#10

Drive into Chicago and stop a bit or just keep going?

Just keep going.

Quick stop for fuel, got a little route advice from a trucker;
"Hmmmm... trucker.... trucker.... who looks like a tru- Oh!  There's one!" 

A couple "pick me up's" and we were good to go!

Once the coffee ran out it was time for the "5 Hour Energy" shots!

That's right.  We timed it just to make sure they weren't scamming us.
And believe me... they weren't!

A couple hours down the road and a WHOLE bunch of hyper kicked in!  Was it the energy shots or just the fact that we'd been on the road for quite some time and maybe... just MAYBE we were gettin' a bit exhausted?

Naw... it was the shots.

A little bit of rain, many miles 'n' hours later and we made it... we were in Buffalo.

I never ONCE thought Buffalo would be what it, well, is.

We started following the very limited signs to "Peace Bridge".
Only AFTER the correct exit did we notice the sign, no big deal, this HWY will loop by the water, I'll take the next exit and make my way back.  Right?

Wrong.

I DID do just that and it seemed as though we were heading into an artsy part of the city.  Cafe's with flowers painted on them, a life size white horse statue on the street tied to a--- WHAT THE?!  There's a life size horse statue tied to a parking meter!  We gotta loop back and check that out!!

Another vehicle did the same thing and so we figured it must be more tourists!

As we sat in front of the horse and liquor store looking for our camera... riffling through everything (yes everything, wallets, passports, luggage), with the interior lights on I began to notice the new SUV that looped back was just sitting there... oh wait... someone got out.  But there standing there talking to the people in the vehicle... and look... there's a man smoking outside the liquor store... he's looking at us... now the man standing outside the SUV is becoming aware of us...

"You know what Becki... I think we're in the wrong place..."
"Yeah...?"
"Yeah I think we need to go...  as in now!  Sit down!"


At that I took off before she sat, before the light was off.
It's one thing when you're the only one feeling a little "nervous" but the fact we both started feeling it at the same time...

And why the heck WAS that horse standing there... in such a shady place with a empty McDonalds cup on his back?!

We raced down the street and a few seconds later came to an intersection.  Almost like a dead end but an intersection... where all the houses were trashed... graffiti on all the walls, windows broken... as we became more aware of our surroundings a car raced around the corner;

"GIRLS!!!!"


"We are DEFINITELY in the wrong place"


We took a quick right to get away from the car full of guys and then Becki notice.

"Ummm Melissa this street is called Normal Street"
"You know what Becki, if they have to CALL it normal... you know it's not!"


We kept driving quickly, looking for signs, nothing, every once in a while it said "Peace Bridge" but there weren't any arrows.  It felt as if locals took them down just hoping people would get stuck in that hole of a town.  We decided to take a sketchy looking street that went under a bridge in the direction of, what looked to be, some old abandoned commercial buildings.
Some how from there we found the awkward, and not at all clear, way to the border.

Yes!  Made it!

Becki was so excited she shot a photo of the lights! (Yeah I should was my windows)

I know the guard asked us a couple of the usual questions but maybe 2 questions in I blurted:

"Wow that place is sketchy!!"
His response "Well, it IS Buffalo..."


Turns out Buffalo has the highest gangs per capita or something crazy.

As we stared at him, eyes WIDE open, it was pretty clear we weren't gettin' into trouble and had NOTHING to declare.
He didn't ask much more and let us back into Canada.

Oh sweet Canada!

We made our way to Becki's Grampa's and only then remembered.

"Oh wait!  We did have something to declare... a whole bunch of beer for our boyfriends!"


Oops!