Champaign

Lucy and I took off on Thursday and began driving west. We took the Masspike and New York Thruway as far as Buffalo and then decided to head north, through Niagara Falls to take the Canadian route to Michigan. I've usually gone the other way to avoid the international crossings, but we'd brought our passports and had no problems crossing the border.

I've seen Niagara Falls before. I had kind of wanted to stop and see the falls again, but the parking lot close enough to walk to the falls charged $18. So, although we could see the falls from the car, we didn't stop and get out.

After that, we meandered around the backroads, trying to feel our way west to pick up the highway to Windsor. Eventually, we stopped at a little restaurant in Smithville for a country cooked dinner and then drove until after dark. We got one of the last rooms in Brantford and spent the night in a Days Inn.

This morning, we hit the road early, crossed back into the US around noon, and, stopping only for Fourth Meal, we drove straight to Kalamazoo.

We spent a charming afternoon and evening with everyone at Richard and Katy's house in the woods. A couple of large thunderstorms rumbled through and we sat in the screened in porch to listen to the rain and smell the fresh air. It was wonderful. Katy had prepared a delicious meal: salad, chicken with rosemary, fried potatoes, peas, and some good, hearty bread. After dinner, we had coffee and pie. We had great conversations about the kids and life and growing up and getting old.

Tonight, Lucy and I are staying in a Fairfield Inn. When we checked in, the guy mentioned that the storm had knocked out the alarm system and they were "working on it". What we didn't realize was that "working on it" meant manually setting off dozens of sensors and then then turning it off. And each time they set it off, it would sound an ear-spitting klaxon in our room. I'm a bit disappointed that the guy didn't mention we might want to go out for a drink for an hour or so until they were done. He claims they're done now and that it won't keep going off. If it goes off during the night, I'll be quite upset.

Tomorrow is the Art Festival in Kalamazoo. It will be nice to do something besides drive, for a change.