Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Woodstock Ontario to Richmond Kentucky

We had the hotel continental breakfast, fueled the Equinox and were on the road well before 7:00 AM. I decided to avoid the bridge or tunnel at Detroit by taking the 402 from London to Sarnia and crossing via the Blue Water Bridge to Port Huron.

There were several small (six to ten unit) wind farms along the 402, nothing like the huge installations we see in the USA. This is probably a good thing considering that expensive wind power gets first priority in Ontario, while surplus cheaper source electricity is shed south of the border.

Wind turbine near Strathroy Ontario

We were held up at the toll booths before we got onto the Blue Water Bridge. Once we made it through, we saw that the three lane US bound bridge were down to one lane due to maintenance and/or repairs. Once we got down the other side, the NEXUS lane was open. Three questions (going where? how long? anything to declare?) and we were on our way.

One lane, lots of waiting

NEXUS works for us

Back in the USA

Traffic was good on I-94 down to Detroit. Once we got south into Ohio, there was very little of I-75 all the way to Kentucky that wasn't under construction. Finally, in Cincinnati about three miles short of the bridge out of the state, we ground to a halt. We lost half an hour because someone going our way got rear-ended and the police still had the lane closed.

Ambassador Bridge - Detroit (the bridge we wouldn't take)

Welcome to road work

The orange barrel companies are doing well

Merging was tricky

Findlay Ohio

Road sweeping near Lima Ohio

Self portrait

Stopped in Cincinnati

The old and the new

Leaving Ohio

The sad thing was that when we finally crossed into Kentucky and started up the Covington Hill, there were miles and miles of northbound I-75 vehicle dead stopped. The only reason I could see for the hold up was rubberneckers at the southbound wreck site gawking. Sad but not uncommon.

Northbound I-75 traffic jam headed for Ohio

We arrived at the Best Western Hotel in Richmond, Kentucky (home of the VROC Wolfman's Wandering Rally in 2009) at 4:45. The door closest to our room was around the back where we parked next to Stewey's Polaris Slingshot. He, Cargo and Bass Man were already here.

The five of us decided to go down the road to King's Buffet for supper. It was nothing spectacular but we still managed to eat to much as we caught up on what everyone had been up to since we last saw each other.

Back at the motel, we found the WiFi signal was weak (sometimes non-existent) in our room. It was much better in the lobby, where a small meeting room gave us all a place to gather, visit and solve the problems of the world. Rainman and Stockbridge Richard from Georgia joined us for a while. We ended up heading back to the room and hitting the sack around 9:30.

One note on social gatherings and hotels/motels. It is much easier to socialize when the room doors face put into the parking lot rather than opening to an internal corridor. I know the latter is supposed to be safer, but it stifles interaction.

Today's Route (523 Equinox miles):

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