Day 66 – Aug 17, 2015 – Ann Arbor MI – Sylvania OH (suburban Toledo) – 49 miles
It was hard to leave Ann Arbor with its restaurants and the wonderful Ann Arbor Inn B&B. I would go back there in a heartbeat. Anyone traveling to Ann Arbor should look into it. Great place, super cool people and right in the middle of downtown.
This morning we slept a little late because we had an appointment at the Post Office on Liberty Street just a couple blocks from our B&B. We were anticipating a “care package” from our good friends in Santa Monica Val and Marcus. Well we got there at opening bell and the postal lady said they don’t except “general delivery” packages there we had to go to Stadium Way PO. Ok so off we went. Ann Arbor isn’t very big and we got there in no time even if it was a couple miles off our route. Yep there it was at the Stadium Post Office. Super cool T-shirts and some local SM sand, and sea shell from Catalina. Nice!
Because of this detour we got to see something that I wanted to see – Michigan Stadium. It is the second largest sports stadium in the world – it holds 107,000 spectators!! Can you imagine that? We couldn’t see the sunken stadium that was built in 1996, but we got close enough to take a few pictures. All of you College Football fans will appreciate that.
And off we were again down our ACA route. We got to Saline just in time for lunch. We looked at our route and realized it took us farther and farther West. The “detour” to Ann Arbor was already too far west. We needed to head South. So we made a command decision to go directly south to Toledo. It shaved off about 20-25 miles. We could had made it to Toledo but assessed the options and thought it would be better to stay 5 miles out a a suburb.
All in all, we are getting tired. The cities are also a challenge. It takes so much more time to cross a city than the “open” road. We tried and tried to figure out a way to avoid Toledo, but have not found it yet. Tomorrow we will plan some new routes.
Gregg and I are dealing with the toll of this travel well but sometimes it really gets to us. I am super tired of wearing the same close every day. I need a hair cut and coloring. I need a facial, a massage, I need a rest! Tonight at dinner we discussed life and I had an emotional breakdown which was both a result of exhaustion and just too much of this journey. It gets to you when it is 90 degrees and you can’t stop sweating, the roads are bad, it starts pouring rain for some random thundershower, and….and…and I miss my home too much, and my puppies – Jasper, Zoey, and Lexi! All of that builds up. This evening I am ready for this to end tomorrow. And guess what? all of you who are following. We crossed out 3000 mile mark today. Oh, and we are in OH – Hi – O!
auchandgrog
Hi Dagmar! It is a journey, and sometimes an evil “monster” of a journey. I assume there will be something we will get out of it in the end but that is elusive while doing the task at hand. Today I was thinking how very weird it will be to go back into that “other” world again. I will miss the road but maybe not the roads of Michigan. Miss you. Big hug to you and Paul. Audrey
auchandgrog
Hi there – thank you so much for the words of encouragement. We will have many stories to tell since late in the evening it is hard for me to include everything in the Blog. Today we hit a low. Hitting rain storms and depressing factory towns. But we are moving along. Everyday there is something new. Miss California and can’t wait to see you soon again! Audrey
kerstin
Hi you two out there,
I was offline a while and am now catching up.
glad to see you made it over some humps and bumps and are still heading East!
And glad you got some T-Shirts so you can switch clothes.
You both rock and I keep rooting for you from my comfortable and sometimes claustrophobic office!
Dagmar
… You will remember it all, and whatever happens next, you can say, bring it on, because you made this journey! It is all worth it. You are only now separated one additional state from the ocean state of MD. Almost Zielgerade. If it was easy, if it was as you thought, it wouldn’t be this amazing, crazy, vexing, torturing, beautiful, strenuous, strange, rough, tough thing. You will have it all back in a month. And guess what? You will miss the road 🙂 so enjoy the finale, as good as possible, what a trip!!