June 15: Toronto, ON to Chicago, IL

What a day! I sadly left Toronto this morning around quarter to eight, and got on the QEW towards Hamilton, Ontario. I'm not sure if I should have taken the early 401 exit instead of taking the 403 to the 401, but I got there just the same. Really beautiful drive. Very flat in contrast to the rolling hills of New York, but lovely fields and farms. Hamilton looked nice. So did Brantford, which I think must be Wayne Gretsky's hometown because I saw signs for "Wayne Gretsky Parkway" and the Wayne Gretsky sports center. Finally stopped at a Tim Horton's donut shop at a travel plaza, but at 11:30 a.m. the donuts were kinda cold. Windsor is ugly and boring. The Ambassador Bridge to the USA is nice. I didn't get a picture of it, but I liked the view of the downtown buildings on the Detroit River. The water was a peculiar green-blue, probably from pollution.

I really didn't see downtown Detroit because I had to go straight to Southfield to take care of my cell phone. Ugh. Suffice it say that Cellular One sucks and AT&T rules, especially Paul at AT& in Southfield. I also saw the house in Oak Park where my great-grandparents lived. It looked really pretty, nice neighborhood. But with no memories of my own there it was really just a house.

I finally got on the road to Chicago around 4 p.m. Didn't have time to stop in Ann Arbor. Didn't have time to stop in Battle Creek (home of Kellogg's). Didn't want to stop in Kalamazoo, despite the heavy advertising campaign which included an AM radio spot. The scenery along I-94 was pretty enough--trees and little lakes on the sides of the road, a big grass divider in the middle. Reminded me of parts of I-95 in Maryland.

Despite my concern about time, I did make one stop in St. Joseph's, a town just south of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Quaint, quiet town on Lake Michigan. I didn't actually make it into the water, but I had a lovely view of it from Roxy's, a diner at the Amtrak depot. Hamburger wasn't great (it was seasoned funny and had green olives in it) but the fries and shake were good. Ended up talking to a woman from Indiana who said she was too intelligent for the two towns she was dividing her time between. She also said she usually lives on a bus route because it gets plowed every 3-5 days in winter, but now she may have to clear a cross-country ski path for herself. Wow.

The remaining drive to Chicago was uneventful except for the beautiful sunset over the trees and lakes of Indiana, and the lights of the downtown Chicago buildings as I drove in at 9 pm. The hostel is nice, air conditioned and clean, plus only two blocks from Buddy Guy's Legends and three blocks from Michigan Avenue. I tried to go out but after two blocks concluded that I was too tired to go ANYWHERE.