Day 63 Niagara to Coloma, Michigan Day 64 - Indiana Dunes, Indiana - Chicago, Illinois 644km

Today we set off at 6am and we plugged in Chicago to the iphone and Tom Tom and both devices really wanted us to go north into Canada through Detroit and then down into Chicago.  We didn’t know what to do but in the end decided that iphone and Tom Tom know best even though it means going through two border crossings.  Coming back into Canada felt like a breath of fresh air which is funny considering we have only been in the States for two days.  When we thought about it, we realized that Ontario feels like the Canada we know.  Quebec and the Maritimes just felt a little different, a little foreign.  Even though they are Canada, there is a language barrier in Quebec and the Maritimes is just different, like a quiet hamlet with lobster signs everywhere and a steady breeze in your face.  The Canadian border guy at Sarnia (I think he was new on the job) really was thorough.  No, we did not pick up any weeds, sticks, flora, fauna, rocks, industrial packed vegetables, firearms, knives, sand or dirt in the two days we were in the States.  Our little jauny north gave us the opportunity to see the southern bit of Ontario that we missed on our way over! 

This is Barry, back at the Blog Centre. If you have received Facebook notifications from me then I apologize. I have no idea what I am doing. I am a facebook newbie - no never -bee. I don’t even know if I have an account! I don’t have a password. I just keep getting all these requests on my phone and I finally said ‘OK - ALRIGHT ALREADY!’ and started clicking on all the people I know. Thanks everyone for responding. You must have clicked on something too! The crazy thing is that I think I am logged in as my former name which is  crazy because I changed my name before Facebook started! Obviously, if you are reading this we are in touch already. Wait, this is on the interweb! anyone can read this. What have I done? OK, signing off. I felt better when Jenny was blogging.

Jenny here.  Where was I?  Oh yeah, heading to the shores of Lake Michigan via Flint, Michigan.  Arrived at the KOA complete with mini golf, jumping pillow, pool, hot tub and tennis courts.  This KOA was right in the middle of a fertile fruit bearing area that is similar to the Okanagan.  It is also right on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan.  We were all content to just hang out and enjoy the KOA as we had a long drive and was not able to hang out in Niagara.  So around 8:30pm, Barry asked what was for dinner.  I gave him two options, toast or some sort of macaroni with tomato paste and butter.  He then ordered an 18” pizza and had it delivered to our campsite.  So we ate our giant pizza around 10pm and fell asleep with cheese in our teeth and sauce on our face thinking about meeting up with our Chicago cousins (and Nanaimo ones too) the next day at the Indiana Dunes.

Day 64
I was really looking forward to sleeping in today but was awoken to, “Mama, I peed the bed”  My poor little Lukie. 

Barry here. Jenny was blogging away in the van when Ryan asked us to pull over. He’s feeling a bit sick. So, here we are, an hour from our destination attending to our ‘piper down’. 

Indiana Dunes, Indiana

Lake Michigan with Chicago in the distance

The beach at Lake Michigan

To continue on about our day at the dunes. We drove from our KOA to Indiana Dunes. All the stars aligned allowing us to meet up with Jen’s cousin, Todd, and his family as well as Chelsea, Jen’s other cousin’s wife and her two boys visiting from Nanaimo. We met up at the dunes and had a lovely day together. Ryan ‘ran with the herd’ - his four second cousins and Jemma was able to hang out with Jessica, who is also 11. The dunes were lovely. Lake Michigan was warm and no-one died. I only say that because last week three people drowned in this very spot. Despite it’s calm appearance, the lake has some dangerous rip-currents that drag people out. Todd described it as a big toilet bowl in that the winds pick up, creating currents and due to the under water sand bars the water is forced into a circular motion. The reference to toilet bowl is also quite apt as the city of Chicago (just across the lake), the steel mill and the nuclear plant are also quite close. Hey, I don’t make this stuff up.

One last point of interest about the lake. Tod said that the water is so clear because nothing grows in the lake. Great selling point! Maybe something to do with the nuclear plant?

After several hours of basting on the beach we headed back to Todd and Jen’s place to join in with the block party generously put together by their friendly neighbors. Having obtained a permit from the local police to block off the street, however, some of the neighbors guarding the ‘blockade’ were not so neighborly.  They didn’t want to let us by! I set the trailer to ramming speed but luckily for us Todd was able to negotiate us safe passage. The crazy thing was the street party was 1/2 mile up the street.

Barry and Todd drove the trailer back to Chicago while the Jens and Chelsea drove the Town and Country (or I think that is what it was) home via Chicago!  What a treat as we would not have done that ourselves with the trailer.  I have to say I was a little bit on edge as Jen bobbed and weaved us around, showing us the sights, talking to Todd on the cell phone and moving along a quite a clip.  It all came to a head when we pulled off the interstate to get gas.  Here we are a fancy van full of good lookin’ women just pullin’ in to get some gas when a questionable looking dude in a not so fancy car motions to Jen to roll down her window.  I, of course, immediately think he is going to tell us off for something or, well, mug us.  Jen, calmly, rolls down her window and the guy says, “Hey lady, do ya want some 14 carat gold?”  Huh???  Ahhhhh?  Jen says no thanks and off we go.  A close call.

We joined in later on at the Block Party and ate some more pizza and the kids ran wild and watched ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 - the Squeakwel’ projected against a neighbors garage. It was  late night  with some midnight swimming and some midnight grillin’ by Todd and we all fell into our beds exhausted.  Ryan was so funny because right when we got to Todd and Jen’s he wanted his bike to join in with all the other kids and all I heard him say as he was riding down the street was, “I’m going to the Black Party!”  When Americans say block it sounds like black so Ryan thought it was a Black Party!