Day One: Home to Hampshire, IL

Left home at 6:00 am, having packed the smart car the night before. No problems on the 401 westbound to Windsor where we get in line for the border crossing at 10:25 and cleared customs by 11:10. We by pass Detroit heading south through Michigan & Indiana and loop around the south end of Lake Michigan and Chicago (seen here) on the I90 toll road.
We book into the Super 8 Motel in Hampshire, Illinois knowing we've done the hardest days driving of the tour - 913 km (570 miles).

smart Alecs:

• Customs Officer at Windsor/Detroit border crossing, "You're going to Montana in that?!"
• Guy at rest stop near Kalamazoo, Michigan, "You bought that at the right time. I saw them all over Italy."

Wildlife Watch:

• 3 white-tailed deer, two of which we discouraged from crossing the highway by using the horn
• 1 groundhog, ditto
• large snapping turtle showed no signs of wishing to tangle with traffic

View map of tour here.