USA - Canada - USA - Canada: all in a day

After reflecting over today I'm not sure if I should consider the first snowfall of the year in Ann Arbor to be considered an omen of some sort or foreshadowing of how our day went today.  It started off with us packing up the car while the snow lightly fell in Ann Arbor.  All three of us were pretty okay with this as we did what we needed to do and got it all done in a short period of time.  We headed to Tim Hortons and were at the border ready to cross in under an hour.  This my friends is where the story of our tired travelers takes a turn for the worse.

After months of researching and filling out forms both Yaron and I felt confident that crossing the border would be a smooth process.  We individually did research on what would be required and ironed out details that we differed on.  What we didn't plan for was the fact that U.S. immigration has the worst website ever and doesn't clearly indicate the difference between taking a commercial automobile across versus taking a personal use automobile across.  We got to the Ambassador Bridge, paid our $5 to cross it and drove into Canada.  When we got to the generally pleasant customs officer he told us that we needed to export our vehicle from the U.S. first and that we'd have to go back over the bridge into the U.S. to do so.  He explained that the signage is actually pretty terrible and many people miss where they need to turn off.  So we head back into our car, drive over the bridge and pay another $5, get lost on the highway and eventually make it back to the U.S. border crossing where we see a sign that says "cargo customs" and turn into that area.  Clearly exporting a personal use car is a 'cargo' issue.  We waited for the lovely chain-link gates to open and then we go see the U.S. custom agent who promptly told us in a loud, mean and terse tone that we did not do what we needed to do and therefore cannot export our car.  To which we went "Huh?"  Apparently in April 2014 they changed their policy and now anyone exporting a car out of the U.S. must use a broker to file forms and get some special number that allows you to export your car.  Nowhere in our research did we find anything that said this.  We emailed our title and info 72 hours before crossing, received the automatic confirmation and assumed everything was hunky-dory.

Soooooo after getting upset at this whole process we got back in our car and went to get on the bridge.  Turns out this is not normal behaviour for people to drive back and forth on the bridge, especially in a bright orange car.  What happens when you do something out of the ordinary?  The customs police in three cop cars pull you over and surround your car.  Then ask both of you to step out and start yelling at you like you've done something horribly wrong.  Thankfully Yaron did most of the talking and sorted everything out, because I was on the verge of crying.  All we wanted to do was go home!  Once they played good cop/bad cop for a bit they let us go and they all piled into their cars and drove away.  We were left to get back in our car, pay the $5 fee again to cross the damn Ambassador Bridge and drove back into Canada where we met with another friendly, but direct customs agent.  We explained the situation and he was nice enough to let us in, but told us we need to figure out the car situation immediately.  We assured him we would and that we'd do it at the buffalo border since it's closer to Toronto.  He approved our entrance into Canada, Lizzys immigration and all of our household goods that we shipped back.  Our car however is still considered to be American property.

Once we got back into the car we started driving and I started crying.  This was not how I had imagined re-entering Canada would be.  Thankfully though Yaron was able to calm me down and we made it all the way to London before stopping for lunch.  We drove close to home and then got stuck in rush hour traffic.  Our 2 hour fiasco at the border delayed our travels and now we were stuck in Toronto's notoriously horrific rush hour traffic.  After sitting in it for a while we texted my dad who gave us directions on how to get out of the mess we were in.  I don't think I've ever been as happy as I was to just pull into my parents driveway and be done with the day.

We were greeted by my parents, my sister and nephew and then Yaron's parents came over to say hello as well.  After such a shitty end to an awesome road trip we were at home, surrounded by our loved ones and happy to be out of the car.

Slight under-counting as we reset some time after the first gas station. ~3400 miles in total 

Thankfully we found a broker that was open to start handling our forms and it looks like everything should be dealt with by mid-week next week.  We still have to travel back to the border and presumably get yelled at by some U.S. custom agents because I really think that's all they know to do, but everything should be handled before we leave for Australia/New Zealand.

We'll try to blog a bit while 'down under', but I don't think it'll be everyday.  We miss all of our friends and family down in California, but we're excited to be taking these next steps in our lives.  Love to all of you and have a great weekend!

Time-lapsed videos:
Day 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm_Btr8K9f8
Day 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5rFS4-FJ2M

Homeward Bound

Tonight is our last night in the U.S. as legal resident aliens (love that term).  Tomorrow we'll head to the border, hopefully be allowed to cross it, and enter back into Canada to be residents once again.  This will also mark Lizzy's entry into Canada to be a Canadian doggy.  I don't think she really understands the significance of this, but hopefully she'll get really happy once we stop driving and she gets to sniff all our family that have previously visited us while in California.  It's definitely a bittersweet moment for Yaron and I, but we've had a ton of fun crossing the country and having Lizzy join in on all our adventures.

As for today though, we started off our day in true Canadian fashion...by stopping at a Tim Horton's for breakfast.  Yaron opted for the coffee and chocolate chip muffin while I got my hot chocolate and a coffee cake muffin.  I'd never seen this flavour muffin before so I of course had to try it.  Once again Tims did not disappoint :)  We ended up sharing a bagel as well cause we were super hungry, but you didn't really need to know that.

We drove straight through to Ann Arbor and had a small bite to eat at a local brewery.  We then relaxed for a bit at our place for the evening before heading out to see Annie and Doug.  Annie used to work with Yaron before moving to Ann Arbor.  It was a lot of fun catching up and meeting their adorable children (9 months and 3 years).  Now we're back at our place relaxing with the dog.  We'll head out in the morning at our usual time and post again in the evening for one last time.

Thanks for joining us on our adventure and we'll see you back here tomorrow.

P.S. Today was pretty boring so sorry for the equally boring post.

Tim Hortons!

We've been waiting for this for entirely too long.. the first Tim Hortons sign! Our Canadians can practically taste home :)

I think we broke the puppy

This is Lizzy after Day 9 of road tripping across the U.S.  She typically sleeps 12+ hours each day (as dogs do), but she hasn't been sleeping in the car as she prefers to look out the window or hang out with her humans.  Needless to say each night (and especially tonight) she is one done dog.  I know she's looking forward to Toronto where she'll no longer have to ride in the car each day and where she'll be able to catch up on her beauty sleep.

As for her humans, we started off the day in Nashville and ended it in Cincinnati.  We unfortunately hit rain on our way into town which makes it the first official day of bad weather.  I'm hoping things only get better from here (a girl can wish can't she?).

A "lovely" view of Cincinnati skyline.

Now I have to say, Kentucky is a mighty confusing state.  In one state we managed to travel by Glasgow, Lebanon, London and Stanford.  Seriously?  Where the hell was their originality when coming up with city names?  We also changed to our final time zone today which threw us off a bit. Lizzy enjoyed it though cause she got dinner an hour early :)

Anyways, along the way we got to see this friendly dinosaur

and we got to stop to see how Louisville Sluggers are made at the factory.  We weren't allowed to take pictures so unfortunately the only one I have to share is this one from after the tour.

We got mini bats as a souvenir :D  Yaron commented that he thought it was funny how we were more interested in the techniques on how to make a bat and the machines they use rather than all the baseball facts they were throwing at us or the historic significance of where we were.  I doubt we'll start making our own bats, but it was really fun to see.  The smell in the factory of all the wood was just amazing :)

Tonight it's still raining so we decided to grab dinner and bring it back to eat while we take it easy and just crash.  We decided to take a night off from bbq so I found this neat little restaurant where you choose your meatball, choose your carb and then choose your sauce.  It was quite delectable and they even had veggie meatballs which I totally took advantage of!  They didn't hold together quite well, but I got mine over pasta so I was okay with them breaking up.  Tons of flavour though so I'd definitely consider making this dish myself.

Tomorrow we are heading towards our last American city on this road trip: Ann Arbor.  We'll be seeing Yarons old co-worker and her family for dinner.  We're both excited as she's super friendly and awesome.  Tomorrow, we will also be stopping by Tim Hortons in the States.  This will be our first Tim Hortons on the route and we plan to fully take advantage of it.  Is it sad that I already know I'll be ordering at least a hot chocolate and muffin?  And if they just so happen to have some cherry timbits (crueller ones not the gross cherry jam filled ones) then I may have to get a couple of those too.  

Here are the time-lapsed videos from yesterday and today.

Day 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dut7CH6fz8E

Day 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QibfUDqlYc

See ya again tomorrow.  Probably different time, but definitely same place.

Home Stretch-ish

We made it to Nashville!  Our eastward driving is almost complete and we no longer need to drive on Highway 40.  WOOT WOOT!

We started day 8 of our road trip by checking out Sun Studio where Elvis, B.B King and other legends first recorded tracks.  Currently they do tours during the day and then allow artists (Maroon 5, U2, etc.) to use the facilities to record at night.  They haven't changed anything from the original set-up Elvis used which is pretty cool.  After the tour we topped off our stay in Memphis by stopping off at a little cupcakery and having some delicious cupcakes to give us a sugar-rush that would take us all the way to Nashville.  Lizzy wanted in on the cupcake eating, however chocolate and sugar were not made for doggies.  She got a star later on that day to make up for missing out on the cupcakes.

When we made it to Nashville we checked in at our airbnb which has a massive backyard.  Lizzy got a chance to stretch her legs by exploring all the bushes and chasing after her ball.  Once she was tired we left her to sleep for a bit while the humans checked out a local taproom which had delicious beer (according to Yaron) and delicious food (according to me).  We then picked up some bbq for dinner which was shown on the Food Network, of course (at this point are you really expecting something else??), and brought it back to enjoy at our home for the evening.  This was by far the best bbq (and bbq sauce, Go Tennessee!) we've had all trip.  We're hoping to come back to Nashville for a long weekend in the future and we will definitely have to come back for more food.

After dinner we headed back out to the Station Inn which was recommended by the bartender at the taproom.  It's a Monday night so not everyone had live music going on.  The band was playing some bluegrass this evening and a couple members were Grammy/CMA award winners.  Very cool!

Tomorrow we head to Cincinnati with a stop-over in Louisville, Kentucky.  We're hoping to check out the Louisville Slugger factory/museum and see how the bats are made.  Hopefully we'll have some pictures to share.  Including tonight, three more sleeps until the border.  Here's to hoping everything goes smoothly.  Yes we're Canadians, but who the hell knows what'll happen when it comes to customs.

Have a great day and we'll give you the link for today's time-lapsed video tomorrow :)

Hasta Luego.

So Much Driving

Back on the road this morning we listened to all 6 podcast episodes of Startup which was recommended to us by the wonderful Mr. Jon Gordner (high-five from Lizzy to Penny for keeping her people entertained in the morning).  Thanks Jon for the interesting and entertaining podcast and we highly recommend it to anyone reading this.  It's not super techy so I don't think anyone would get lost with technical jargon.

Buckle up y'all.  It's the law.

We left Oklahoma today and carried on our merry way towards Memphis, Tennessee.  We drove through the entire state of Arkansas and to be honest, we're kinda glad we didn't stop anywhere for more than a meal.  The featured billboards on the highway (that we remember) were about porn shops and beating your children (the billboards were for it, the drivers in the orange crosstrek are very very against it).  After Yaron drove an epic 3+ hours we ended up stopping in Little Rock to refuel our car and our passengers.  Lizzy got to hang out with us on the patio as we dined on pizza and croissant french toast at a restaurant that was visited by Rachel Ray on her Tasty Travels show.  Both dishes were super yummy :D.

Tonight we're hanging out in Memphis enjoying our airbnb accommodations which has a very energetic puppy living in the house.  Lizzy has been super amazing with the puppy to the point that Lizzy just stands there with a look of tolerance on her face as the puppy continually pounces on her head trying to get her to play.  Lizzy had to correct the puppy a couple times, but they seem to get along well.

For dinner tonight we decided to go off the Food Network path and try a restaurant that was recommended to us by Brandon.  Gus' Fried Chicken was delicious albeit located in a somewhat sketchy area.  Spicy and juicy and it came with hearty baked beans and fries.  Best fried chicken I think I've ever had.

So now we're hanging out and planning tomorrows itinerary.  We're going to try and do a tour at Sun Studio in Memphis and then head on over to Nashville.  We've gotten some great suggestions on where to go so we'll see if any pan out.  It's a Monday night so we don't expect much, but hopefully we'll at least get to hear some live music :)

Oh!  I almost forgot.  What the hell Toronto!  A polar vortex as we're driving home?  Are you serious? I'm hoping we don't have to deal with any snow this time around.  Not very happy with you right now. *grumpy face*

P.S. The trees were beautiful today and I loved seeing the fall colours.  Definitely missed that in the Bay Area.

Time-lapsed video of today's journey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pggIb6AeIIM&feature=em-upload_owner

Half Way There - Amarillo to Tulsa

Today we took a journey into a new state that neither myself or Lizzy have ever been into, Oklahoma!  Before I go on to talk about Oklahoma and all it's wonderfulness, I should say that I'm a little miffed at Texas.  I guess I kind of feel like there was never closure to our relationship.  Texas welcomed us into its state when we drove from New Mexico, but we didn't even know we were leaving until we saw the Oklahoma sign.  There was no "thanks for coming", no "have a safe journey and come visit us again y'all."  It just let us leave without any good-bye.  I thought more of you Texas, but I guess we just weren't in the same place. *sniff*

We started off well with a Texas sized breakfast bagel and the knowledge that we in fact did not leave anything behind at the hotel.  As we drove along Highway 40 we passed by some ridiculous sites that included the leaning water tower and a cross that was bigger than the wind turbines across the street from it.  I guess we're in real America now!

We didn't have any planned stops for the day, but as we drove closer to Oklahoma City and as our stomachs started to rumble because we hadn't eaten lunch yet, Yaron decided to look up places to eat that the Food Network recommended.  He ended up finding the Cattleman's Ranch which was listed on numerous shows from the Food Network, Travel Channel and oddly some British stations too.  It just so happened that this restaurant was one block away from the Stockyards.  Yup!  From the animal to your plate all within one block of each other (just kidding....or at least I hope I am)(P.S. Sorry to all the vegetarians/vegans reading this, but we like meat).  We got some take-out as it was a beautiful sunny day and they had no patio for us to bring Lizzy onto.  The food was incredible and while I didn't go into the restaurant (hung outside with Lizzy) Yaron assures me that every third person in the restaurant had a cowboy hat on.  Only in Oklahoma (so far)! :D

After our delicious break we decided to book it on over to Tulsa because frankly, we were tired of being in the car.  Our hotel for the evening (which was fire-free) has a large grass area which we fully took advantage of and let Lizzy off leash to run around chasing her ball.  All three of us had an excellent time and it was a much needed exercise break.

For dinner tonight, we had planned to check out a pizza place, but ended up finding a bistro with good beer.  It reminded us a lot of Monks Kettle, but it was bigger and less pretentious.  The food was delicious and Yaron enjoyed the beer selection.  We enjoyed the smores bread pudding for dessert.  Issao, next time we cook together this will definitely have to be on our dessert menu!  They used homemade marshmallows on top which really just sealed the deal for both Yaron and myself.  So amazingly good!  We walked around downtown Tulsa for a bit and it's pretty nice.

So all in all today was a pretty good day.  We were tired of driving, but made it to our destination and made some impromptu stops along the way.  Tomorrow we head to Memphis and get to pass through Arkansas.  Who knows what adventures await us there?

For more time-lapsed videos, feel free to check out these links:
Day 4: http://youtu.be/xI1svURHDvI
Day 5: http://youtu.be/Cdzff0TDh7w
Day 6: http://youtu.be/YjkzYYD10ZU

Also, this post was brought to you by the soap in our hotel room which was made by the San Francisco Soap Company.  Thanks soap people!