Day 13 – 5th August 2026
Went for a walk on the beach of Lake Michigan early doors, then jumped in the van and started the 300+ mile drive to Sandusky. We drove up around the coast of the Lake Michigan and then went off on I94 East. Along here somewhere there was a google streetview car driving alongside and in front of us so I stayed close by in an attempt to make it onto google street view again. The images of us on streetview are below and here is a link to the actual location. I appeared on Google Street view at my home address back in the day and still show up today.
On the journey today we were joined by a non-paying passenger. A Monarch butterfly had accidentally got wrapped around the radio aerial and stayed with us all the way. When we arrived though the butterfly was a bit the worse for wear.
We arrived at Sandusky KOA at 17:15 hours and also lost another hour due to the timezone changes. We got there and connected up to the electric, visited the shop and prepared for the night. Then we got into our swimmers, took the washing to the laundry and headed to the pool for a laze in the cooler water as it was absolutely boiling weather.
We tidied up the van a bit and then went for a walk to the coast of Lake Eerie through a local trailer park, it said private area but we walked through the signs and had a bit of a wander. There were signs around the park too that there were snakes and we should keep our distance but fortunately we never saw any. We got back to the van about dusk and then I sent the drone up to capture a few photos of the lakeside and the nearby area.
We revisited the Freddie situation and wrote a letter to the Cattery to ask for some idea of what had happened to him and then concentrated on what we were planning to do tomorrow. We were planning on visiting Niagara Falls for the Skyline tomorrow but we were staying away from there at a park and needed to plan the parking etc for the day.
Day 14 Thursday 6th August.
We had another 300 mile journey planned for tomorrow and left the site at 8:20 am for the drive eastwards.
We headed straight to the Skylon on the Canadian side of the border, overlooking the Niagara Falls and managed to get a space in a parking area that wasn’t too far away, walked up towards the Skylon and we went up in the lift to the top, before looking around the 360 view and spending some time staring at the spectacle of the Falls from the viewing platform. It was amazing, you could hear the noise of the crashing water from up high, over the other side of the river.
In here there were a couple of pointers on the windows to show you what it was you might see outside of the window and one was for the Old Scow which points towards the wreck of an old iron boat at the top of the falls. Only the S had been peeled off so I waited until an elderly lady got into the proximity of the text before taking a street style photo of her.
We descended the tower and walked around the gift shop for a while, before heading out to the riverside where there were excellent views of the Falls, the boats going under the falls, the zipline that runs alongside the Niagara river and the ability to get soaked by the spray that was bouncing from the water up onto the footpath which was very high up. Not an easy task for water to be transported that far but the falls made it look easy. A couple of rainbows were evident in the mist of water that filled the air in the valley over the river and these were quite cool over the boats.
Jo and I then went to have a sit in the cafe across the road and had a nice drink whilst we watched the people passing by, it was a lovely day with a bit of cooling mist in the air and once we were done here we headed back to the van for the drive to Four Mile Creek. On the way out of the town we went through the touristy area and it looked like a fun place to spend some time but we needed to be checking into to our campground so didn’t hang around. On the way back through the border crossing the guards checked our passports and asked us the same questions about drugs, tobacco and alcohol to make sure we weren’t transporting contraband. Jo was worried both times about ht half bottle of rose wine that was in the fridge door, but I guess that they wouldn’t have been bothered about this.
When we arrived at Four Mile Creek park we walked into the reception to register and spoke to two lovely ladies, behind the counter. Apart from trying to endlessly sell som hoody type sweaters they also helped guide us to the parking that we could use for the camper. They showed it us on the map but as they were pointing us to Goat Island they also showed us an area of the map and they drew some big black crosses over a couple of areas, saying “Do not go there, keep well away from there”. We decided to follow their advice even though we didn’t fully understand the reasons behind it.
We connected up the van and then settled down to a nice sunset over Lake Ontario, whilst talking to a couple who were in the next camper/ Bobby and Wynn were friendly and they were gutted that they had missed the sunset so suggested that they get there tomorrow too. They were on Day 3 of a 24 day exploration of the Great Lakes which sounded like a good trip but not enough concrete architecture for me. The evening finished with downloading the images off the cameras to the USB hard drive and also onto the laptop.
Day 15 – Niagara Falls
Waking up in the morning we prepared for the day and looked outside of the van to be greeted by a wet floor and rain dripping down the side of the van. We drove to the Goat Island car park, as suggested by the receptionists. The weather forecast for the day was Thundery Rain and a high of 22 degrees Celsius so we headed off over to the park to be there at 13:00 on the Maid Of The Mist.
Phil Poole from Fairfield Cattery that killed our cat has also emailed back with no sympathy or remorse and an attack on us and the vet who diagnosed Freddie’s anti-freeze poisoning, but we’ll leave this until we get back to the UK before we carry on any further.
Greatest Of All Time
We left the van for a walk around Goat Island, walked past the Bridal Veil Falls and the statue of Nikola Tesla before heading into the town to find the meeting point at the Hard Rock Cafe. There was a little confusion as it seemed three different tours had arranged to meet at the same time at the same location, but our guide turned up eventually and after a few complaints from an elderly gent who didn’t realise it was a walking tour we were on our way. There were a few more cybertrucks around here too one that was painted white, or wrapped which looked even weirder than the usual stainless steel version.
Boat Trip
First stop on the trip was the Maid Of The Mist, the boat that launches from the side of the river then travels up past the Bridal Veil Falls and then drives as close as safely to the underneath of the Horseshoe Falls , this is the big arc of waterfall that people associate with the falls and it was exciting to be on the boat. We were provided with a large blue plastic poncho that would be needed and as I’d seen other people getting off the boat looking a bit soggy I figured I would leave my Q3 camera in my bag and underneath the large poncho. Good choice.
We travelled out of the dock and moved forwards, there were also boats full of red pncho-wearing tourists that were launching and returning to the Canadian side of the river. We got underneath the American Falls and there was a significant amount of spray and water in the air that was soaking everybody. A gentler Bridal Veil fall was next and then we got to the Horseshoe falls, the guide had told us to get to the front right of the boat for the best experience so that’s where we were. It was hammering down with water and the force of the water and air was really impressive. I was using my iPhone 16 Pro to capture photos and videos but trying to change options or use the shutter button on the screen was practically impossible as it was covered with water.
I did manage a few images and clips but it was ridiculous, I was really pleased I left my weathertight (but probably not Niagara Falls tight) Q3 in it’s little case in the bag. The noise and forces were significant and it was quite oppressive after being there for a few minutes. There’s no way i would want to swim around anywhere near these falls as it would be holding you underwater until you drowned.
Windy Cave
We returned back to the dock and stripped off the ponchos, shaking them dry and keeping them for a souvenir, before we had a bit of a walking tour, past the Tesla statue and the tops of the falls, where we had been already on the way to the tour. We were then handed our tickets for the Cave Of The Winds which would see us descend 175ft in a lift to the bottom of the American Falls where the walkway took you to the Hurricane Deck and you feel the force of the water once again. This time we were given a yellow poncho with the Cave branding on it but it was even less use than the blue one on the boat. My shoes were absolutely full of water and squelching around was a fun experience. There were opportunities to stand really close to the water and even reach out and touch them, but the winds coming off the falling water, that gave this attraction its name, were very strong and almost enough to knock you off your feet.
After this we popped back to the Hard Rock cafe and had a dinner before jumping in the van to head back to Four Mile Creek for another sunset. On the way we went past a large hydro power station so we pulled off the road and I took a couple of photos. We were not allowed to fly the drone in this area or I would have done.
Day 16 – Finger Lakes
When we awoke in the van we had a short 120 mile or approximately 3 hour drive to get from Four Mile Creek to Waterloo Finger Lakes. We’d also taken a look and decided that there was a state park that looked worthy of a flying visit so we stopped at Letchworth State Park and took some photos of the dam at Mount Morris, Jo listened to a few birds and identified them using her Merlin app, had a bit of a sandwich sat out side the van and then got on with the rest of the drive.
As Jo was driving though I was taking photos out of the window of the van to capture the houses and buildings that exist on this road. Many houses had patriotic exteriors, there were many that were run down, abandoned or just really old and tired. Thee were people out doing all sorts of things, from putting together new mailbox posts to cutting their lawns, to repairing cars. I took a good many photos on this part of the journey but none, as of yet, have jumped out as important images to me. This might change in the future but we’ll see.
Lakes
We got into the KOA at Finger Lakes Waterloo at 16:30 hours and caught up with a load of washing in the launderette on the site. We bought some firewood and a lighter in the camp shop and sat outside with a fire in the metal firepit. there were fewer restrictions here on fires as we had seen plenty of signs in the earlier part of the trip that open flames were prohibited due to the risk of fires spreading. After we’d seen part of California ablaze on the way towards Las Vegas we’d stayed well away from the risk, but here we were ok.
I also managed to get the drone up over the canal that was just behind our campsite and there were a couple of boats on there that I managed to photograph and video also. I downloaded the photos and videos from the Q3 and the Mini 4 Pro before heading to bed. There were some leaflets around about going on Wine Tasting Vineyard trips but these were really not something I was that into so we just chilled at the van before the drive tomorrow onwards to Philadelphia.
The mileage on the odometer when we started today was 33825 and when we arrived later it was 33968, meaning we’d covered off 143 miles today. In total though we had covered 3383 miles since we picked up the van. This was mainly a stopover on the way to Philly so we hadn’t planned anything to do here and it was nice and relaxing anyway.
Day 17 – Philadelphia – Sun August 9th
We had a 305 mile drive the next day to get to Philadelphia it would take around 5 hours at minimum behind the wheel of the Chevrolet. We headed out of the campground and stopped to fill up with gas before making a start, I had stopped at the filling station to take some photos whilst Jo topped up the tank. There were a few mini storage units and the light was hitting them in a wonderful way and I had to capture a few different images.
There was an interesting sign for a drive in movie place that featured some life-size stormtroopers, minions and other characters. It was interesting to see this staple of the American culture being represented. There were some screens on either side too showing adverts for lawyers and other standard US advertising fayre.
Car-tastrophe
On the way to the next site we stopped at a Dunkin’ for a donut and coffee while Jo had the tiniest of breakfast rolls ever served over a counter. We were offered some great advice by a local on places to go walking in the nearby area but obviously we were heading out of town so didn’t want to appear rude and listened to all of his wise words. After 100 miles we switched driving and somewhere along the way I was trying to turn left off a main road and it was a three lane monster which I had to move across into the middle lane, and then the turning lane. As I was moving across safely a large pickup vehicle tried to overtake me and he got mightily unhappy with some tooting of his horn and gesturing. I had seen him in the mirror but was already across the lane and he was driving much faster than he should have been and swerved out behind me at the last second, whilst i was already into the third lane. I was a little shook up and instead of halting in the turn line I went straight out and turned across the oncoming three lanes of traffic causing them to too their horns also. Understandably of course. I realised what I’d done almost instantly and floored it in the huge motorhome, making the exit without any contact from the vehicles I’d just cut up but it shook both of us up.
A Fine Philly
We got to Philadelphia South / Clarksboro KOA which is in New Jersey state and parked up the van, connected it to the services and prepared to go into the city. The thing about being in a motorhome though means you can’t just go and park it in the city without some serious research first. So we did what we had done several times before, used the Uber app and got a ride into the city with a very nice driver.
Bell End
First stop was the Liberty Bell Center where we might be able to set eyes on one of the most historic of bells. Obviously second only to Big Ben in London’s Elizabeth tower at the Palace Of Westminster. We walked through the remains and reconstruction of the house of presidents Washington and Adams back when Philly was the nations’s capital. We walked into the hall where the bell was proudly displayed and there were tonnes of people in there walking around the bell taking the odd selfie etc. It is a big bell with huge structural issues that has led it to be held together with a metal frame. The bell hasn’t been rung since 1846 apparently and is a symbol in the movement of the abolition of slavery amongst many other movements.
From here we walked through the city on the way to the Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Museum Of Art which was closing soon. We traipsed all the way there in the scorching hot weather and were met by an ice cream van at the foot of the steps. I had a Cherry Ice, snowcone?, in a cup and it was very refreshing indeed, whilst Jo had a Mr Whippee style cone. Once revitalised we headed for the stone steps that featured in the 1976 movie when Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) ran to the top in his training montage. A bit of a queue up here to have a picture with the statue so we did this, Jo recorded a little run up the last few steps in a similar comedy manner as she did at the Forrest Gump Point earlier in the trip.
Now we walked all the way back across the city to head towards the dock/riverside area (Penn’s Landing) and on the way we stopped at a restaurant for a drink and bite to eat. Jo had her favourite item of food here, the Philly Cheesesteak and she loved it. I had a pint of Guinness, this time a non-0.0 drink, a full fat beer the definitely refreshed the parts that other beers hadn’t reached. We were walkign back through the main civic building and came across a large round screen with a video display on it, when I realised that this was a “Portal”. A video link between different devices throughout the world, I had heard of it after a device based in Ireland had caused some consternation when public nudity became a thing to cheer up people on the other side of the world. As we stood in front of it there were glances of different locations across the globe and we were interacting with the people on the other end. When I pointed out my Shrewsbury Town logo on my shirt to a guy in Ireland he lifted up his top to show off his belly, which I promptly did too. I can see why these portals cause problems…
As we walked through the city towards the river we also found a couple of buildings of interest too, a strange looking building , The Robinson’s building at 1020 Market Street was a Modernist building erected in 1946 commonly called “The Wave” it was boarded up and looking a bit beat up but it was obviously something special. Also nearby was the Philadelphia Inquirer building at 100 Independence Mall West, hat had some good old concrete legs on it, similar to those found in the Southbank Centre in London. It was called the Rohm and Haas building and was built in 1965 by Architect Belluschi.
When we got to the riverside we could see a warship on the other side of the Delaware river, it was the battleship USS New Jersey and it seemed an appropriate place to have her moored. There were a few people around here, some were in Swan pedalo boats and others just chilling at the waters edge. There was also the impressive Benjamin Franklin bridge crossing over from Pennsylvania to New Jersey.
Time For Bed
We got an uber back from here to the campground and prepared for the next day, which would be our last of driving the motorhome and staying overnight in it. We would be heading to New Jersey proper at Liberty Harbour, just across the Hudson River from NYC.
Before bed though, we made a point of watching the “Handover” video showing us what we would need to do when we eventually handed back the motorhome to the Indie Campers team in just over a day’s time. We also tried to use the remaining firewood to have a fire-pit again but it must have been damp as nothing we did would keep the fire going for long enough to seriously damage the wood.
Catch up with the next blog post when we get to the end of the driving adventure and spend a few days in the city that never sleeps.
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