Ann Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids, MI and Chicago, IL and the fateful end...

The Bean!!!

God's left handprint

The capitol babeee
do you see me? :)

Let me start this blog with the big news... It's over... Maander died and we aren't paying to get him fixed so thus our trip is over. We will either leave by train or plane to return to Sacramento. We are stuck in the city of DeKalb, Illinois. I never planned on staying in this town and so far it just seems like a normal random town off the beaten path. There is a college here though.

Cactus that looks like it is on fire
at the botanical gardens

Now lets throw back to where I left off and round out this blog with some sad optimism.

From Cleveland we went to Ann Arbor. It was my birthday and the night before we saw Bridesmaids which was excellent. We went to a breakfast place that had high reviews and I had the seafood omelet and Anna had eggs benedict. It was OK nothing special. We walked around the town which seemed nice. It was a college town with University of Michigan being there. People here are very proud of their colleges and either you are a big U of M fan or a Michigan State U fan. We went to a farmers market and after seeing stuff that didn't look all that tempting to buy we kept walking and soon found ourselves back at Maander and on our way to Lansing. The weather was nuts and was blowing us around quite a bit.

Looking cute gurl

this thing is carnivorous! weird

I found Michigan to be much more green than most places and the green was more vibrant than what one typically finds in California in the forest. Lots of dead deer on the side of the road and not too many towns gave us a feel that Michigan was not very populated. In Lansing we went to the capitol and found it closed on weekends and we quickly headed to a coffee spot where we basically spent the rest of the day because it was so cold there and didn't seem to have too much to do. The next day would be Grand Rapids and spending time with Kevin's parents at their home.

Tropical section

Magical beard tree
touch it and you get a beautiful beard
this is my secret

When we rolled into Grand Rapids we met Linda and Dave and their two daughters. We started talking it up and getting to know each other. It was a great little time out from being on our own and just having a place to stay that was a bed with some heat. We discussed good places to go in Grand Rapids and places we have been and some of the highlights. I felt a little bad because I felt a little worn out and wanted to just keep to myself in the room instead of being so social. I hope they don't feel like I wasn't very social, I was just in a funk.

Grandpa! Grandpa!

Quite large eh?

The dinner was amazing and I definitely ate my fill. The next day we went to the Botanical Gardens, a popular brewery and walked around a cool spot on Wealthy Street. The Botanical Gardens were expensive but very good. They had sculptures there and the greenhouses were well kept with interesting plants. The brewery was very good. We walked around Wealthy street and checked out an Antique Store and Anna had a Boba Tea that she really enjoyed at a coffee shop. We got home in time for dinner and had another amazing meal. We said goodbye to Linda and Dave and in the morning we left for Chicago.

What will this have besides many toll roads?

Before we made it to Chicago we stopped by the town of Holland where our former pastors Doug and Steve live and we visited with Doug. He took us out to lunch and we talked about everything we are doing and how we got there. It was a great time reminiscing and just talking about things we have realized thus far on the trip. Our time together was short and we hugged and were on our way for a long drive to Chicago.

Baha'i temple
only one in North America

Chicago cityscape

We made it through some traffic and to my Mother's Cousin's house in Wilmette, IL. This was an absolutely beautiful neighborhood that had brick roads and every house looked exquisite. Mary Beth and John welcomed us into their home and provided so much for us it was almost overwhelming. Once we got settled, we quickly started strategizing how to see Chicago during our very brief stay there. They ran and got us Lou Manelli's Pizza which is supposed to be top notch Chicago style pizza while we worked everything out. It did not disappoint and we once again ate more than what our body needs :) Mary Beth did a great job of getting things for our time in Chicago ahead of time so Anna and I didn't have to scramble to buy things like tickets for the train into town. This was an incredible help. Before the night was over we all headed down into the heart of Chicago to pick up her daughter Alexandra. This was a great way to preview the town and just get the general lay of the land.

having fun with the bean

more fun with bean

underneath bean this is what it looks like

In the morning we started early and jumped on the Metra for Downtown. The trip was relatively stress less and we soon found ourselves walking the street of Chicago. It was very drizzly so the weather just wasn't very conducive to what we were doing but we were determined to have a good time. First stop the Art Institute of Chicago. We got there too early, they don't open till 10:30 :) so we had to meander awhile before we headed in. Once in we enjoyed the art and I had never see any Van Gogh in my life before and I have really enjoyed his work when I studied art. When we were done with the Museum the weather had cleared up and we began to walk the streets of the city without nature posing a threat. With the clouds thick though it still wasn't practical to go to the Sear's tower and go to the top because all we would end up seeing is clouds. We decided that that was just a good excuse to give us a reason to return to Chicago sometime in the future.

Van Gogh - Drinkers
I liked this a lot and have never
seen it before

Folk Art I particularly enjoyed

It is official I have been to ^^^

Some of the mandatory things you have to do in Chicago is eat a Chicago dog, have an Italian Beef, Deep dish and go to the sculpture park. Glad we did all those things. We went to Portillo's for the Chicago dog and Italian beef. We decided one would get the dog the other the beef and we would eat half and trade. I was very disappointed when I finished my half of the Italian Beef and had to hand it over to Anna. It is like a Philly Cheesesteak without the cheese and with much more flavorful spices. It was simply amazing. The sculpture park has this one sculpture which is this chrome bean that is huge and it was tons of fun taking pictures with it.

Cool!

Wig or hat you be the judge

After walking awhile and doing some shopping, for me, shoes, for Anna, something else, we were pretty exhausted. I thought we would be going till late at night but we ended up crashing out and found ourselves on the Metra back to Wilmette by 6:30pm. We were happy with Chicago and ready to call it a day. Reflecting on Chicago I feel like it is much like NYC just not quite as crazy and bigger than life. I felt like it was analogous to Miami and Key West, similar feel just one has the volume turned waaaayyy up.

Now the downfall of Maander... you ready. :(

Maander in Intensive Care

We left Mary Beth's in the morning and after many hugs and gifts, I was pleasantly surprised by her generosity, we were out the door. We were going from Wilmette (North of Chicago) to Des Moines, Iowa. I expected the trip to be the longest yet on our journey. We hoped to get across the great plain as quickly as possible mainly because I am pretty sure there isn't much there and it is tornado season. Well we were rolling along just fine and dandy until about 1.5 hours into the drive there was a snap and the bus lost all power. This was the first time that Maander stranded us on the side of the freeway. I went through and tried to trouble shoot everything I could but Maander wouldn't come to life. I called Tony, who helped me build the engine, and everything he told me to do didn't get Maander going either. We called the tow truck and after 2 hours beside the road we were in a tow truck and to a mechanic.

His heart... Dead

They took a look at Maander pretty quickly and the mechanic voiced his concern that it may be compression. I knew that if the bus had no compression that there was no chance we could afford the type of repair it would require. I hoped that it wasn't compression and we waited in the waiting room. Pretty quickly he came back in with a look that told me that it was indeed the compression. He brought us out and showed zero compression ... the trip has ended.

The cam is broken and I called Tony to let him know and what he thinks. He said it was likely from using crappy oil and the poor performance leading up to this is likely a sign that the cam was wearing down. Sucks but this is reality and facts are facts what you gonna do? I would like to think of myself as knowledgeable about cars but I truly don't have a deep knowledge and I suppose this cements it in. I think I am done with old cars for awhile.

Now I sit in a Best Western with all of our possessions here and in our rental car. I decided before leaving on the trip that I wouldn't cut my hair the entire trip and once the trip was over it all would come off and I mean all off!:

I must begin anew
what did I get myself into??

Evidence of my sasquatchiness

shaver ran out of batteries at this point so I had some fun while
it charged

Weeeeeeee

So a dramatic change and now I wait for a train to come and pick us up and take us over the Rockies, the desert, and finally the Sierras. Our lives will begin again. Anna will look for a nursing job and I will look for??? either schooling for x-ray tech, or college again or who knows there may be a job out there that I may find interesting and someone will be willing to take a risk on me. The future is wide open and I hope and pray that it is nothing but good things. The pessimist in me loathes that which lies ahead of me but I wish to push through and make a life for myself that I can be happy with.

After we got our room at the hotel we headed out to get some food. We went to a highly rated sports bar and we ordered whatever we felt like and didn't hold back. We received our mound of food and bowed our heads to bless the food. As I prayed I prayed that God blesses us as we start our lives again, I prayed that we wouldn't see this as a defeat but merely part of the story of our journey. I prayed for many things and as I prayed for these things tears came to my eyes and I got all choked up. Here I sit, in a freakin' sports bar, praying, crying and mourning the end of the trip. This has been an emotional day and truly feels like a death. I must be honest and say that right now it feels like we have failed or we are defeated. I imagined coming over the Sierras and just coasting Maander down the foothills triumphant as we made our way to Sacramento. I wanted a party and a celebration and a triumphant entry. This will not be and probably for good reason. God constantly humbles and I am in constant need of that.

The goal wasn't the destination. We will never reach our destination till our lives expire. We must live life and live it to the full as we make our way to the destination. I pray I don't get so consumed by different ultimately empty goals in life that I rob myself any joy in the present. Life is about the present so live! I must scream that at myself continually and I hope this trip has etched that into my soul. I know falling back into routine and how life once was is so easy and I fear that snare the most at this point. If you have followed this blog or know me personally I exhort you to remind me of these truths that I have uncovered. If you must slap me or scream at me do it, I want the difficult truth presented to me. So many hide their honesty from us for fear of change or hurt feelings when ultimately it will bring us even closer together or a deeper appreciation of the friendship.

There have been peaks and valleys on this trip geographically, emotionally, and relationally. I pray the valleys that have lingering sourness in our mouths fade quickly and we are left with a beautiful memory. I have heard of studies that your memory usually only remembers the good stuff in general so that gives me some encouragement :) heh me nerding it up sheesh.

This ugly mug is coming your way Sacramento!

Pittsburgh, PA Home, and Cleveland, OH

Sisters reunited!!

Last day in Niagara dealing
with 60 mph winds

Long break but that was because I was back in Sacramento for Anna's sister's wedding. I hope I saw all you who have diligently been reading my blog :)

Lake Erie

It was great getting back to the city I call home and the State that I can say is the most amazing with strong conviction. With Anna and I sick for home this was a much needed reminder of why we want to be back so badly and a slight satiation till we roll in with Maander.

Good 'ol Sacratamato

We didn't explore Pittsburgh at all when we were waiting there before the flight. We stayed around this commercial area close to the airport and just surfed the net and ate poorly. I had the oil changed on Maander by Firestone. I explained to them that it should take 7 quarts of oil. I officially switched from 20w-50 to 10w-40, a lighter weight which means I don't have to warm up the bus every time we turn it on. We just zipped around not very far at all from the Firestone and parked and after seeing a movie walked over to Maander and he had a significant oil leak underneath! Crap I thought. I could tell from where it was leaking was the valve cover which is a brand new place for this bus. I thought that likely the thinner oil was able to seep through the gasket and that is whats causing it. I checked the oil while the engine was running and the levels were good so I was just like I will keep an eye on it.

Bride and some of the Bridesmaids

The rest of the time which was about 3 days in Pittsburgh I kept an eye out and there would be varying degrees of leakage but nothing catastrophic. We drove to the airport and were off to Sacramento. I will continue with Sacramento but allow me to finish this thought. When we drove back from the airport with Maander it was late evening and the oil got hotter than it had ever before got quite quickly. I was very concerned. I turned the car off and checked the oil and found that it was waaaaayyyyy over filled and knew that was the issue. I brought Maander back to where I had it worked on and explained the situation. It really pissed me off how defensive the guy was about the work that was performed. I said that I told them it should take 7 quarts and they must not of checked their own work. Anyways it all got situated but they were still really dumb about it and wanted me to seem like I was the unknowledgable one. I vented to Anna for quite sometime after that.

Pittsburgh 3 rivers so lots of bridges

Staring contest Anna lost

Sacramento was as I remembered except maybe about a point or two better. The weather was amazing and it was great not having to reference a map to get places all the time. Anna and I were just go go go the whole time because we didn't have much time but wanted to see a lot of people while we were in town. Elizabeth's wedding was very nice and being with friends was a great break from exploring this country.

Notable building in Pitts

Courthouse that used to
be the jail as well

When we got back to Pittsburgh and situated with Maander we went to the Cultural District. This was basically the downtown area where people go for business or what have you. We walked the streets and got a feel for the city. The stadiums there are very prominent and everyone has a great deal of pride for their teams and I don't blame them they are championship teams. We got some food and walked around. After walking around for a few hours we decided we wanted to see a movie. We went across the river and ended up in a neighborhood that felt a great deal like midtown/downtown in Sacramento. There was a long road where everything was really happening and lots of young people were walking and eating at the various venues. After the movie we went to a restaurant there and had some good food. We walked around that area after getting a dessert, we really enjoyed that area in particular.

We all know what you mean ;)

In the morning we left for Cleveland planning on staying a day or two there. The only thing I know about Ohio or Cleveland is that it has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Besides seeing episodes of Cleveland on the First 48 where they document homicides in the area. We got to Cleveland earlier than I expected and we had enough time to go the the HOF. The HOF was really interesting. They had a lot of multi media and we easily took 3.5 hours there. It inspired me to look into some of the music that pioneered rock and roll music.

Carson right by Pittsburgh, nice area
We really liked how the houses climbed up
the very green hill

Creamy goodness
the real challenge was not getting it in
my beard

The weather started to change and we headed to the local Walmart. It was stupid hot and humid so trying to get to bed was not fun. At about 1 am the security guard started honking his horn and I knew we were about to get the boot :(. We had to drive a few miles down the way to another Walmart

Cleveland and the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame
can't take pics inside though

Kinda confusing pic...
building on top that is the HOF
then harbor that goes out into Lake Erie

Boston, MA Troy, and Niagara NY

Me and the American Falls

Boston streets
to the left is Paul Revere's House

We left Springfield Mass. and said goodbye to Noah, Chiala, and a comfortable bed. We spent about 5 days straight where we got to stay in comfy beds (3 nights in NYC and 2 days at Noah/Chiala's place). We did not want to go back to the way we have been living :).

Some of the streets of the North End

Driving over to Boston wasn't too bad though we did have to deal with some mellow rain. We started our stay in Boston by just going to a Starbuck's kinda by Harvard and just chilling recuperating and figuring out where we can do. We worked on our blogs and ate some subway. Unfortunately, As the day progressed I became more and more sick. Seems that NYC had some diseases I couldn't escape. By the time we were done and we needed to go find a place to camp for the night I was feeling horrible. Deep in the city there were no Wal-Marts so we had to embark on a longer than desired lame drive avoiding Toll roads, which by the way are wayyyy too many in New England and the roads still suck. We got out to a suburb and rolled on in. I hated the feel of the neighborhood.

Scenery of Upstate New York

Didn't get a pic of this before

The Walmart wasn't 24 hour so after 10pm we wouldn't be able to go inside for the bathroom and there is a certain amount of safety you get when the place is 24 hours. I told Anna I had zero desire to spend the night there and I suspect she eagerly looked for a hotel/motel. We found a cheapish Hotel and I went to go take a warm shower to try and clear up my sinuses. Well the place didn't have what one would call, "hot" water. The inability to have an enjoyable shower really put a damper on the stay. I then spent the rest of the night attempting to go sleep but I was unable to breath and my nose was like a faucet. After tossing and turning till about 4 am I passed out for about 3 hours then we went to Church because it was Easter!! Wow a major holiday and we would not spend it with family. We were already incredibly homesick and here we are at a church we have never been to with everyone dressed especially nice and us in jeans and t-shirts. It was a nice church, traditional, hymns, OK message but nothing stuck out and soon we were out of the door.

Driving and more driving

Lots of these along the way

We headed to the North End, where all the historical stuff is and shops and restaurants. It was hell trying to find parking but finally did and started to meander. Almost all the places are cash only and we didn't have cash nor a chase ATM anywhere. We weren't wanting to pay a fee and this ended up making our lunch a bit more complicated. We did however end up at this open mall type place and they had a food stand where they had chowder, lobster roll, and soda. We both got ours and it was quite delicious. We sat at our table for awhile and we were basically sulking not really loving Boston all that much either. The plan was 3 days in Boston then Portland, Maine then start making our way to Niagara. Thinking about going in the opposite direction as Sacramento, CA really created sadness in us. I told Anna, "You know I really am OK with not going to Portland, its a place I would like to go but really don't care that much if we don't make it there."

Weather got crazy while we drived

looking over the falls

She said she wasn't all that attached to Portland either and it felt like we would only get to colder places going in the direction of Maine. I said you know lets just stay in Boston for a day then put in some big driving hours in and go to Niagara then get to Pittsburgh early and just chill till it was time to get on the plane. We decided this was the best idea.



Here are my observations about Boston. Bostonians are very proud to be Bostonians, there is an insane number of Red Sox fans. People stare, especially at people with big beards. There are a lot of Italians there and they are Very proud of being Italian, they put little reflector stickers on their cars of the Italian flag. In our travel book it describes Boston as a labyrinth of streets, I agree. The cityscape that looks so beautiful in the movie The Town looks nothing close to as good from the ground/inside the city. If you go out to eat it is either, Italian, Pizza, or Subs.

Still some snow surrounding the falls though
it was hot outside

Horseshoe falls which is the more
famous of the falls
supposedly you can see them much better from the
Canada side
the mist makes it almost impossible to see the base though

Alright I will get on with it. Put in some big miles going from Worcester where we spent the night at a Walmart and took a scenic route to get to Albany, NY. We actually ended up driving through the town of Troy which had a cool feel to it and I had a slight inclination to check it out but we were eyes on the prize lets get on with it. Shockingly, the sickness that I had began to recover from was spread to Anna. She began feeling horrible and expressed the desire to stay at a Hotel. I complied thinking about how nice it could have been if I stayed at a nice place in Boston. We booked this very nicely priced hotel that ended up being a good stay with some very good breakfast.

up above the Horse shoe falls this is where
the crazies launch their vessels to go over the falls

More Horse shoe

Yesterday was basically just driving more and more and more. We took yet another scenic route, why you ask? well because we would have driven over 300 miles on a Toll road and we didn't want to pay that and we wanted to see the country off the beaten path. Turned out upstate New York is quite beautiful. There were tons of old buildings and barns. Some stuff was really pretty and there were quite a few deteriorating barns or homes which were actually pretty interesting. I was wondering if we would drive around the Appalachian mountains. Don't know if we went over them exactly but Maander did have to tackle some big hills. The whole east coast is pretty inhabited and for a long while we have felt close to civilization for the most part. There have been stretches that seem pretty rural.

From the observatory
now I notice that this is
out of focus a bit meh ;\

Basically as soon as we rolled into Buffalo the scenery took a nose dive and has looked like a combination south sac/Stockton look to it. We drove through some ghettos that were way bigger than I expected. I thought for sure that if you get close to the falls there would be a nice neighborhood or something. Nope everything we have seen has been pretty gross. We spent the night at Walmart and today we visited the falls. I'm tired of writing so I will say Niagara falls was huge, awesome, surreal. We walked around and just experienced it. We knew that half a mile away was a very ugly town but right here right now this, this was nice  :) On the Canada side Niagara looked really nice. Lots of Casinos and touristy stuff. We debating walking or driving over there but decided meh not that interested and were off.

So now we are laying low and some really big storms are supposed to roll in so I'm at a Barnes and Nobles hanging out. We plan on heading on down to Pittsburgh when the weather seems to be stabilized and just staying there till the time to fly to Sacramento!! wooo hooo bye bye enjoy the pics...