Welcome to the Freak Show

The Road North
Day 64 to 79
8/28/1999 to 9/12/1999

What exactly is the Road North? Well, it is an all encompassing title to describe the last two weeks of life. The road began in Onekama, MI, with me, seth, and a packed out Ford Explorer. It then continued through various states and adventures, winding it's way as far north as Cape Bretton Island in Nova Scotia. Eventually the road led back to Onekama, where I will be working for a few more weeks before heading out on the next adventure.



The New York Sky Line	Chalk art in Boston	Welcome to the Freak Show!

Place at a glance
Went to Seth's Family Reunion and got free food.
Got the Huge hook up at Seth's Grandparents (sponsor) house in Pennsylvania.
Went down to DC and hung out with Pepe (sponsor).
Scored a pair of Nike ACG hiking boots for $21.
Went to Liberty Park, NJ, and checked out the Statue of Liberty and New York City.
Drove in down town Manhattan (more info)
Hung out with the Dave (sponsor) and his family and went body boarding in Rhode Island.
Went up to Boston and crashed at Mike's (sponsor) place.
Checked out historic Boston, went to pubs, laughed at drunk guy passed out in double parked car, got lost walking around near Harvard, welcome to the freak show. (more info)
Slept in the dug out of a baseball field in Nova Scotia. (more info)


Welcome to Nova Scotia	The Scare Crows!!!	Bouldering at Cape Bretton National Park	Freezing in Cape Bretton

Place at a Glance (cont.)
Stopped at the Scare Crow World.
Bouldered at Cape Bretton National Park, hiked Skyline trail, swam in a freezing stream, camped.
Watched a truck run off the road, hit a ditch, and nearly flip over while Seth was buying a lobster trap for $5 Canadian.
Poached a camping spot in a semi residential wooded area near Bar Harbor, Maine.
Climbed at Otter Cliffs and Echo Lake in Acadia National Park, Maine.
Met the Freak Show while climbing. (more info)
Ate Maine Lobster.
Hiked the Precipice Trail and had a great view of the fog.
Wend to Niagara falls.
Scored a great place to crash in Hamilton, ONT, with Heather (sponsor), a friend of a friend, who let two complete strangers crash on her condo flore just because McCracken had vouched for us.
Had the HUGE hook up with Keith (Sponsor) back in Michigan. The boy laid out a huge spread of food and even paid for us to all use the pool at the community center. Keith Rocks!


At top of Precipice Trail	Climbing at Otter Cliffs	Niagara Falls

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Driving in New York City

Driving in New York was by far the most intense driving that I have ever done. It was almost as if I was playing some sort of video game. People, cars, mattresses and other obstacles were constantly darting in front of me and it took all my concentration and energy to avoid hitting something. One cool thing was to see the diversity of the city. In a matter of 5 minutes and 15 blocks we passed through a very black neighborhood, then into a Jewish neighborhood, and then into a Hispanic neighborhood. It was kind of strange, I am driving along and something just feels different, and then the connection is made, 'the people are different'. In the span of one block the people had completely changed.

Welcome to the Freak Show

Somewhere around Boston, Seth and I came up with the theme for the trip: the Freak Show. The Freak show began when Seth, Mike, and I were sitting in the 7's bar in Boston. While were are watching the ball game two guys walked into the bar and ordered some beers. Over the course of the next 10 minutes these guys walked in and out of the bar a few times, eventually Mike made the connection that it is their Suburban that is double parked out in front of the bar. Sitting in the passenger seat of the Suburban was a passed out drunk guy. His friends went and checked on him every once in a while and hit him to make sure that he was still alive. The car was still double parked outside when we left about 30 minutes later, it had a ticket on the wind shield and a drunk guy inside.

The Freak Show continued continued into Acadia National Park where a freaky climbing guy gave me advice on climbing and then refused to have his picture taken.

There was also a freak near Echo lake. This guy parks his car right next to ours and then totally ignores Seth when Seth says "Hello" to him. A while later the guy opens up his drunk revealing a huge bag of popcorn that nearly fills the entire trunk.

Honorable mentions include the Power Walking Lady in Bar Harbor, the Boston Driving Freak, and Canadians.

The Dug Out

Seth and I got into Nova Scotia fairly late at night. We drove around looking for a place to camp but came up empty handed. Eventually we decided that we would just park in a church parking lot and sleep in the car. I turned into the lot of a small rural church and was happy to find a Baseball field behind the church. Seth and I laid out our sleeping bags on dug out floors and attempted to sleep. During the night a car drove up, we both though it was probably the police. It turned out it was just a group of Canadian kids who were looking for a place to get high. I told them to keep the noise down and then went back to bed.

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