United States
Grand Island

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    • Day 12

      Following the Great Lakes

      September 29, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      We have a friend who owns a surf shop in California, well actually a few of them so he’s a rich bastard.
      He tells us he’s always glad when he returns from overseas because the US system “works” where other others don’t, especially in third world country.
      These are fighting words because we don’t agree on a lot of levels.
      One of those is: We’ve been following The Great Lakes, two so far, that’s Michigan and Erie and seeing we’ve been on Interstate Highways for most of the way across the country we’ve now chosen to drive the byways that run along the shore line, well almost do.

      America is the land of the free, that’s if you can afford somewhere big enough to run yourself stupid around claiming how free you are, for all others it’s “git offa my land or I’ll shoot ya”
      Public space is limited, communists have public land, here it’s all private including the beaches so for hundreds of miles along the shoreline of the lakes it’s built on with private houses all sporting a “keep off private property” sign. So we’ve just done the Great Lakes Road With Glimpses Drive.

      Note: A post called “Health Food Heaven” has been placed out of sequence. It should be before this one but has been put way back with the LA ones.
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    • Day 13

      Niagara Falls

      September 30, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      You can travel with your best mate and be having a great time but then they go and spoil it on you.
      So it goes with old spoilsport Rhonda who couldn’t be talked into going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
      I think more people have survived the experience than not and actually the first person to ever do it and survive was a woman.
      None of these arguments could convince her to have a go so I missed out on getting a great YouTube clip and all going well it probably wouldn’t have ended up under the Failed Army listing.

      The problem with trying to describe North America is you can’t. There are information boards around the falls with quotes from all the old explorers who came from lands that had vast mountains, lakes and rivers themselves but then when they first set eyes on Niagara Falls and this continent they were lost for words saying nothing they have ever seen before could even compare with this.

      I’ve been to Niagara Falls a fair while ago and was extremely impressed (not strong enough adjective) so this trip diversion was for Rhonda, for her to see them too.
      I thought I remembered them clearly though memories can get a bit exaggerated over time but it’s the reverse in this case, I’d forgotten the incredible size of the falls and the noise they make and the mist they throw in the air and simply it’s hard to remember seeing that much water falling at one time, about 2,555,150 litres per second but those stats mean nothing unless you’re a numbers guy.

      The best view of the main falls, Horseshoe Falls is from the Canada side, this is where I first saw Niagara from so I wanted to cross over for that view but the border crossing over Rainbow Bridge was banked up for miles, it would have taken too long to get through customs and then we had to return so we settled for viewing from the US side.
      This was good because we got to see Horseshoe, American and Bridal Veil Falls up close and at a few places you stand right by the drop over the edge, not only a brilliant view down but also not a bad barrel launching spot either. So this makes me think, do you think she would fall for “hey Rhonda I dropped my wallet in this barrel, could you get it out for me please” and then “whoops... sorry I just knocked it in the water!”
      Keep watching YouTube for the answer.
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    • Day 13

      New York State

      September 30, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      Just bought sweet corn from a roadside store. Hell we’re more honest than we thought, five states and counting in the Midwest covered in nothing but corn.
      We must have been over here too long and losing our Australianess, back home we’d pull over, load up the boot and drive on, you know, living off the fat of the land.

      Maybe it’s more caution. The other day we got a little lost and turned around on some guys grass and he went mental, a real mouth frother, he threatened to shoot us.
      I was about to yell out “you Americans are real tough with your guns aren’t you” when Rhonda said “shut up, apologise and get going” which I did, which annoyed me so much that I said I’m going back to chuck wheelies on his lawn. She reckons she doesn’t know who is more mental, me or him.

      I can see things from their side though, we have beautiful beaches to surf and enjoy, out here if all I had to do was look at nothing but hundreds and hundreds of miles of corn and nothing else ever happened I be hoping for some dumb arse tourists to drive on my grass too. That would brighten up my day for sure, get my trigger finger itching, better than shooting at corn cobs all day, corn stays still, tourists run like hell, much better target practice plus a great release from my corn induced insanity.

      The RV would be a real good wheelie chucker too with a great big 350 V8. It goes like buggary down the highway, it could go faster too if the roads were any better. They are so bad that they caused a crack in a vent over the bed. One night the rain dripped in wetting everything. I repaired what I could with bandaids then bought silicone and gaffer tape the next day. Gaffer tape repairs everything, we’ve seen cars here held together with gaffer tape.

      There are three classes in the US. The rich, the middle and then gaffer tape society.
      There’re pretty industrious the gaffer tape folk, the repaired cars are an obvious one but houses get a pretty good treatment with the stuff as well.
      Then it gets a bit sad with personal items like glasses and handbags being repaired but an all time low for me was a guy pulling out a gaffer tape wallet and his dog had a gaffer tape collar and lead.

      We are in New York State now and heading for New York City it seem a little more prosperous here, the gaffer tape isle in the supermarkets is smaller so we are hoping maybe the folk this way resemble what we would normally class as a human being.
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    • Day 52

      Niagara Falls Teil 1

      July 24, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Hüt hei bi üs beidne d Bei am morge chli brönnt vor Etappe gester. Drum si mr froh gsi ischs hüt nid ganz so wiet. Fasch dr ganz Tag heimer uf Trails chönne fahre. Dr letsch het üs direkt uf dr kanadische Site zu de Niagara Fäll gfüehrt. Es cools Gfüehl a sone touristische Ort mitem Velo chönne z fahre. D Sicht ufd Fäll isch sehr beidruckend. No beidruckender isch d Schlange vor dr Gränzkontrolle zur USA. Leider hei mir ir Autokollonne müese warte. E Fuessgänger het üs aber zum Glück gseit mir söue fräch ir Mitti füre fahre und nid ir bränntige Sunne warte - är miech das au immer so. Chli schlächt heimer üs gfüehlt aber mir hei sicher e Stung igspart.
      Die nöchste 2 Nächt verbringe mr ufeme KOA ire Cabin. So chöi mir morn in Rueh d Fäll vor amerikanische Site bestuhne und sowohl üses Gepäck aus au d Velos si sicher verstaut.
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    • Day 53

      Niagara Falls Teil 2

      July 25, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      Hüt heimer sit langem widermou richtig und ohni Wecker usgschlofe. Das het mega guet do, mitem früeche ufstoh und em doch nid ganz so tiefe Schlof im Zäut heimer üs es rächts Schlofmanko igfahre.
      Denn simer mitem Bus id Stadt, d Hautstöu isch direkt vorem Camping. Trotzdem si mir die einzige Touris gsi.
      Niagara Falls aus Stadt isch nüt sehenswärts. Überau aues uf Touriste usgleit und chum geit me ei Querstross zwit hingere ischs zimlech abgfucked.
      D Niagara Falls an sich si aber beidruckend und e Pausetag do het sech glohnt. Mir hei s klassische Programm mit Ussichtsplattform und Fahrt mit dr Maid of the Mist gmacht. Denn simer i State Park und hei d Fäll au no vo ganz nöch bestuhnt. E Cocktail/Bier im Top of the Falls Restaurant mit Blick ufd Horseshoe Falls heimer üs ebefalls nid loh näh.
      Am Nomi/Obe heimer de no d Anähmlechkeitem vom KOA gnosse, chli sünnele am Pool het hüt müese si.
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    • Day 92

      4th of July

      July 4, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      We has such a relaxing time in Ohio and the days were low key. Today was a busy busy day.

      It started with going to the Grand Island parade where Elisa grew up. We went with Jackie and met up with her parents, sister and husband, and then her other friend Jackie and her husband Mike and their kids Violet and Gaige who were 6 and 5.

      The parade lasted almost 2 hours and the kids had a lot of fun trying to get lollies that all the different local community groups threw out to the hundreds of people lining the street to watch the parade.

      We spent the entire day with the group, moving from the parade to the VFW to the annual 4th of July celebration, where everyone just drinks and catches up with people from the town. After the VFW we drove over to Jackie' s parents house where we were there for hours, drinking, eating the bbq food, sitting in the kids pool , playing corn hole and having a great time. It was so hot outside, with the day feeling over 100/40 degrees. The kids had a great time playing with the Violet and Gaige, and did everything to playing in the pool, water balloons and watching a movie together.

      We stayed there until 9pm when we joined Jackie, mike and kids at fantasy island carpark to watch the 4th of July fireworks.

      We made our way back to our accommodation about 11pm and the kids were asleep in the car. It was a long day.
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    • Day 93

      Fantasy Island

      July 5, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      Today we went to the 5th and last amusement park of the trip. Elisa used to work here when she was in highschool and was a lifeguard at the water park.

      Jackie and Mike have season passes so they joined us at at the park. It was great hanging out with them and the kids had fun.

      Fantasy island is good for the kids but very run down. We watched the talking tree read story time and he read "the giving tree" which is a book Brandon and Elisa read together. We saw the western show, a princess show, went to the water park, and the kids went on almost all the rides.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Grand Island, غراند أيلاند, גרנד איילנד

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