Well, I'm officially starting this thread as of July 4. Rosie and I went to the Royals game tonight. Couldn't have asked for a better evening. 80* at first pitch and light breezes.







Tomorrow we will leave pretty early so I'll try to do an update later. Plan is to meet CaptMike in Fort Wayne tomorrow evening.

At the parade....





My walker and runners....

Excellent! Looks like a great day - sorry the Twinkies had to put a little dent in it ;-)

WOW! GREAT LOOKIN' GRANDKIDS.

Win or lose still a fun time to be at the ballpark.....darn Twinkies......

....that's a wild bunch, all that walking running may have slowed them down a bit I'm thinking......but not much probably.......

Have safe travels ....

Safe travels Tom.

Well, today was spent driving. We left daughters house in KC about 6:30 and headed east. By-passed downtown St. Louis around the north and continued east through Illinois and into Indiana. Followed I70 until we got to Indianapolis and again by-passed the downtown area around the south and met up with I69 going north. Stopping in Fort Wayne for the night.

I will say that I used to think that Missouri had bad roads....not anymore, they have put quite an effort into making I70 a pretty nice road. Not a lot of construction. I70 in Illinois on the other hand, was pretty rough, they are however trying to fix it. Which means lots of construction zones. Thankfully it was Sunday and they weren't working so they allow normal speeds. Coming home will probably be a different story (stay tuned for that chapter). Indiana roads were a little bit better, some construction, but not as bad of condition as Ill.

We did make our first stop at Effingham, IL at Mid-America Motorworks. The museum hasn't changed much, a couple new cars in there a few cars I remember were gone. So I guess it's like most museums, changing things around to make it interesting. I had to take the opportunity to take a picture of the Corvette in front of the vintage gas station.







Once we got to Fort Wayne we got in touch with CaptMike and met for supper. What a great guy, and Mrs. Mike too.We talked for about an hour and a half, before we decided we better call it a night.




It really great to be able to meet in person, members of the community.

Tomorrow we are stopping in Auburn at the Auburn/Cord/Dusenburg museum and then on north to visit a member of another forum and friend from Colorado Springs, now living in Michigan.

Have a safe trip.

Remember there are two seasons in Illinois: winter and construction.

Monday July 6. Auburn-Cord-Dusenburg Museum.




Maybe my favorite, 1935 Auburn boat tail speedster, Supercharged flathead V8









National Auto Museum

A true 427 Cobra

More from the National Auto Museum.

Today we went to a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house, Meyer May House.

Great pics Tom. Looks like you're having a great trip.

....love them old Mopar's......

I knew you would Marcus. There were a couple others too.

We are Bill.

So when are you going to do a few things that Rosie wanted to do?

...............

Today we went to Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. There are untold numbers of different themed gardens in this 100+ acre place. The gardens have one of the most comprehensive sculpture collections you can imagine. Bronze casting, iron, marble, you name it. Some of these sculptures are huge and all set in very appropriate garden settings.

This bronze horse is close to 30' tall.

More from Meijer Gardens.










The piers at Lake Michigan




Rosie and Claudia on the pier,




A retired lighthouse on the pier Lake Michigan

Awesome pics!!! I love/want that house....

Afternoon guys.....The Gilmore Car Museum is well worth the trip to Michigan. outstanding collection of cars from Auto's infancy to modern cars.

Some of my favorites
Marcus are you watching? 64 Dodge 330 2 door hardtop with a race Hemi.













Anyone have a copy of the Beach Boys "Little Duece Coupe"? Here is the car on the album cover.

Looks like a terrific time, Tom!

No pictures from yesterday. We traveled from friends house in Michigan to east of Toronto to see other friends. We were hosted with a little get together at their house which went until after dark.

I will say this, I've always said that Atlanta Georgia had the worst traffic of anywhere I've ever driven, but the traffic around Toronto is a very close second. Thanks to our friends, we were able to skirt some of it.

Well, I missed an update yesterday. Computer was running slow and I was tired. We left Port Hope, Ontario, CA and drove east and entered back into the US in upstate NY. Went to Alexandria Bay and took a boat ride out to Boldt Castle. Quite a story behind it.
















Today we drove from Watertown, more or less, along the shoreline of Lake Ontario until we got to the Niagara river. A much slower drive, but not much traffic either. Once we made our way around and to Niagara we had planned on doing the Canadian side today, but I couldn't figure out how to get around to it. I tried twice and failed both times. I gave up and said "screw it" and found a motel. We'll do both sides tomorrow. We did stop at what is called "Whirlpool park" which is down stream from the falls. Water is a funny green color rather than blue that I expected.

cool Dodge....not quite a Polara but I think I would still like to see it out in the shop......wow......

You guys are ranging far and wide.........enjoy!

Tomorrow will be the falls on the US side, and hopefully, the Canadian side too. I'm hoping there will be pictures of the falls. We were close enough today to see the mist coming up from the falls.

EVERYBODY I know says the Canadian side is gorgeous.


N I A G R A .. F A L L S


S L O W L Y .. I .. T U R N

S T E P .. B Y .. S T E P

I N C H .. B Y .. I N C H ............




Go up and see what that sign says ....


It says GOSLOW.

GOSLOW? That's GO SLOW you idiot.

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It was an eventful day. I'll say this; If you have never been to Niagara Falls, plan to do so. It is an awesome display of natures beauty and power.

I am only a few feet away from the edge of the falls in this first picture.







Maid of the Mist boat ride to the base of the Canadian falls.




Near the American falls in this picture.




Entering the Canadian Falls.

Tommy, the Canadian side is very impressive. About twice as long, but it is all in one 'horseshoe", where the American falls are in three or four smaller, but very impressive falls in their own right.

We are maybe 100' from the bottom of the Canadian falls here.




Here is Rosie at the bottom near the American falls looking back at the Canadian side.




Working our way up to the "Cave of the Winds".




You really need those rain slickers there.




Here's one of some people we ran across....

Within feet of the edge of the Canadian falls.







The Canadian side from a ways back




And that's a pretty good sized boat!

Very cool......we could use some of that mist out here today.........

Yeh, great shots. You just saved me several thousand dollars taking a trip to the Falls and see it for myself. I just closed my eyes and spritzed myself several times with a spray bottle full of chilled water. ...... Ahhhh, refreshing.

Very cool pics, Tom!

Thanks guys....long day of driving. Left Erie, PA at about 9:30 this morning. Rained off and on through Ohio. Sometimes so hard that we slowed to almost a stop. Just before actually stopping, it eased up enough to continue. Was going to stop in Indianapolis, but felt pretty good and stayed on the road til we got to Effingham, Ill. Makes the trip on in to KC about two hours shorter tomorrow.

Awesome photos... on my bucket list.

A mere 360 miles today and we are at our #1 daughters' house already. Another 400 or so miles before we are home, but it feels like the vacation is over. Not sure when we are going on home....maybe Saturday.

Looks like a real fun time!!! Great pics!!

Thanks, Andy it was a good trip. A few thoughts and observations on this trip.

Roads: Most of the roads we took (mostly interstates to and from) were decent.

Kansas I70 is pretty good and is posted 75mph which I set the cruise at 80-82 and they never give me a second look.

Missouri I70 is much better than it used to be, actually pretty smooth. There was some construction, but not a lot. Posted speeds for the most part is 70mph, but the flow of traffic is closer to 75-80. The only time we saw troopers was around St. Louis and they were there in swarms. My detector was going crazy.

Illinois I70 was not great, from the time we entered the state it was under construction and the roads were bad....more than likely the reason for the construction. I "think" that they have those lighted signs every 1/2 mile. Didn't have them saying anything, but I believe they had radars in them, as every time we got near one my detector would go crazy, then as we passed it, the detector would ease back. And the signs posted say "Speed Enforced by Camera", so I'm thinking they may have cameras in them. Wasn't impressed with the roads in Illinois.

Indiana I70 and I69 are nice, posted 70mph but flow of traffic was running about 75.

Michigan I69 is good, I think it was posted 70mph flow of traffic 75-80. Most of the time we spent in Michigan we were chauffeured around by a friend.

Canadian Roads Holy crap, the US could take lessons in how to maintain Interstates. The 402 (I69 turns into 402) is a wonderfully smooth road. Posted 100kph (about 63mph) I switched to metric on the dash, but at 100kph I was like a boat anchor. Most cars were running 120-130kph (75-80mph) I tried to keep it around 115kph. The 401 is just as good but once we got close to Toronto, it was pretty busy, and on the suggestion of Bob, we switched to the 407 (toll road) and took it around the main city and merged back on to the 401 where the traffic was bad for several more miles before things cleared up.

New York. Roads were pretty good, posted 65 and 70 for a lot of it. We entered back into the USA in upper state New York and came in on I81. Nice road, but watch your speed. (Thank you Bob for the heads up) Troopers sit there waiting for you in an area that is posted 40mph. This section is wide open and no apparent reason for the low speed limit, other than a speed trap. We saw more troopers in New York than any other state on the trip. Tried to take some back roads for more scenic driving, so we got on the Lake Ontario Parkway, a 4 lane divided highway that runs along Lake Ontario. Not much traffic, but the road was ROUGH and it had a 55 MPH posting. I didn't push the speed limit there at all. I was a bit concerned about the Corvette. When leaving Buffalo we decided (on some suggestions from some forum members) to not take I90, but State Highway 5 along Lake Erie as we headed south and west. These two roads, more or less, parallel each other, but SH5 hugs the lake more closely and more scenic, albeit much slower. We are certainly glad we took SH5 as it was a more relaxed drive and very little traffic. It is posted 55 in the open areas (which are few and far between). The map shows little towns scattered along this route, but in reality, they seem to be one pretty much continuous community and speed limits accordingly 35-45mph. Neat houses along the way and grape fields for the wineries and every so often a marina and piers. Very pretty drive all the way to Erie, PA.

Pennsylvania Left Erie on I90. Road was ok for the 20 some odd miles we were on it. Posted 70mph (IIRC). Flow was closer to 75-80.

Ohio. I90 was a good road, posted 70mph flow was pretty consistent at 75. Lots of troopers around the Cleveland area, especially where 271 splits off of I90. They were thick through that area and all the way down to where we hit I71. My detector had a good workout there. I270 around Columbus was good, as was I70 on west. Posted 70 but as seemed to be the norm, 75-80 appeared to be the running speed.

Back to Indiana, I70 was beautiful as a rule. We drove through PA (although only 20 some odd miles), Ohio, Indiana and half of Illinois in one day. The only place where the roads weren't very good was Illinois.

Looks like a great trip

A couple more details. So far on this trip we have traveled 3119 miles, have put 119 gallons of premium fuel and spent $420 for that fuel.

That's 13.4 cents/mile. 26.2mpg

Still have at least 400 miles to get back home.