The Moving Odyssey: Part Two

First read part one.

Wednesday, May 12: We woke up in Fort Wayne IN, which was good because that was where we had gone to sleep. We spent a little bit of time looking for a supermarket (for our customary breakfast yogurt) before we got on our way, but we still expected to be at Aunt Nancy's house in time for lunch. We took I-69 north to I-94, and turned east towards Detroit. By mid-morning we were feeling kind of munchy, so we got off at Jackson MI and found ourselves a Taco Bell where we shared a burrito. Due to some construction and a lot of people with poor driving manners, it took us a bit of time to get back on the highway. And we had only gone about 5 more miles when everything came to a stop. Complete two-lane parking lot as far ahead as we could see. We sat still for some five minutes and read Lord of the Rings (our current read-aloud project), then things started moving slowly again. We exited the Interstate at the next exit and began to travel back roads in single file in a stop-and-go fashion for about 1.5 miles. It eventually became clear that the reason we were going so slow was that everyone had to make an unprotected left turn turn one-by-one onto a larger road. Because there had been some road construction in the area, I thought at first that we were experiencing abysmally poor planning by MDOT in dealing with the results of planned road closures, and the fact that no traffic cop was present to make those left turns go any faster was the latest of many reasons I had to grumble at that time. But at least it was pretty country. Then Samuel started to get rather upset, but we were able to make our left turn and then get off the road at the first opportunity to tend to him. Then we finally made it back onto I-94 and continued on to Aunt Nancy's house in suburban Detroit MI, arriving at about 1pm, a bit later than we had expected. We discovered later that the cause of our delay had not been construction but a terrible accident, a semi rear-ending another semi at full speed. The rear-ending driver, who was the only fatality, had perhaps fallen asleep. The Interstate remained closed at that location all day. We had arrived so soon after the accident that they were only just establishing the detour, which explained our initial standstill followed by slow progress, and the lack of a traffic cop. We found ourselves feeling thankful for our burrito and delay in Jackson, which caused us to be as far behind the accident as we were. In any case, we spent the rest of the day relaxing with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike, and also had a very pleasant visit with their daughter and Mike's parents. The rest did us all quite a bit of good.

Thursday, May 13: We ate a delicious breakfast at home with Nancy and Mike, then set off quite refreshed at mid-morning. By this time we were old pros at driving with a baby (or something like that). We headed straight for the bridge across the Detroit River and had no trouble entering Windsor ON in Canada. I had never been to Canada before, but I found it a pleasant place to drive. The full-service rest stops were nice, and we soon pulled off near Tilbury ON for a nursing stop. It was there that I first saw a Tim Horton's restaurant, and noticed the line of some 20 Canadians at the counter while practically no one was patronizing the American fast-food counter right next to it. At lunchtime we were approaching London ON, the largest city in the area, and we decided to get off the highway and find a park to eat in. This we did at a leisurely pace. We found the riverside park that Laura had identified on her map, and I left Laura and Samuel and got some lunch from Tim Horton's (just drive aimlessly around London, and you're bound to find one within 10 minutes!). We enjoyed our sandwiches and donut, and then made our way back to the road. With only about 4 hours driving time to our destination, we knew that we didn't have to rush. Our first sighting of Lake Ontario, in Hamilton ON, was beautiful. At that point we continued onto Canada's oldest freeway, the QEW. It still being mid-afternoon, we decided that we had time to see Niagara Falls and discussed how to do so. Knowing little about the area, we decided to see the Canadian side of the Falls with the reasoning that visiting at a later date would be more convenient on the American side. So we left the highway and found the town of Niagara Falls ON. It turns out that the Canadian side is a much better vantage point to view both of the waterfalls, simply because of the geography of the place. We reveled in the beauty and majesty of the place, and enjoyed the cool mists on a warm day. There is a very nice landscaped walk all along the edge of the gorge, which we took. We were somewhat surprised at the setting, as we had both somehow expected some kind of natural environment, and thought we might have to hike a trail through a forest to get to the Falls. But instead downtown Niagara Falls ON empties right out onto the edge of the gorge, and every foot (sorry, I mean meter -- this is Canada!) is either paved or nicely landscaped. You can walk right up to the edge of Horseshoe Falls (the Canadian side) and see the huge volumes of blue-green water plunging over the precipice right at your feet. Just magnificent. We were less impressed with the main street full of tacky tourist traps (five haunted houses!), but at least you can't see that from the Falls. After a very pleasant hour and a half, we returned to our car and took a narrow bridge over the gorge back into the U.S. We stopped for some supplies in Tonawanda NY but did not find a satisfactory place for dinner there, so we ended up eating at a Popeye's (we had eaten so well on this trip that I was in the mood for some grease!) in one of the full-service rest stops on the New York State Thruway. While there, we checked in with our truck driver again and found to our surprise that he would not be in Ithaca tomorrow but would be delayed an extra day! After all our worry that we wouldn't get there in time, we were going to have a whole day in Ithaca without our furniture. Of course, had we known this earlier we might have made different travel plans, but at this point there was nothing to do but find a hotel and go to Ithaca in the morning anyway. We stayed in a Super 8 south of Rochester NY.

Friday, May 14: We got a good start in the morning and had less than an hour further to go on the Thruway (I-90) before we got off and headed south into the Finger Lakes region. Since we had time to spare, we decided to take state highway 89, which runs right along the western shore of Cayuga Lake. We enjoyed the green countryside and the lake views, and arrived in Ithaca NY before lunch. We spent the rest of the day getting ready for the movers to come tomorrow. We headed up to the Astronomy Department and found my office and arranged for my computer to be moved to the correct place. A fellow postdoc very kindly loaned us some bedding and cleaning supplies. Overall, it was probably a good thing that we arrived so much earlier than the moving truck, because we were able to get a good amount of cleaning done, and we also got some impression of the town so that Moving Day was perhaps less bewildering than it could have been.

Saturday, May 15: Despite my worry that the moving truck might not be able to navigate Ithaca's narrow streets, it duly showed up at our door around 9am. I didn't even have to worry about where he would park, as the cars that had been at the curb the night before were gone when I woke up. The movers were very friendly and did a good job with our things. Laura and Samuel went out with the stroller for a while to see the neighborhood and avoid the commotion. I was running around with a clipboard, checking off every item that came off the truck. We had some visits from the bevy of children that live next door. Finally, in mid-afternoon, every item was accounted for and the movers were gone, and we were left to begin setting ourselves up in our new home.

Of course, we are still unpacking and setting things up, but I won't go into any more detail. The kitchen has been in full service since the middle of last week, and we had a major stocking-up visit to Wegman's Supermarket just last night. We're already getting plugged into our church (more on that later), and have made some friends in other circles as well. I took some pictures on the trip, especially at Niagara Falls, but I haven't looked at them myself much less put them up online. I'll let you know when I get to that.  

Posted by Matt on 5/26/2004 04:43:00 PM