The next day (August 21st) was our first traveling day. We wanted to drive through New York City on our way West towards Indiana, but the weather turned on us and it began to rain about halfway between Boston and the Big Apple. It did not stop for awhile either. We then got stuck in traffic in NYC.
There was construction on the George Washington Bridge so the traffic jam was miles deep and about 2 hours long. Some NY experience, huh? Finally on the Jersey side we decided to head West as far as we could and were driving until after dark.
We made it to a place in the middle of PA and spend a nice night at a Holiday Inn Express. Dinner was not so great at a “Family” restaurant. The food was bad and TA and myself were happy to finally make it to bed since we were pooped after having spend an entire day in the car. Luxury or no, the drive took a toll on us. Before that we visited a second Walmart as well as our first Bike store somewhere in Jersey.
All I can say is I just needed to sleep that time, gosh what a day. It’s OK if we didn’t make it into New York because of the traffic jam. Anyway there were still hundreds of places to visit other than that.
Fort Wayne,IN
The next morning we set out early to get underway, had a great breakfast...
...and make it to Ohio for lunch. We took the OH turnpike but soon found ourselves bored...
... even though we found some pretty interesting names...
"Sheets gas" hmmm I wonder if they serve Sheets sandwiches ? :-)
And maybe this guy needs a head-check too...
I looked at the map and we exited the TP to drive through the Ohio flatlands and I showed my babe Bowling Green University. We stopped at a Pizza Hut and had buffet lunch before driving through the corn fields towards Ft. Wayne. I’m always amazed at the stigma attached to Pizza Hut restaurants on either side of the pond… In the US Pizza Hut comes off as a very cheap eatery whereas in Luxembourg it’s considered a great restaurant with nice settings and friendly ambiance. However the food is crappy on both sides, should be cheap (it is America-side, it is NOT Euro-side) and the atmosphere is much friendlier in the US-Huts than in the Europeans. In any case… we had cheap food J. Then we saw a bunch of Amish walking around the landscape and TA saw her first black horse and buggy. Nice.
Yupp it’s always expensive in Europe and I hate that. There are things that are easier and cheaper to get in USA than here in Luxembourg. Either it’s more for the same price or the same at half the price as in Europe. A lot of things you can also find in Europe but they’re rare and expensive. In the US they are plenty and cheap… Nice!
I prefer the American service as well because they’re friendly and make sure that you’re well served at the right time.
Finally we made it into Ft. Wayne.
After checking into, what turned out to be the first of many Red Roof Inns we got ready for my elderly "cousin Ann"… Bought some flowers and got all the goodies together for her, but alas…. We were not able to meet. Unfortunately she was sick and was not well enough to get to greet us.
It’s sad not to get to see her but I just hope that she'll recover. I’m looking forward to meeting her the next time we’ll be visiting the USA.
The evening we spend exploring the menu at a Fort Wayne establishment of Don Pablo’s Mexican restaurant.
On the morning, after meeting with her daughter (Sister Julie) we embarked on some more shopping and money spending in Ft. Wayne, boosting the local economy.
Our lunch was at an old-time diner... Powers Hamburgers where Ann took me to a few years back. I just looooved it back then and I knew that TA would be amazed.
On the morning before we also went running for 4 miles through the downtown parks and saw the Fort from all angles on the morning of day 3.
I just loved that burger at Powers… it’s cheap but tasted like a luxury and that’s all I can say. I will be looking forward to it on our next visit… hmmmmmm burgers and cold Diet Coke with free refills no chips though I’m not a fan of French fries anymore.
We visited the 2 major local bike stores and I now own a US-Champion-discovery jersey (a rarity) and TA stacked up on her cycling jerseys as well.
Yes I’ve found a jersey that fits me perfectly. I’ve even seen a bunch of beautiful bikes at a very good price. Something else to look forward to next time, I guess…
Finally we also saw the Simpsons movie at a local theatre, escaping the heat and enjoying someone else’s air conditioning.
Hehehehe we love to enjoy somebody else’s aircon with popcorn and soda.
On that day, dinner was at Ruby Tuesday (who have a nice salad bar) and were chilled to the bone again after a few seconds. We took the resolution to bring a sweater indoors to all the restaurants which was followed a few days later by the resolution to order our soft drinks without ice from now on.
One thing we both noticed is the (relatively) high number of motor scooters in Ft. Wayne. We saw a couple of dealerships and were surprised to see a lot of people riding them. Since both TA and myself own a scooter and use them as primary modes of transportation around Luxembourg, we were of course comparing machines all the time. I suspect it’s because of the high gas prices in the States, the scooter presenting a dirt cheap way of getting around to the gas-guzzling pick-up trucks and SUVs. Nice!
Before heading out of town we had our first Krispy Kreme doughnut on Day 3...
...and spend money at a local Old Navy and used-video-game store…
Oxford, OH
We then split and made our way down South towards Ohio and Miami University in Oxford.
After stopping a couple of times to take pictures...
of the local Amish...
of the local recumbent riders...
of the incredible flat roads and corn fields and refueling the car we approached Ohio.
In Richmond we stopped to have a Bob Evans lunch and TA loved the creamy cole slaw J me too by the way…
The food is awesome everywhere J in the US.
Oxford greeted us with some road construction and some great weather. We stayed at a nice hotel too and really spend 3 wonderful days at the place where I got my MIS Degree in 1999 (the town, not the hotel).
We also had hot chicken wings at Mac&Joe’s (the best in the world in my humble opinion)...
...and a bagel at Bagel&Deli.
Major shopping spree at the local bookstores with lots of Miami University memorabilia making it into the trunk of the Avalon.
I always dreamed of going to college after I graduated high school in Manila but it never happened. This was however another opportunity to see the school where my baby used to study. He told me I looked like a freshmen but younger hehehe..
We also had a visit to the local bike store and TA got a Miami University cycling outfit (none for me since my size was no longer available).
COOL Miami cycling jersey it’s niceJ
We managed to go jogging twice (once around campus, once in Hueston Woods) and we spend a lot of time walking around campus and taking pictures.
Since there is a legend that, if you kiss your sweetheart under the arch of Upham hall, you will be together forever… you can imagine the rest.
I love my baby and he’s the most important person for me.
We visited the Northern Cincinnati area for some specialized (computer stuff) shopping and a dollar movie (Shrek the Third, which we already saw in Lux several weeks ago).
YES we love Shrek J
My sweetie then got her hair done, which was nice.
I now have golden blonde streaks and since I already had a few red streaks my hair now has 3 colors … cool.
However I was not too happy about one of my plans getting shattered. I used to have my hair done at a barber shop in uptown Oxford. Lacking much hair to be cut I wanted to get a straight razor shave but for some reason the barber on duty did not do that. So I was doomed to shave myself at the hotel later. No biggie but I had been looking forward to it though.
Time to move on...
The next big stop was going to be the beach at Myrtle Beach, NC... See you there!
TO PART III click here... when it's up :-)