I Call Shotgun!

 Oh yes!  I could get to like this.  Clare even used her backpack to make my own custom booster seat.  I could see everything (not that there was much to see mind you, but I could have seen it if there had been).

So one thing I've learned today is that not having a scheduled flight you need to be on can also mean you don't leave when you plan to.  I could blame Clare for sleeping in or something, but that's not really fair.  Truth is, there were all kinds of weather issues in the area we were about to drive to, so attempted to avoid them by leaving later, and by later I mean 11:30am instead of 8am!  But, at least we got on the road, and we still managed to get to our planned destination before sunset (without speeding even!).

The first half of our drive I think I may have fallen asleep.  No, Clare did not fall asleep, for those of you following my blog for the first time, let me remind you that *I* refers to me, the little black and green bear in the picture, and not to my trusted escort (and scribe) Clare whom you may be more familiar with.

Anyhow, there really was not much to see in Ontario that I haven't already seen many times before, therefore I started to wonder if there would be anything to post about tonight at all.  But the boarder never fails to supply the first story of any good adventure, and today was no exception.  It wasn't really about the boarder itself, but the use of all sorts of fancy features attempting to work (or not work) at the same time.  You see, Clare's nice new ride has OnStar navigation as well as some other cool features that I will explain shortly, and they all kind of well, lets just say they made the boarder crossing... interesting.

Clare had sent OnStar her first destination before we left, not because she needed help getting to the border, but because she wanted it to be already set up to direct her when she crossed said border.  Makes, sense right?  Well, if you've ever used any GPS system while driving then you'll know there are quirks that come up, especially when roads have moved and the system hasn't been updated.  More than once as we approached the bridge did we get the "You have left your planned route..." message when we hadn't even left the highway.  Poor OnStar (hmm... maybe our GPS needs a name, Rissa and Olly call theirs Emily, and I've heard some others... need to think on that one).

But I digress.

We crossed the bridge and pulled into the NEXUS lane, which apparently was one lane too far for OnStar to recognize, and suddenly we'd "left our planned route" again.  That would be fine except that now Clare was trying to figure out where she was supposed to wave her card while the system was asking her what she wanted it to do.  When she mumbled something about "I don't know where to wave this" that cute OnStar voice came back with "I'm sorry, I didn't understand..."  I'm giggling while Clare is driving forward and trying to figure out what she's doing with OnStar.

It gets better!  Just as the border guard asks Clare a question, OnStar pipes up again, reminding her she's left her route and hasn't told it what to do yet.  I think she wanted to tell it to shut up lol.  Finally she remembered the touch screen, and reached over and told it what to do, then had to turn back and apologize to the guard and ask what he wanted.  Thankfully the rest of that part went fine, and he waved us through without even asking where we were going.

I think that side of the bridge is under construction or just really badly planned, because we then wound around some pylons towards the toll booths, and wouldn't you know it, but as soon as Clare pulled up to pay, OnStar (she really needs a name) piped up yet again, still totally confused as to where we were going.  At this point I commend Clare for having paid attention to the map enough to know that we needed I-75 South, because that ramp was right at the toll booths and there was NO time to wait for OnStar to get its act together.

OnStar lost its connection then, couldn't find the directions and connected her to an adviser (a real person somewhere in the world trying to figure out where we are and where we're supposed to be going), who apologized and resent the directions, only to have them lost again.  This time the adviser cut out so badly we couldn't even hold a conversation and we were cut off completely.  Ok, this is great service - driving through Detroit (isn't that the "Motor City" where this technology comes from?) and we can't hold onto a signal long enough to talk to anyone!  I know, I was impressed too.

As if that wasn't enough, one of those fancy features of her new ride was adding to my amusement.  Her speedometer only shows metric or imperial measurements at any given time, and you go into the screen menu to switch between them.  I believe she had commented on how great this was when she bought the car, not having to look at the "little numbers" when you're driving in the States.  Well that's all well and good as long as you remember how to switch the setting over WHILE driving lol... AND dealing with OnStar!

She did great though, even if I was laughing hysterically in my silent way.  She simply went with the flow of traffic until she was settled on the highway, then figured out the settings and made the switch, and then she called OnStar back (by this time we were out of Detroit... again, nice to know it worked right when we had wanted it most).  All was finally good, she put cruise control on (exactly at the speed limit) and we were off to our first scheduled stop...

For those who don't know, I have a bit of a thing for a store chain called "Build-a-Bear Workshop".  I mean, they make all my relatives there, so why wouldn't I like them.  One cool thing they do is have "Pawsports" that you can get stamped at each of their stores (with the name of the State, Province or Country you are in).  I picked up one of these Pawsports before my last trip to Utah, and had a few stamps, but my goal this trip is to stop in every state and fill my little book up!  Yeah, I know it probably seems like a silly goal to you humans, but it amuses me, and as we all know... these trips are all about me!  So whether Clare likes it or not, these stops are happening.  Ok, I don't have much say at all, since she is driving, but thankfully she seems ok with the idea.

And so it was we pulled off the highway in Toledo, Ohio and found the mall just to get another stamp in my book.  We didn't even buy anything - can you believe that!!!  We simply got the stamp, and left (possibly something to do with an incredibly loud party happening in the store at that time).

Another two hours in the car, and we finally arrived at our original goal destination of the day; well sort of.  The goal had actually been a KOA just outside of Fort Wayne, Indiana but as it was getting late, the campground idea was ditched and we are currently sitting in a nicely air conditioned hotel room.  I've never been camping before, so I was a little bummed, but Clare assures me she can not afford hotels every night of this journey, so I should just enjoy the air conditioning tonight since its not likely to happen again.

Oh, and for those of you watching the wild weather that's been running up this direction, we seem to have missed it all.  We often saw dark clouds off to one side or another, and we even saw rain a couple of times, but never enough to even use wipers.  It wasn't until we were registering in the lobby that we saw the news about thunderstorms all over the place.  I guess we did okay :).

So ends our first day of travels.  Looking forward to hearing from any who wish to comment... especially if you've got name ideas for my new OnStar buddy :D.

Whatever