June 6th (Day 1)
The first day of our trip was really interesting, because I wasn't ready at all... I had a list of stuff to pack, but absolutely nothing was ready - as I had been working a lot leading up to the trip. Just a couple days before we left, I had worked a 12 hour shift at Wendy's (might not sound like much, but in fast food, that's a long shift). I managed to find everything and pack pretty quickly though. Then I made sure all of the animals were taken care of, helped Mom and Aaron load their stuff into our rental car (which we had picked up the day before) and dropped off the house keys with my brother Mitchell, who was taking care of things while we were gone.
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| Our first selfie of the trip! |
Then, we picked Dad up from work, (he wanted to have as much money as possible on our trip). He works at an Aluminum Rolling Mill, which is really interesting in and of itself, but he's not allowed to take pictures or divulge processes as they're basically trade secrets.
We started our adventure by taking a group selfie in our matching "Fire on the Highway" t-shirts in front of Dad's workplace. (You can see the blue rental car in the background, you'll see more of it later on!)
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| Chicago, Illinois. |
After a quick stop at Wendy's in Uhrichsville, we were on the road. We drove across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. We drove through Chicago, which I thought was cool, because I'd never been there before.
There were a ridiculous amount of toll roads during this part of our journey. We spent somewhere between $30 and $40 driving across these states, as I recall Ohio and Indiana were the worst for this. They have some nice rest stops on those toll roads though!
Finally, we arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was late when we arrived at our hotel. We found out when we got there that they charged a $50 deposit, and Dad spent some time on the phone getting the deposit waived, as he was not informed of it when he had booked the room, and he did not have enough to afford a $50 deposit every night. This became a determining factor for each of our stops after this, as well as a topic of discussion... Why the heck do hotels charge $50 to $100 deposits, not in cash either, but on cards; which take 3 to 10 days to refund. A major inconvenience when you're on the road.
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| The hotel we stayed in! |
Anyway, once we were past that hurdle, we got to our room. The hotel turned out to be under construction and the halls were bare and empty, with the occasional random pile of construction supplies lying about.
The room was pretty nice and we settled in for the night. I took a shower before going to bed, which later turned out to be a very good decision.
June 7th (Day 2)
Seconds after our alarms rang in the morning, we heard a terrible sound in the next room over... and soon discovered that the water was shut off and we could not shower (and by we, I mean everyone that hadn't showered the night before haha) or flush the toilet.
Turns out, the construction crews were already getting started on all the other vacant rooms on the floor, including using a jackhammer in the next room!
We went down to get breakfast, but there wasn't any left.
So, Dad went and complained to management. They gave us half off on the price of our room and cooked up some fresh breakfast. The hotel staff were fantastic! Whoever the higher up was, making the decision to tear the whole place apart and still rent rooms made a grave error and I hope this doesn't hurt the reputation of the hotel too badly, as it looks like it will be a very nice one when it is finished!
Dad spent a few minutes talking to a fellow traveler as we ate the freshly cooked breakfast. Seemed like a nice fella.
We made a pit stop or two for necessities and then we reached our first destination: the Harley-Davidson Visitor Center just outside of Milwaukee.
The steel-toe factory tour was unavailable due to some sort of expansion/refurbishment work being done on the factory itself, but there was still an awesome shorter tour available.
Obviously, another facility where no cameras are allowed. So, no pictures, but suffice it to say, it was fascinating to see all the work that goes in to each and every piece of a Harley-Davidson Motorcycle. We took another group selfie in our Fire on the Highway tees in front of the Visitor Center.
After this, we drove back into Milwaukee to visit the Harley-Davidson Museum. But first, where to grab a bite to eat?
Conveniently, part of the Museum complex actually hosts a Harley-Davidson-themed restaurant called "Motor." We decided to try it out, and it was FANTASTIC.
I got the bacon cheeseburger, naturally, as I explained to my family this is a tradition of mine while traveling. I really enjoy trying cheeseburgers in various restaurants all over, I've discovered some really good ones out there - the one at Motor was one of the very best. Top 5 material for sure! Reminded me a bit of another delicious burger, on Fort Myers Beach, but that's another story! ;)
After we ate, we checked out the gift shop and Dad bought a few souvenirs.
Somewhere in all of that, we decided that we wouldn't be able to spend any significant time in the museum AND make it to our next destination on time. (Everyone was eager to get to bed earlier, and a shower too, due to the lack of water in the morning.) So, we decided to forgo visiting the museum. We took a few photos outside though, since we were already there!
I decided not to get the t-shirts out for a second time, but we still took this selfie in front of the statue outside of the museum.
I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of my travel mascot yet, so I decided I would go ahead and get all my trains out of the car and make a video and
take some pictures to commemorate Milwaukee as the first stop on our trip. In hindsight, it was really funny. I grabbed my backpack out of the car, with the trains and track in it, walked through the crowd of bikers that was congregating for a bike show and proceeded to set up for the video. I probably got a few strange looks, but I wasn't paying attention because I was very excited to being filming my first video in what I hope will be a unique and fun toy train series for YouTube. It is only 24 seconds long, but it is the only one I've had a chance to edit yet and it is available to view now.
(Click Here!)
After leaving Milwaukee, we drove across Wisconsin and into Minnesota. I remember as the sun was setting we crossed into Minnesota and the river on the border and the surrounding scenery was so beautiful! I was unable to take any photos because of the low lighting.
We drove until we got to a hotel called "Highland Court Motel." We got a quaint little room, quite lovely, and we all got to sleep pretty quickly!
So, that's the story of the first day on the road...
...and, of course, that was only the beginning. We had a long way to go! :)
