Bob & Jan's excellent adventure...coming to an end.

We didn't want our time in Canada to end, but we needed to head back to the States. Here it was Friday already. I had talked to Mike and he assured me the repairs on my truck were complete so there was no sense in us keeping the rental truck out till noon. We loaded up and headed back. It's amazing how much nicer the feeling was at the American boarder crossing this day compaired to the hair raising experience from last Wednesday with the Canadian Imigration. We drove toward the Enterprise rental lot but stopped at Tim Horton's for coffee and a donut. ( I really don't eat as many donuts as it seems like we have this week...sheesh). We arrived at the rental lot and they rounded us up a driver to take us back to Mike's shop. Mike is a good man and a great friend. He's always willing to help someone out. If Mike decides he's going to do something for you as a favor, there is no talking him out of it. Mike & his "boys" worked on my truck by putting on new brakes and rotors and rotated my tires. He also checked a few things out that I had concerns about and let me know that all in all I have a sound running vehicle. I'm to keep an eye on my water pump as there were past signs of a leak. I have good pressure and no leaks now though. He even looked up what the cost would be to have a new one replaced. Now you can image what this service should have cost me. Mike wouldn't hear about taking any money for it though. He did all this work for free. We settled the truck rental payment with him and thanked him greatly for all that he did. Bob & I are going to do something special for him soon. We were set now to continue on with the remaining days of our vacation adventures. After a firm handshake and a huge hug from me, we said our goodbyes and hit the road.

We were headed to Youngsville, Pa. This is where Bob is from and spent the majority of his life there. He was going to show me all around. Along the way we drove by Chatauqua Lake in New York. I can't ever remember being there, but according to my Mother the other day while she was looking at my photos, she talked about us camping near there one summer. (News to me). We didn't spend much time here as there really wasn't anything to do or see. I loved looking at the homes around there and told Bob....."I want us to live here honey". He chuckled at me but I know he thinks that would be great too. Onward we went towards the little town of Youngsville, Pa. Beautiful country scenery. No pictures of this leg of the trip to share. We entered the town and things looked to Bob just like they did 4 years ago when he was there last. We ventured into an old hang-out of his and sure enough some of the faithful regulars were sitting at the bar. He had a good time sociallizing with an old friend. One of the young girls that was in there said outloud for all to hear...."Bob's got a girlfriend" in that sing-song voice that little kids tease each other with and that was good for a laugh from all that were present. I liked it. It was cute. We didn't hang out long. I was tired and it had been a long and busy week. He asked if I wanted to go to the damn that night and I said I was too tired. I was also too tired to try to make the drive back to Ohio even though it was only about 3 hours. We got a room at the Holiday Inn and ordered pizza to be delivered. We watched some tv too. I actually got to see one of my favorite shows...CSI. It wasn't long before I was ready for sleep.

This day had to be the day we did the least amount of things, but I was more tired than any other day. We called it a night and planned for the last leg of our trip the next day.

We woke up early Saturday and headed out pretty much right away. We left the hotel by 7am. We actually had to scrape the windshield clear of ice. It was defenately a cold fall morning in the mountains. Where we were was right outside the tip of the Allegheny National Forest in Warren,Pennsylvania. Beatiful countryside. We headed straight for the Kinzua dam. You could see the fog far before you could see the dam. I have pictures that to me are breath taking. I love how the fog was laying there like a blanket. It was very thick and you couldn't see very much at all. Now to show you what I'm talking about. Here is the Kinzua Dam in the early morning fog. I love this angle the best. I took a photo of some dam information as well for anyone that has never heard of it. I had the best morning seeing some beautiful sights. I looked in one direction and saw the morning sun shinning on the tree tops through the fog. Not long after taking that photo the fog lifted and you couldn't see the tree tops any longer. Bob took me on a drive to a lookout point. It was absolutely wonderful. Here's what I saw. That is the Allegheny Resevoir. It was a great morning to be out there let me tell you....(hehehe..I guess that's just what I'm doing). I love this journal because I get to relive the trip all over again. Bob showed me some of the best sights . I have never in my life seen a blanket of fog like that one. We drove to another look out called Jakes Rocks and this is what we saw. Amazing how different the same Resevoir looks from different places and after the sun rises more. He had me drive on a stretch of highway that crosses the Resevoir. This is the view.

We had to head back as the truck was getting low on gas and we were getting hungry. It wasn't even 9am yet and we had already seen so much. Driving into Warren, Pa, we gassed up at the fuel station right in front of the oil refinery they have. If Warren didn't have that refinery, there wouldn't be much of Warren. It's pretty much what keeps that town alive economy wise. We had a good breakfast and headed out again down highway 62 headed for a little Borough called Tidioute. Bob was born here and lived his young childhood here. It's now wonder he misses the woods...wouldn't you? If I had the Allegheny National Forest in my back yard I think I would possibly be in heaven. I know I can't post all the photos I want to but here are a few. 1st is the view of Tidioute. 2nd is the view of the Allegheny River.

As nice as all this was, we were headed back to my apartment. I found it truely wonderful to be able to do so much in 9 days and have it seem like it took forever to end. All these places were only 4 hours at the most away from where I live. I had a great time and I'm sad that it ended. We'll have a lifetime together to be able to have trips like that again. I just hope that the next visit for us isn't going to be a long time from now. Bob had a great time and enjoyed his time off work. He's back building on the addition now. I went back to work yesterday and had today off. I'm glad too so that I could spend the time I wanted to in getting this all in my journal. It's complete now. With all the troubles and lost post and having to start over a few times, I'm glad I finally got it all in here.

So honey...when's our next trip??