First days NIAGARA - CHICAGO

The first day of the trek we woke up early. The night before, we met Helen and Tommy on the hotel shuttle and Becky came to our hotel room to meet us. We went down for breakfast and met Helen. I had pancakes with maple syrup and scrambled eggs and lots of coffee. We headed up to our hotel room and bought our bags down to the lobby where we met everyone else: Sophie from Somerset, Nick from Korea, Olly from Bradford and Zara from well everywhere south of the Midlands.. And CATT! Our awesome tour leader. I received an itinerary of the tour, which detailed where we were stopping, which days and which extra activities Catt had planned and suggested etc.. We also had to do all the boring paperwork. After getting that out of the way we did the 'ice breakers' anyone who knows me KNOW I HATE these things. It doesn't tell you anything about anyone and you forget everyone's name by the time you've gone round the circle. Anyway we had to say our name and what we would replace our left hand with :0 ... Sweets of course! Game over- thank god. Catt instructed us to pack our bags in the trailer and get in the van. We had a long 7 hour drive to get to Niagara Falls state park. On the way we chatted and got to know everyone. Played MORE games lol >.> e.g two truths and a lie, word association and the story game (which is quite fun). We finally got to the campsite at about 5, but stopped to buy a few beers before to celebrate our first night on trek. Catt taught us how to set up camp, and how meals work. There is a bread box and breakfast, lunch and dinner coolers and boxes too. Catt had already been shopping for us and bought some really good food! Vegetables galore, my favourite! Someone has to be assigned 'food mama' this person makes note of what people want and what we need to buy. I thought YES that's the job for me but you have to be good at maths and keep track of the food kitty. That is definitely my weak point. The role was assigned to Olly, and Ben got the job loading the van. The rest of us take turns to cook and shop. We were supposed to go to the Niagara Falls, Maid of the Mist light show, however the campsites near the falls were booked up so Catt booked us into one next to one of the Great Lakes which was about an hour away. With the plan being to go to the falls the next morning. We got up at 6am dashed to the showers got ready and I had a bagel and coffee for breakfast. Catt showed us how to put the tent down and we packed camp down in no time at all. Everything and everyone in we headed off to the Falls. The Falls are amazing!!!! There is a HUGE RAINBOW, you can see where it starts and ends. I hate to break it to you but there is no pot of gold at the end (unless that's a metaphor for natural beauty). The falls are beautiful and the colour of the water is deep green turquoise. Around the falls though (ESP. The Canadian side, are loads of big ugly buildings) the falls is the oldest state park and used as an example as what not to do for others such as Yosemite and Yellowstone. Lots of pictures later we joined the queue for the maid of mist tour. A boat ride that takes you right up to the base of the falls and gets you SOAKING WET. You get a free plastic blue poncho. Doesn't do much to keep you dry though. I would recommend doing the boat ride, it doesn't take long, you get some good views of the falls on the way to and from the base, but be warned! When you enter the mist you can't see anything at all! We drove all the way to Sandusky in Ohio. Today we were supposed to go to Cedar Point I was looking forward to this but made the decision not to go because it cost $36 and would only be there from 5-10pm on a Sunday! I estimated that id only get on a couple of rides due to queues so wasn't worth it. Most of the group still went, but me Becky, Zara, Amy, Tommy and Catt stayed at camp and chilled then headed to Port Clinton by Lake Eerie for some food at Rosie's Grille House. We had some hilarious conversations and all bonded. I really like my group! they are all awesome in their own kooky way. When we got back to camp I got ready for bed and repacked my case. Zara built a fire and we sat around chatting until the others got back. Then I went to sleep ready for another early start! Today ...! Today we are going to CHICAGO the Windy City... On the way we're stopping at Shipshewana the Amish town for lunch and then Michael Jacksons house. It's currently 9.21am and pouring down with rain :( .... Next few days.... Shipshewana was like stepping back in time, there were cars but mainly people seemed to be travelling by horse and carriage. Was very interesting to see. They mainly survive on tourism so we visited Farmer Joes shop which had free meat and cheese samples. The range of food was bizarre... Lots of smoked pigs ears and tails - no thanks! Real beef jerky was out as a sample and other meaty treats, I didn't try any. I did sample the cheeses (of course) Everyone working there was in traditional Amish dress. We went to the big shop next door, this housed lots of little gift type shops. I've never seen so many christening and confirmation cards in my life. We started chatting to a man behind one of the counters who asked where we were from! When we told him England he told us he once lived in York and the food was weird he aparently ordered a mushroom salad and he only got mushrooms in vinaigrette!?! He asked where we were headed- why Michael Jacksons house I said. His face darkened, 'have you ever seen pictures of Beirut?' He asked ... 'Of course' 'Well it's worse than that, be warned' We had lunch under an old barn. Then jumped in the van and headed off to Beirut! Great 😒 Well what can I say about Michael Jacksons house in Gary, Indiana. It wasn't exactly Beirut but it was prettttyyyyyy bad. Every house on the lead up to it was boarded up with 'no trespassing' signs or had smashed windows or looked so dirty they might collapse into a pile of dust if it got too windy. It was a sketchy area to say the least. They have renamed the road after the Jackson family which is quite nice. The Jackson house is at the end of the road on the corner. The gates are locked, but you can stand outside and take pictures. It is cheesy Americana at it's finest. There are huge pictures stuck in the windows and a giant, gravestone type memorial and his music playing over loudspeaker. The house is clean and the garden is full of flowers. I couldn't help but think it obviously didn't look anything like this when he lived there. If anything the other houses give you more of an insight into the kind of life he had as a young boy. Quite sad really! Especially considering there was 9 of them in the house I believe. It can't be any more than a 1 or 2 bed bungalow. I had mixed feelings after leaving the stop but it was good to see it, I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to see this but if you ever happen to be in the region it's quite interesting to see. Onward and upwards to the Windy City! Upon arrival at the hostel and once in our rooms. The girls room became beauty central! We all swooned over the shower and comfy-ness of the beds. We all had a proper shower, blow dried and straightened our hair and put make up on in a bug free, warm, clean environment (hey! Not that I'm knocking camping or anything) when you're camping for 4 weeks you appreciate any small luxury you get... I don't know why we all made such a tremendous effort because next stop was Bobbys bike tour, an 11 mile twilight tour around Chicago, in the rain I might add. We took a taxi to Bobbys and picked our helmets and were given bikes. Amy had a bike named Monty, slightly weird as it's her dogs name. My bike was called Jeremy and there were some funny names such as Theodore, Mustafa and Gustapo! The boys bikes had girls names. We weren't alone on the tour, there was an American couple and a father and daughter from Chicago, the little girl was about 9 and so cute! I took a picture of them and she said 'omg I just LOVE your accent' ... I'm kind of getting used to hearing that now! After Bobbys bike tour we went to a local Irish bar, half of another trek group joined us. The bar was located right next to the river so we all got a beer, blue moon in my case. Then proceeded to the outside seating area next to the river. Here Catt told us about a shot that can only be bought in Chicago, called Mallort. Of course we bought one! It is supposed to be horrible (none of the locals drink it) but chased with pineapple juice it really wasn't all that bad. Even though it was only 40% it sent us all a bit doolally. Next stop a dive bar. I have to say I don't really get table service in a bar. But I took advantage and it was quite nice not to have to get up and hustle my way to the bar. A few blue moons later and we headed back to the hostel. The next day -FREE DAY 😎