Drive Time

Everything had been planned to perfection. What we didn't take into account was the buffet breakfast. Any time you get the opportunity to make your own waffles, you jump at it. Of course after so much eating, jumping is becoming more and more difficult. So we ate too much, grabbed some breakfast bagels for lunch and began our short walk to pick up our hire car.

Of course the address we had was wrong as they had moved. One minute turned to fifteen and eventually after the people in front of us failed the credit check, we were on our way.

We had a black Kia and passenger Annette immediately tried to get in the drivers seat. The first left turn was the same as every other trip to the states as I turned on the windscreen wipers to indicate.

The City area of Cleveland is like driving through a big country town, with the addition of some tall buildings. Once out of the city it was interstate s77 pretty much all the way.

We got to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton a bit later than expected but there was hardly anybody there so getting through it all was pretty quick (around 4 1/2 hours) or 4 1/2 light years for those none football fans among us.

I'm sure that the many museums of New York will exact their revenge on me.  

I still can't believe what we purchased in the gift shop, but all will be revealed at Christmas.

On the drive there, the eagle-eyed navigator spotted Target and Walmart stores that were quickly added to the itinerary. All in the quest of the much sought American bra that had yet to make its way to Australia.

One bra and way too many t shirts later we had around 40 minutes to get the car back. It was a 13 minute trip had we not missed the left turnoff. Some minutes later I perfected the left hand drive u turn and got my first horn blow from another driver. 

Lucky for us that we got back on track but still had to get petrol, sorry, gas before dropping off the car. A simple task made difficult by the need to prepay at the pump and the fact that an overseas credit card requiring a zip code, put a hold on everything. 

Finally the attemdant sorted everything out and with minutes to spare and after a dodgy reverse park, we dropped off the keys.

Had I exercised the option of a rest room visit some 3 hours earlier, we may have been late and I'm not sure what we could have done since we are leaving at 430 tomorrow morning.

No problems though, apart from the fact that it was a 15 minute walk to the nearest toilet** carrying way too much shopping. That 9.6 kg has ballooned.

So back at the hotel Annette studied somewhere to eat while I took my guilty body to the gym to work off the bagel with butter and jam I ate for lunch.

Both craving vegetables, I had an Asian rice and chicken dish with veggies. Annette basically had fish and chips. Has she forgotten that there are more than 1 veggies in the world.

Back to the hotel for packing and somehow getting our bags closed. Gees, we still have 2 weeks to go.

**according to the guy relieving himself in the street we were walking down on the way to dinner, the nearest toilet is where ever you want it to be.

He did apologise twice as he curbed the flow and zipped up.