Yesterday I finally began this road trip I have been yapping about for a bit too long now, and boy day one did not disappoint.
After some sad goodbyes to my parents and our sickly cat, I got a haircut and hit the road toward the beautiful Ann Arbor.
The drive
My route had me cut through Canada, so I naturally had to stop at both Duty Frees to stock up on the essentials (Canadian beer and candy). But I was (and still am) concerned with how much some of these drives will suck but the first day was a breeze, and started the trip off on the right foot.
The Canadian border agents were a lot nicer than the Americans who asked me about 1000 questions on the firewood I had, which I had no idea how to answer (do I look like Davey Crockett to you?).
I want to rank each of my drives so I believe I will rate the Medina, NY to Ann Arbor, MI drive a 6.8/10. A very boring landscape, but the windmills were cool. There was terrible traffic in Canada that was not fun and as a result, points were unfortunately deducted. I did feel like I was back in Orleans County though so that was fun.
Becoming Owen Wilson (I am no Vince Vaughn)
I got to Ann Arbor around 8 p.m. and immediately headed toward a bar (thank you Mom and Dad for raising me right). I planned to meet up with some pals in Ann Arbor (they have those big boots for beer) but unfortunately, things fell through.
As I was at this bar, this woman approached me and asked how I knew the bride and groom. Once she said that it clicked in my head why mostly everyone was wearing button-downs and nice clothes. Thankfully she was super nice and we chatted for a bit, and she gave me an invite for the wedding today (I cannot make it but I really really wish I could).
Will I regret not going to this wedding, probably, but she was quite inebriated and I don’t know how legally binding it was.
Everyone who was a part of this wedding was super nice and I am glad they let me crash the night before their big day. But as things were winding down (a bunch of MIT nerds couldn’t hang past 11) I found a table of like 6 guys who looked my age and asked if I could hang out with them, boy was that a phenomenal decision. They were allegedly all nuclear engineer grad students at Michigan (I am still convinced they lied to me because they are more like Homer Simpson than Oppenheimer).
We all clicked right away, and they all happened to be from places I will be going to during my travels and gave me great recommendations.
The guys asked if I wanted to go to another bar and I felt a bit insulted that they even needed to ask me that. We took a little stroll to one of the coolest little speakeasies I have ever been to. This establishment had 6 beers on tap and only PBR in a can, my kind of place. We were in the basement of this building and it certainly felt like it.
The group of us danced to this band that was playing and talked at our table for the remainder of the time we were there. We ended our night at this 24/7 diner for some much-needed food. After saying my goodbyes, I moseyed my way back to my car to sleep for the night, I got my first car camping experience and it went so much better than I could have imagined (trying to set up everything inebriated was a fun challenge and I am so glad I figured it all out).
It is safe to say the start of this trip could not have gone any better. I am vlogging this trip as well (find it on my TikTok or Instagram story @Gatesy35) if you want a behind-the-scenes look at the dumb stuff I am doing.
Thank you to everyone who made it this far, and let me know if there are any cool places I need to see while I travel around the country.
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