On the Way Home

We, reluctantly packed our bags and got ready to leave Niagara Falls for home.

Both of us were sad to see this vacation end, it had been such a fun adventure bringing back the memories of the many road trip vacations we took with the girls when they were growing up.

While sitting on an ocean beach is a very relaxing vacation, a road trip adds some excitement.  Both serve different purposes.

Anyway, John went out to start loading up our car and came in to report that our headlight was completely missing, yep, we had a big hole in the car where the light should have been.  We figured it must have fallen out somewhere in Niagara Falls, NY on our drive back here last night.

Well, the car would still run without that headlight, so we headed out in what we lovingly called "Our Wreck."

We joked about what might fall off next and karma caught us just east of Cleveland when our low tire pressure light came on.

We had our very faithful mechanic give our car a great bill of health prior to this trip, so it is not like we neglect our wreck, but no one can predict tires.

We decided to find a Walmart where we could have the tires looked at and repaired if necessary.

There was one five miles up the road off the exit but it took us 20 minutes to get there only to discover they had no auto center.  Now what, you ask.

Well, while driving to the Walmart, I had noticed a Mr. Tire.  If you know me and my one eye eyesight, you know that me spotting anything is a miracle in itself.  I feel God led my good eye to spot that Mr. Tire.

John called and the friendly employees at Mr. Tire told us to bring the car right over.

I asked John if he was going to mention the missing headlight to them, but he said they would notice it on their own.

They diagnosed the problem when they spotted a large split in the front tire and very unusual wear, so the remedy was two new front tires and an alignment to the tune of $400.

Now this could have been a turning point for us.  We could have started blaming one another for lack of any other outlet for our stress, but we didn't do that, instead we took the nice Mr. Tire man's advice and went for a nice lunch at an outdoor cafe just up the block while they fixed our car.

In one hour, after a very good lunch, we were back on the road with two new tires and $400 more dollars on the charge card but still no headlight.  And, by the way, Mr. Tire did notice the hole left by the headlight.

So, we also had a few toll troubles on this return trip, but we handled that, too, not quite as nicely as the tire situation, but it all worked out okay.

I (Sherri) had made a reservation when we left NY for a motel in Michigan City, Indiana.  Our plan was to get there by 3:00 to have plenty of time to explore.  I picked Michigan City because I really thought it was the city we went to with our friends Patti and Tom and our granddaughters a number of years before this.  I loved that little town and wanted to return.

Well, when we finally got to Michigan City, nothing looked familiar at all.  No big splash bad, no children's museum, no outdoor cafe and that is because we had been in St. Joseph, Michigan not Michigan City, Indiana. Oops.

Well, Michigan City was beautiful and right on Lake Michigan so we pressed on.

We were able to enjoy a gorgeous sunset over the lake and had dinner on a rooftop.

It was actually a fantastic way to end our rather stressful day.

 Our Wreck but we still love her, missing headlight and all.

 John Carroll University, our view from the outdoor cafe where we had lunch.

Michigan City, Indiana's beautiful beach boardwalk and sunset.

 Our final dinner of the vacation up on a rooftop overlooking Lake Michigan.

I cannot end this post without mention of that lovely motel I reserved online somewhere before our tire predicament.

I chose another "old school" motel and I will be honest here, I was going for low price without reading a lot of reviews and this is what we got!

It was something from the low pressure shower to the wrinkled pictures on the wall to the sponge painted walls which really look like something I would have done!

Ugh, we were lucky we were tired and were able to sleep with all that business going on.

Anyway, the next morning we were up and out of there by 8: 00 and home in Watertown by noon.

We thank God for a safe, fun adventure and for the patience to deal with the loopholes that made the trip memorable and exciting!

Until our next adventure...