I won’t be writing about my trip tonight. I learned this morning while driving that my best friend Chris passed away last night from injuries he’d suffered in a cycling accident last weekend. Chris was a tremendous husband and father to Stephanie, Katie and Lizzie and a great friend to so many people. He was a coach, a teacher and a mentor to me but most importantly he was a remarkable friend. We will all miss him incredibly. Rest in peace my good friend.

Day 2: Davison Michigan – Alta Vista Iowa Today was going to be the longest drive of the trip because there is basically nothing to see or stop for driving from Michigan to Iowa except farmland to I just wanted to lay down lots of miles. See what I did there? Miles. Not kilometres. Welcome to 'Merica. Up at 5:30 to be on the road by 6:00. One challenge though. The light in the tiny restroom (see what I did there? Getting acclimated to the language) in the RV wouldn't turn on. Now most people would call the renter and have the problem resolved. However, there are certain factors that prevented me from doing that. 1) I'm male. 2) I'm an RF engineer and believe I can solve any problem. 3) I'm male. So rather than have an elderly lady come and show me how to turn on a light I showered and shaved in the dark. First stop was the gas station to fill up. Benefit #1 of being in Merica ...... the tank was near empty and I'm used to putting in about $75 worth. Today's cost ..... $38.50. Yay! Drawback #1 of being in 'Merica ...... there's $36.50 I can put towards health care. Today was a lot of driving and rain and fog and rain and driving with not much interesting scenery but something I did notice, many dead deer. But not a single Deer Crossing sign. Stupid deer. There's no sign. Only cross at the signs. About 3 hours into the drive I saw that I didn't have any cell coverage. A half hour, hour, 2 hours later and still no coverage. I'd gotten this prepaid SIM specifically because when I checked the coverage map they showed that at a minimum they had call coverage if not data for most of my route. Not. I was still in a relatively civilized part of the country and had no coverage. I can't imagine that travelling through South Dakota, Wyoming or Montana would magically produce a signal. So I began looking for a Best Buy to get a replacement. My GPS directed me to a mall with one, I parked and of course the store was at the complete opposite end of the mall. First thing I had to do before starting the trek was hit the restroom. Now most guys are familiar with and follow the restroom urinal protocol. For you women that aren't .... let me explain. When selecting a urinal a guy should, if at all possible, leave at least a single urinal spacing between themselves and anyone else. I went into the restroom, there were 3 urinals and all 3 were vacant. Protocol dictates that I select #1 or #3 because if I selected #2 and someone came in then the single urinal spacing regulation would be violated. So I went to #1. A few seconds later someone came in and contrary to the protocol selected #2. Well that pissed me off. But what really concerned me was that he kept looking over at me every couple of seconds. Violating the protocol is one thing. Getting friendly initiates the stop and go response. Whether you're done or not you stop and go. Apparently people in Iowa are rather friendly. I ran to Best Buy. So I got a replacement SIM and got on the road again. I got to tonight's accommodation and as I mentioned earlier, there's nothing but farmland in Iowa so ...... I'd booked a ranch style farmhouse to stay at.

I went inside and it was like stepping into the 60's. It was awesome. Wood panelling, 60's furniture, tiffany lamps AND a 20” RCA color console TV.

Three problems quickly materialized. TV only showed static, no wifi key and cell coverage that only appeared every 5 minutes and only lasted 5 seconds so I couldn't call the owner. What to do? Get in the truck and drive until you find coverage. Three miles down the highway. The owner had given me 2 different numbers and I called 1 and left a message. Went back to the house and waited for her to show up but no luck. Back into the truck, 3 miles down the highway and called the other number. I left another message and drove back to the house. A few minutes later the owner arrives and proceeds to tell me that the first number I'd called was her cell phone but coverage in the area was pretty bad. Ya no guff Gertude. Which begs the questions 1) If cell coverage is bad then how are people supposed to contact her If needed? Wouldn't a home phone come in handy? 2) Why would she give me her cell number to call in the first place? and 3) Why even bother having a cell phone in this thriving metroplois, population 259. The area is great and its exactly the type of place I wanted to stay in, typical of the locale, but sometimes I really wonder how some people survive. She got the TV going, it had to be set to channel 00 to work. Hmmm, a note would have helped. She gave me the wifi key ..... 12345678. Hmmm, a note would have been helpful. But really, on this one I blame myself. A few attempts and I likely could have cracked that DaVinci Code.

Day 1: Markham Ontario – Davison Michigan The day has FINALLY arrived. I get to join Tammy and the pups and begin the next chapter. I didn't need to wake up early but it was a restless sleep for a variety of reasons, the main one being that I'd given away what little furniture I had to Brendan and Jen and therefore ended up sleeping in a sleeping bag on the hardwood floor. Needless to say I've had better sleeps. I had some final packing to do and a couple of errands, did all that then headed off to Woodbine Racetrack. Ya, I figured since I'm moving to the gambling capital of the world I'd get some practice in losing money. It was either gamble away the last few Canadian dollars I had or convert it to U.S. Dollars which would been the near same net effect. But actually we'd had a work team event pre-scheduled there a few months back and it was going to double as a going away for me. A buffet lunch was included and considering that buffets are a staple in Vegas it was pretty ironic that my last meal in Canada was a buffet. At first I felt a little ripped off because I don't eat lunch but I thought that I was going introduce the team to Buffet Niko. Tammy can vouch for Buffet Niko. He gets his money's worth. Anyway my “Canadian Cash Dispersal” plan worked out perfectly, 3 races, $50 in bets, zero wins. Maybe I should avoid the casinos in Vegas. Ryan on the other hand, I found out later, walked away up $360!! Well after I lost everything I said my goodbye's, took a couple of group pictures and headed out.

I have to say that it's been an emotional roller coaster lately and especially today. I've been bouncing around between the joy and excitement of finally being with Tammy to the sadness of leaving friends and family to the exhilaration of not having to be at work on Monday morning (just kidding boys) to the deep sadness of leaving one of my best friends and training partner Chris without being able to say goodbye as he's been in the hospital since last weekend after a very serious cycling accident. Thoughts are with Chris and his family. So I get on to highway 427 and within minutes I find myself planted firmly in stop and go traffic. Exiting onto highway 401 produces a change. I'm now fully entrenched in stop and no go traffic. It's as if Toronto's road infrastructure is giving me a final slap in the face. I'll miss many things but driving the 401 and DVP will not be one of them. Traffic finally cleared up and I got moving and started making good time. I had a couple of Tim Horton's gift cards and about $5 in change so that was going to be dinner. I made a quick pit stop there and headed for the border. Customs was actually pretty painless. I was prepared all kinds of things including a full body cavity search, being questioned in a dark room with a single spotlight blinding me so I couldn't identify my investigator, Chinese water torture. But the scariest question I got was “how long have you been married?” I almost blanked out. Sorry honey. But then again you can't remember either. All my paper work was checked and approved. My truck was approved for import and I was officially and legally in Merica. I got back on the highway and made way for my first stop. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful except for a dead deer at the side of the road that had been hit by a car. Well uneventful for me but fairly eventful for the deer. About an hour later my GPS directed me on to a secondary road and then on to a gravel road to where i would spend the night.

So I have booked stays for the entire trip but have decided to avoid hotels and motels and located places off the beaten track and somewhat different or typical of the locale. My first night was to be spent in a recreational vehicle.

It's located in a beautiful setting in a stand of trees overlooking a small lake. And it's got wifi and it's got Direct TV so I could watch the hockey game. Unfortunately the Rangers, which I'd bet on to win the Cup, lost and were eliminated. Man I suck at this gambling thing. Whatever possessed me to move to Las Vegas. Tammy please keep me away from the casinos. Hmmmm ...... I wonder if I can hot wire this RV and drive it the rest of the way to Vegas?