Day 1

Trip Information

4:00am - 1:00am
Distance Traveled: 490 miles (not counting flight from Baltimore to Pittsburgh).
States: MD > PA > NY > PA > OH
Current Location: 30 miles west of Cleveland, OH
Next Destination: Chicago, IL

Daily Dialogue

I arrived at the airport 4 hours before my flight. My ride was working in Baltimore so I had to adjust to his schedule, which meant a 4:00am start time for me. Daryl and Jorge dropped me off at BWI around 7:00am. Obviously I arrived at my departing terminal in time to hang out with the folks from the flight before mine. So... while I was sitting there, I decided to doze off... I did and 30 minutes later I awoke and noticed that everyone was gone. The flight before mine had already boarded and left. So here's my concern - NO ONE knew that I was on the NEXT flight, yet NO ONE bothered to wake me and say "Hey, we are boarding" or "Excuse me, are you on this flight?" Not ONE person... so considerate up here in the DC area.

After waiting fifty forevers, I finally boarded my flight. I came to the first aisle seat and plopped down. I noticed a man over my left shoulder, behind the row of seats to my left. He was laying down across all 3 seats. First thought: he's saving them for some friends/family. Last thought: this guy is on something. He continued to lay there while everyone boarded, turning people away who asked him to sit up. His back/coat were in the seat in front of him, directly to my left. He had taken up 4 seats and saw nothing wrong with it. Awesome. He was instructed to fasten his seatbelt, and somehow he managed to do so while laying down. Ok, strange enough right? This man talked to himself the entire 1+ hour flight, often times laughing hysterically. I was slightly uneasy just based on this man's lack of mental stability. No major incidents thankfully. I managed to snag this photo of him while in flight:

After that fiasco, I snagged my luggage and as I was departing, heard these words exchanged from the female and male flight attendants:

Female, "I couldn't get it to stay up."
Male, "You just gotta pull hard on it, and it will stay up."

It was all I could do to maintain my composure as I de-planed.

Yada, yada, yada... I bought the truck. It's not a bad truck! Rides nice. Proceeded to Wal-Mart for some road trip goodies.

3 hours and 30 minutes later I was there. Pretty neat to see in person, however it would've been nice had I known you can't get a decent picture of the falls from the United States. Here are some pics from the U.S. State Park:

(This photo was taken after I asked a guy TWO TIMES to place ME on the LEFT, and ALL of the falls on the RIGHT.  He replied, "Oh, I'm an excellent photographer" as if to imply he already knew what I wanted.  Clearly, middle = left in NY.)

(slowed the shutter speed down to make the water appear as if it's "flowing" - compare it to the one above to see what I'm talking about).

(Aren't they cute?  After a couple of beers... don't think I wouldn't).

(A view from Goat Island (U.S.) of the Falls with Canada in the background)

This would've been nice to know since I didn't bring my passport. SOB!!! Somehow, though a passport is required to enter Canada AND re-enter the U.S., I managed to do both without it. I sweet talked (or so I like to think) the Canadian Officer... She was kinda cute and feelin the vibe, so she let me slide. I asked her name, but she responded, "Oh, we don't give out names." I replied, "How about a phone number?" -- Just kidding. So here are the pics from the Canadian side. Obviously dark by this time since I ran around for almost an hour trying to find a place in the U.S. to take photos.

Just after 9:00pm, I departed... about an hour later than I anticipated. Headed for Cleveland - about a 3 hour drive. Made it 30 miles west of Cleveland by 1:00am. Found a rest stop with bathrooms and truck (tractor trailers) parking. Found me a spot, crawled in the back, opened the sleeping bag, and fell asleep - I'm guessing around 1:30am. Woke up a couple times, but overall felt like I got a decent amount of rest.

Woke up about 6:45 this morning... time for Day 2.