx 10am - A phone call to the Macaluso house to check in reporting all was well and the car was doing great

10:30am - *Bang* - The exhaust on the car splits in half - doh! (Sounded like driving a sports tractor though which was cool)

11:30am - After visiting a garage that wouldn't seem out of place in Mad Max (complete with every mechanic and the guy behind the counter chain smoking), it was only an hour and load of welding and we were back underway!

We drove straight through Indiana, into Ohio and onto a place I had been waiting 13,000 miles to visit. It's no secret to some of you that I collect something called Vinyl Art and I had bought a piece that I collected from an art gallery in Columbus - It is called Sushi and is by a chap called Andrew Bell. Pretty funky!



After talking to the lady in the gallery for ages (she was great!) we left to drive up to Michigan. On the way we were sure that we saw a prop for the up coming Ghostbusters 3 film drive past!...

We arrived just inside Michigan in a place called Luna Pier and booked into a trusty Super8 motel. The only place to eat was next door and it served all day breakfast. I decided to go for their breakfast special - a mere 3 eggs, 4 sausages, 4 slices of bacon, 3 slices of toast and grits - we really need to go on a diet when we get back....

We are driving east and back into New York tomorrow - Niagara Falls here we come!

Day 43 - Bud....weis....errrrrrrr....

We left Knoxville and headed towards St Louis. Whilst looking on the map for directions we discovered a real gem! The worlds largest bottle of Tomato Sauce! - I don't think we have seen enough of the worlds largest stuff - so this was a must stop and see. I wonder how long this bottle would last me?

To give it some scale here it is next to the car....

We have passed some pretty funny road signs in the last 41 days, not all of which we have had a chance to grab a camera and take a picture of. Like one sign that was the colour yellow and had the word yellow written on it.......I mean what the hell is that supposed to mean? But the below one we managed to snap whilst driving along today - do you think it is a message directly to me?....

We pushed on passed the funny road sign and made it into St Louis. St Louis is just recovering after being on the edge of some fierce weather storms over the past couple of weeks so the Mississippi river is running very high. We stopped off near the arch for a couple of pics and just about made it through with the car as the river was over flowing....

This statue was on the waterfront promenade - only the top of it is still showing! We got out of there rather quick to avoid getting our feet wet ;o)

As we left St Louis we stopped at the Anheuser-Busch brewery - or Budweiser as it is known to most of us. It is the largest brewery in the world! The place is spookily void of humans though - it kind of reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We fully expected some Umpa Lumpas to appear out of the walls and sing some songs!

Not sure what this rat on the wall is all about?!

A fondness of eagles is abundant....perhaps the Umpa Lumpas like them?!

Millions and Millions of bottles and cans moving around - but no humans!

We were aloud inside the factory and with no golden ticket from a Wonka bar - lucky us!

Another days sightseeing over we stopped for the night in Effingham, Illinois. Onwards to Indianapolis, Indiana and then onto Columbus, Ohio - I'm finally looking forward to seeing my Sushi....

Day 42 - Field of Dreams....

We stopped off first thing this morning to get our 2nd oil change of the trip. We managed to find another 'Oil Can Henrys' - I am still very impressed with the professional service in this place. This one even had a TV next to your window so you could sit in your car and watch from all angles what went on - great stuff! (Steph on the other hand couldn't care less - why don't women get excited about oil related products like us men do ay?!)



We passed through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and finally Illinois. The region we are in has thousands of lakes - they come in all shapes, sizes and colours!

This place we found en-route is where the film "Field of Dreams" was shot. Doesn't mean a great deal to anyone outside of the US as it was a film based around baseball - yep, we could start the whole conversation around the "World Series" that only has American teams in it etc etc - but we don't go there ;o). So - it was a fictional film that reached iconic status and starred Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, Burt Lancaster and James Earl Jones. It is in a town Dyersville, Iowa - The grass was so green and sky so blue the place still feels a little fictional! Makes nice pictures though....

Kevin Costner stood right here....maybe....

Example of how green/blue it was. Looks a bit like a screen saver!

In the film big Kev scrawls his characters name into the bleachers - its still there!

The overall question is - what the hell happened to Kevin Costner?! There are probably not many actors that have made films with such disparity in their popularity - Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood to Waterworld and The Postman - crazy stuff.

We ended up in a town called Knoxville, Illinois - still a few hours from St Louis, Missouri so we will make there tomorrow and hopefully well past it! We are again in a super8 tonight - nice sunset view from the window....

Day 41 - Shoppers delight....

We left Fargo and jumped straight over the state border into Minnesota and onto the twin cities (Minneapolis and St Paul). We arrived around 3pm, booked into a local Super8 motel and headed straight to the largest enclosed shopping mall in America - The 'Mall of America'. (catchy name that)



This place is quite a spectacle - It is over 2.5 million square foot and has over 500 shops. The scary thing is - they are going to expand it by adding another 5.4 million square foot of shops!! There are 4 floors and it took us a couple of hours just to walk round 2 of them.



Inside the mall is a theme park with roller coasters, log flume and other rides.

Also there is a brilliant 18 hole mini golf course!

Check out this video of the 2nd hole - it has so many moving parts is cool!

After buying another pair of trainers (I don't have many ;o) - we did a target run and called it a day. Tomorrow we are going to get another oil change on the car, then head down route 61 and through the rest of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and then if we make a good run of it ending up in St Louis, Missouri. Nearly there!!

Day 40 - 10,000miles down....

We thanked our lucky stars again this morning for yesterdays weather - when we woke up this morning the heavens had opened once again and it was a rain fest. Still, we didn't care as we were going to be driving all day!

We drove north through South Dakota and then from west to east covered the entire span of North Dakota - ending up in Fargo. It is fair to say that Fargo is the most depressing place we have been to so far - the town is as odd as it gets. Even more hilarious - the motel room we are in - the window looks into the conference room!!

En-route today we broke the 10,000 mile barrier in the legendary Buick. Steph and I celebrated with a packet of onion ring crisps and a bottle of juice - what a party ;o)

So not a lot of excitement to report today - tomorrow we are heading into Minnesota - then, who knows!

Day 39 - 3 fancy rocks in one single day....

I think 'drive lag' is beginning to set in on our journey. After forgetting our pillows at a motel a couple of days ago and leaving a box at an unknown motel god knows when - this morning we were on our way to Mt Rushmore when we realised we had left the atlas back at the motel! That was not the worst thing - we turned around, drove back to the motel, then when we got there we found it in the back of the car - I mean how do you lose something in a car?! and the size of an atlas!!!

The bad weather from yesterday had well and truly buggered off, which was fantastic! It was back to blue sky's and sunshine, so off we rocked onwards to Mt Rushmore (for the 3rd time!)

Mt Rushmore is a sculpture chipped into a mountain side of 4 of Americas presidents - (from left to right) - Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. It was started in 1927 and was finished in 1941 and cost just under $1m to construct. That's your history lesson for the day!



This is the chap that lead the team who sculpted the heads (each head is approx 60ft high by the way)



A mere 20 miles or so down the road is the still under construction, homage to a red Indian legend 'Crazy Horse'. The red Indians asked one of the key sculptures of the Mt Rushmore monument to create a homage to their great warlord - his name was Korczak Ziolkowski and he began work in 1948 - on his own!!!! The final sculpture will be approx 650feet high - the tallest of its kind in the world - taller than any pyramid on the planet - only problem is they have no idea when it will be done - so don't put a date in your diary just yet....

This is how the sculpture will look when finished - Crazy Horse is pointing to "My lands are where my dead lie buried", as he was supposed to have said....

Ziolkowski sadly died in 1982 but his legacy to build this sculpture lives on with his family. They will not accept any government assistance (despite 2 offers of over $10m). Ziolkowski felt the sculptures broader educational and cultural messages would be left behind with government involvement - what a guy! Here he is below - great beard too!

With 2 rocks down we still had enough time in the day to tick off another of my 'wish list' of this tour. A visit to the Devil's Tower monument just inside Wyoming. This was Americas first ever national monument but was not really famous until Stephen Spielberg's 'Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind' made it so.

It is truly an odd sight the tower - it looks like something Darth Vader would live in with Mrs Vader and their little imperial kids. This is the view from the other side - can you see the difference?!....

The tower has its own little eco-system and is full of life. Golden and Bald eagles circle the top of the monstrosity and on the ground deer and the hilariously funny Prairie Dogs roam around squeaking and playing in the sunshine.

So that's it for another day! We squeezed a lot in today due to yesterday's weather interruption. Tomorrow we have another day of all driving. We are going to cross North Dakota and head towards Fargo. Bismark is on the way so we may call in there. Until tomorrow....