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zlee · 01-30-2012, 03:13 PM

And I made it to Detroit! Very very windy, and I'm VERY grateful that Kirk towed from London to Port Huron.

But I didn't do anything horribly wrong! Yay! Tomorrow's supposed to be warmer, thank goodness.

zlee · 01-30-2012, 03:14 PM

P.S. Very glad I was going only an hour past Port Huron!

FreshAir · 01-30-2012, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zlee

And I made it to Detroit! Very very windy, and I'm VERY grateful that Kirk towed from London to Port Huron.

But I didn't do anything horribly wrong! Yay! Tomorrow's supposed to be warmer, thank goodness.

Shout out 'Hello, Detroit' for me.....it's my birth place.
Neil

MrUKToad · 01-30-2012, 05:31 PM

Good on yer Zlee. Hope Chicago is nice to you and say "aye oop" to J from us :~)

**blmitch5** · 01-30-2012, 05:48 PM

Sounds like your doing great! This is so much fun to hear about your journey.

Carlita · 01-30-2012, 06:38 PM

Yes Z! It is so neat to hear about your trip back home. I'm proud of you!!! Way to girl!! Take care and I look forward to reading more of this amazing adventure of yours!

~Cari~

MrUKToad · 01-31-2012, 06:50 AM

There's a short video of Zlee piloting her new Bambi on the highway in Port Huron, MI, posted on Can-Am RV's Facebook Page. I don't have the means of getting it from there to here but if you're on Facebook then you can search for Can-Am RV Centre (note the spelling!). Failing that, it was taken and published by Kirk Thompson, one of Can-Am's co-owners and it's on his Facebook page, too.

Zlee's looking good, Jetta, Bambino and all.

zlee · 01-31-2012, 07:04 AM

Had a wonderful evening playing tunes with my friends near Detroit. (Due to parking regs in their town, they found a church parking lot for me to leave the Bambino, poor lonely thing!)

After breakfast, I'll be taking off in the direction of Flint to meet Mellen60 for lunch!

maccamper · 01-31-2012, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zlee

Had a wonderful evening playing tunes with my friends near Detroit. (Due to parking regs in their town, they found a church parking lot for me to leave the Bambino, poor lonely thing!)

After breakfast, I'll be taking off in the direction of Flint to meet Mellen60 for lunch!

Excellent! I hope Mellen60 convinces you to come back for the Michigan "Under the Bridge" rally in August!

Safe travels,
Nancy Mac

zlee · 01-31-2012, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maccamper

Excellent! I hope Mellen60 convinces you to come back for the Michigan "Under the Bridge" rally in August!

Safe travels,
Nancy Mac

Hmmm...possible, but not sure yet where I'll be in August, UK or US!

zlee · 01-31-2012, 03:16 PM

On my way to Lansing after meeting up with Mellon -- let me tell you something, folks -- if Mellon ever decided to rule the world, she'd have it done within the year! Fantastic time meeting up. Hope to hit Chicago late tonight!

zlee · 01-31-2012, 11:00 PM

Chicago! Mellen thought it was a good idea to go in the evening, so I did, and it was a doddle.

**blmitch5** · 02-01-2012, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zlee

Chicago! Mellen thought it was a good idea to go in the evening, so I did, and it was a doddle.

I'm glad you made it there ok! Are going to be there for a few days? How's Bambi doing? It's going to be in the 50s this week and rain on Friday but I think you picked a great week to travel.

MrUKToad · 02-01-2012, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blmitch5

but I think you picked a great week to travel.

It's true, although we didn't think so as we sat in the Bambino with Zlee on Sunday with the snow coming down at quite a rate :~)

zlee · 02-01-2012, 08:34 AM

Well, between London and Sarnia it absolutely was blizzarding, and Kirk admitted when we got to Port Huron that he was thinking to himself, "OMG, what have we done to her?!" as we trekked through the blizzard. It had actually been quite nice and even sunny in London when we left. (I would have waved as we passed the Chatham exit, Mr. Toad, but the snow was bucketing down and I didn't dare take my hands off the wheel!)

I was soooo nervous when we switched the vehicles in Port Huron that Kirk actually followed me to the next exit.

I hadn't realized how much difference wind and the quality of the road make to the towing experience. I got out of the wind somewhere around Kalamazoo, and suddenly realized that had been what the porpoising and squirrelly feeling of the trailer had been all about, because suddenly it was all gone. (Of course, it started raining shortly thereafter!) When I finally got to I-94, the difference in the paved surfaces was astounding. Mellen had said that if I left around 4 or 5 from their farm near Flint, I'd hit Chicago when the traffic was lightest, and she was right. By then the roads were great and there was little wind, little rain, little traffic, and I thought...hey! They were all right! This IS fun!

And Mellen, you'd have been proud of me, I even backed up a little at a truck stop to cozy into a space when I stopped for a late dinner.

I'll be in Chicago until Friday morning, so Brad, if you're back in KC by Sunday, that's probably when we'll get there! Maybe even on Monday if we really dawdle on the way back.

I'm going to wander down to unhitch, go find some breakfast, go to IKEA, update the blog, and in general take it easy.

If J hadn't wanted his first night to be in a hotel, I'd so be in some rest stop somewhere among the trucks, cozied up in the Bambino! It was so tempting last night to stop short and do just that; only the knowledge that I'd then have to get into Chicago during rush hour stopped me.

MrUKToad · 02-01-2012, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zlee

Well, between London and Sarnia it absolutely was blizzarding, and Kirk admitted when we got to Port Huron that he was thinking to himself, "OMG, what have we done to her?!" as we trekked through the blizzard. It had actually been quite nice and even sunny in London when we left. (I would have waved as we passed the Chatham exit, Mr. Toad, but the snow was bucketing down and I didn't dare take my hands off the wheel!)

We'd have had a job to see you waving, Zlee, even with the snow. Sarnia is a good hour from here!

Anyhoo, I'm glad to see that you're warming to the towing thing; you'll gain excellent experience on your way home and when you're travelling the warm, sunlit roads in the summer you'll think it's all so easy after battling through storms in the winter.

Is J going to help you with the driving? If you're like me, you won't want to offer up the steering wheel easily!

zlee · 02-01-2012, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrUKToad

Is J going to help you with the driving? If you're like me, you won't want to offer up the steering wheel easily!

He'll drive if he must, but generally prefers doing the navigating, which he's really good at--he books all my (and much of his family's) hotels and such as well. It's fun to watch the hotel clerks try to decipher what the computer is telling them at 11pm when they realize the booking was made via the UK an hour before.

I'd actually like it if he drove more, tbh, but there you are.

Mellen60 · 02-01-2012, 11:52 AM

Zlee,

Thanks for the memories! Your call was a ray of sunshine on the last day in January which topped off a 56 degree Michigan crazy WINTER(??) day. Folks, I got to see the BAMBINO with my own eyes. She's a beauty. Zlee has cut her teeth and she's ready to rhumba. The weather during her stop over at our farm was spectacular. My beautiful, snowy dirt road had turned to trecherous slush and mud so I texted Zlee to park at a nearby truck stop so she wouldn't get the Bambino's undies all soiled.

We trekked through a little lakeside spot in our woods and watched my dog run like there was a hot dog waiting at the end of the trail. She was so happy to go, go, go.

Afterwards it was time to get down to business....lunch. We baked two different flavored bread dough pasties and filled one with oven baked turkey, basil, pepper, and Wisconsin cheese and the other with turkey pepperoni and mozzerella cheese. An impromptu spaghetti sauce was heated up and we dipped and dripped.

All good things have to come to an end and it was time for Zlee to head out to the Windy City (my hometown) and hook up with a giant T-Rex named, "Sue" at the Field Museum as she patiently awaits the touchdown of a certain someone who lights up her life.

Let the drama continue! Keep those updates coming and thank you, Zlee, for a fun afternoon.

Kelly

maccamper · 02-02-2012, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zlee

. . .
I'm going to wander down to unhitch, go find some breakfast, go to IKEA, update the blog, and in general take it easy.

. . .

Gosh, Z, are you still in IKEA?

Have a great day in the Chicago area.

Nancy Mac

zlee · 02-02-2012, 07:49 AM

I've been being completely laggard all yesterday! I need to sit down and power through the blog updates...but Field Museum this morning -- squeeee! -- and I pick up J this evening around 7 -- SQUEEEEEE!