Our Route

I didn't fancy the boring drive down to Detroit, or the frantic pace of the QEW to Niagara Falls, deciding instead to loop around the E coast of Lake Huron into Michigan at Port Huron. This is a pretty drive, if a bit slow, but that was OK as it gave me the chance to familiarise myself with the behaviour of the RV on the highway. Crossing the border was something we'd not looked forward to, given the sullen attitude of airport border guards in the US, but our lady was friendly & efficient, & we were across with no waiting & a 2 minute chat. We thought that was an excellent welcome for snowbirds.

As soon as we were across, we of course filled up our fuel tank, at a price of only about 2/3 that of Canadian gas prices. And then we were off on Interstate I 94 to I 80 at Toledo, where my brother used to work from occasionally. 

We found it more agreeable to stay off the Interstates, as our RV tended to be buffeted around by the large trucks as they passed us at high speed, & the US highways, as shown here, were more interesting to travel on. This way we got to see some of the quite lovely small towns & villages in central Ohio, which were in stark contrast to the gritty Toledo/Cleveland area.

As you can see, it rained for most of our journey through the northern states, & as it was mid-December, the days were very short also, forcing us to either drive at night or stop around 4 pm to find a motel. A motel? With an RV? Well, yes, it was new to us, remember, & was still winterised for the Canadian weather. Besides that aspect, nearly all the northern campsites were closed, so we chose to motel it down to warmer climes.
We made a few mistakes, the most harrowing of which involved driving through mountainous West Virginia along I 75 at night on our second day out. It wasn't until close to 10pm that we reached Bexley - tired & rather frazzled from the long day on the road.