New York, NY
On the way to New York, we stopped by Jon in Burlington, VT. He gave us plenty of flitered oil and all the unfiltered oil we could carry, all for free. After leaving VT, we ran into some issues with the injector pump (link). We got to New York eventually, and with the heat were glad to have an air conditioned place to stay. For being a large city, the people were friendly.
Manhattan offers a little of anything you could want. Plenty of good restaurants, and things to keep you busy. Chinatown is one of the best I've been to in any of the cites we've travelled. Central Park is so large, touring the whole park would be a task. People were out everywhere, and all the time throughout the city. The subways, skyline and architecture never lets you forget you are in New York.
One of my goals was to drive through Time Square in Sunshine. So, we spent an afternoon cruising around Manhattan and taking some some pictures. We made quite a site for people walking around. People were turning to look and take pictures everywhere we went.
-Brad
_________________________________________________________________________________
Montreal, QC
I was sleeping when we cruised into Montreal. Waiting for me as I awoke was a
lively city with an unfamiliar dialect and feel. In the Quebec province the common
language is French, in Montreal it is the language of preference although it is truly a
bilingual city. We parked Sunshine on Avenue St. Laurent which is seen as landmark
between French and English speaking sections of town. Walking through the cities
streets and seeing all the signage in a different language it is easy to forget you are
in still in North America. The cities many parks are infinitely being used whether in
the early morning or late night, the restaurants appeared full and vibrant well past
midnight, and the people always seem to be biking or walking the streets. If you want
to get far away from home but the ticket to Europe is too expensive, head to Montreal.
-Elliot
_________________________________________________________________________________
Niagara Falls
We drove to the falls and were sure to stay on the Canada side. Good thing we did, you can see the US side just doesn't have as good of a view. However, the large hotels and amuzement park themed restaurants and streets make the town feel very "Disney." Still, the falls are worth a visit, I've seen plenty of waterfalls on this trip, and this may not be the hardest to reach or most majestic, but Niagara lives up to expectations.
-Brad
_________________________________________________________________________________
Toronto, ON
We drove up from Ann Arbor, by Detroit and on to the border of Canada again for our trip to Toronto. Another hassling from the border patrol, and a search of the vehicle was a certainty. Just as expected, we were questioned extensively and directed to the vehicle search area. Finally, we were let go once they realized this is probably the worst possible vehicle for someone to smuggle anything, and that we really are just traveling across the continent in an old RV, covered with graffiti, and smelling like a bbq restaurant.
Driving in, Toronto’s skyline can be seen from far. The buildings light up the night as you drive into downtown. We were able to find parking on a street on the campus of University of Toronto. In the morning, the sounds of the Toronto Indy race echoed off building walls. We hopped on bicycles and headed in the direction of the sound. I was able to sneak in just before the end of the Indy race, and in time for the Trans-Am races. After the race, I biked back; we filled up Sunshine with water from a local building and continued our tour of the city. We met some people that were able to hook us up with a few cubies of good looking unfiltered oil. However, the oil pickup company showed up the next morning before we could stop by in Sunshine to make the pickup. So, we headed to a pool to stay cool in the sun for our final day, and got some good views of the city's skyline.
-Brad
_________________________________________________________________________________
Ann Arbor, MI
After driving all night from Chicago we decided to stop about 8 miles south of Ann Arbor for a little R&R. We woke up a few hours later and met up with Eneida (Elliot’s cousin) at her place where some arros con frijoles y tostones were waiting for us (by now Sergio’s grin was from ear to ear). We got some laundry done and headed out to check out the Michigan campus (the Gainesville of Michigan). Brad slid through the gates outside of the school’s football stadium to try and take some photos of the field when a lady in a minivan stormed in and asked Brad how he made it inside the property; he replied “I snuck through that fence right there”. Later that night, we asked for some reggaeton and we got it; every Hispanic in Ann Arbor hung out with us at El Camino Real and later in sunshine. Good times.
-Sergio
_________________________________________________________________________________
Chicago, Il
After the longest leg of the trip (21 hours behind the wheel) we finally arrived in Chicago. We met up with Bob for some free vegetable oil in Englewood. We noticed two things immediately once we got to Chicago, the heat and the humidity. Fortunately, we found Janquil Park where we posted up Sunshine for the duration of the visit. One of the best times to visit Chicago is in the summer; although it gets hot, there are plenty of places to go where the water can cool you down: Millenium Park, the fountain from the "Married With Children" intro, and Oak Street "Beach" to name a few. The Skyline rivals that of NY, but this one can be seen from the beach. Some of us were pretty biased about what style of Pizza is better [Chicago or NY], but ultimately we're impressed with the deep dish. We got a chance to see some of the best live music on this trip at Kingston Mines, which made us feel like we were back in New Orleans. We even got to catch a Cubs game, and all nights were capped off by some late night swinging (on an actual swing set) at Janquil Park.
-Sergio
_________________________________________________________________________________
Denver, CO
We drove from Yellowstone through the night to reach Denver. The heat of the day here is the most we've felt since hitting the west coast. Sunshine ran out of veggie on the drive and got a fill up of dewatered and filtered oil when we first got to Denver. We made sure to go to a Colorado Rockies game, after all, Seth's apartment is a stone's throw away from the stadium and the Rockies had a game every day we were there. Being so close to Boulder, CO, we had to take a trip there to hang out for a day. We hiked up the mountain for a few hours and we all ate some classic Boulder fare. Afterwards, we went back to Denver for the weekend to see the city and hang out with friends both new and old.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Yellowstone National Park
The varied terrain, formations and wildlife in Yellowstone did not dissapoint. The park was packed like a theme park with vehicles and people everywhere. But, the sights made it worth the crowd. Old Faithful was just that and went off just on time, but really was less than spectacular. The less known sights were some of the most interesting. It must be added to the list of "must see" US National Parks.
-Brad
________________________________________________________________________________
Glacier National Park
It was a long drive from Vancouver, back to the states, and to Glacier. We had a little pit stop in Spokane to rest for a few hours and wait on the store to open for the purchase of a fuel pump. Then, onto Glacier. After stopping to eat, the fireworks from the local town had nearly engulfed Sunshine, so we decided to join in the firework show. A drive up the the park for the night, and another cold night of sleep. The park wasn't the most RV friendly. The main road through doesn't allow RVs to pass a certain point. So, we saw the most we could see of the park, and left for Yellowstone.
-Brad
_________________________________________________________________________________