My 1500km road trip in the name of Lego . . . . some pics and commenta

[Breakdown]

There's probably a couple of you who saw just the 1500km round-trip part in the "Shameful Confessions" thread.

For those who don't know I'm from Canada. Tariffs are a pain here, and 12V lego is virtually non-existent anywhere in the Americas. If you spend 48 hours, you are permitted $800, so I managed to grab a few outer rails for my blue 12V stuff, a few cross overs and managed to snag a great deal on a pair of monorail points. Ever since seeing pictures on social media from a friend I've had the abandoned turnpike on my bucket-list. The key has been finding a legitimate reason to go there. An auction winning from just inside the Virginia border would finally be the catalyst - stated on E-bay local pickup only.

After much back-and-forth between the sellers and myself, along with a friend's house that I stayed at - around the Pittsburgh area. We settled on a date, and then it was just me my car, my friends and 1500km on the road. (For those with a keen eye for violations, my car was in park while taking pictures in juristrictions where there are laws against that kind of thing. I also had some help in the car.

It's about an hour an a half to the US border. I selected the "Rainbow Bridge" because it was the long weekend. The picture, and by far the clearest I've ever seen in my lifetime at that location, is the duty free store, just prior to hoping on the bring. It's usually more time efficient to cross at the Peace Bridge, but inbound visiting the US, it's usually the worst or near worst of the three options. In all I spent about 30 minutes in queue awaiting customs. It's a pretty spectacular view.

This is the view just prior to entering Grand Island. There's not much on the island, other than a small them park of sorts, which looks very dated. There's a $1 toll to cross into the island. This view, you can see the Skylon Tower, Minolta and the Casino down by the Falls.

Obviously the bridge to the island. I look some Panoramas, and eventually I'll get around to processing some of those. I love the blue on these bridges.

I was just weirded out by these patterns, it's as if they wanted to prevent walking on grass at all costs. You can't really walk in a straight or perpendicular line at all, this is from the lookout, where the pic of the bridges was taken.

Bridges leaving the island are more attractive. But man are they skinny!!

Welcome to PA!! This was the 10 minutes of driving on the way out where it rained, not hard, just just got a little rain.

PA is the northern border of where we can get this stuff and OMG!! That sweet, sweet nectar. I was so hungry but it was totally worth waiting for Pennsylvania for the Sweet Tea. I can't get this at home and every day without it I die a little inside.

Edited August 11, 2016 by Breakdown

[Littleworlds]

This might be really one of the most weird things to do to get some Lego. Hats off for that level of insanity, ermm dedication You are clearly crazy, but that's alright. We are all playing with tiny plastic figures here - so there can't be a better place for you

I hope to see some more pictures. Especially from the objects of desire. What is life without little adventures!

[Breakdown]

Day 2: On to Breezewood, then our final destination Fredrick, Maryland.

It's funny being Canadian, to me changing states isn't a big deal. To my entourage, it kinda was. One almost dropped out as he discovered that we'd be going into Maryland, where he wouldn't be permitted to have his piece. I'm not looking to create a political discussion, I just found it odd.

Breezewood is the the location of the 14 mile stretch of abandoned turnpike.

Some brief history. In the 40's the Turnpike was created to transverse most of PA, they used a series of train tunnels when making the Interstate. The highway itself was 4 lanes (two east, two west) and the tunnels would be only 2 lanes with 30MPH speed limits or less. Most of the tunnels weren't located near population, but as highway use increased the tunnel highway with it's 7 tunnels through the rugged mountain terrain were beginning to be more than an annoyance with lineups exceeding several miles at some of the tunnels. One tunnel was easily bypassed. 4 tunnels were twinned, but when it came to the two tunnels in the Breezewood area, twinning would have been cost prohibitive, there were two tunnels in very close proximity and one was nearly a mile and a half long. The decision was made to drive the highway over the mountains, and both the Sidling and Rays tunnels and their 14 mile stretch of highway were bypassed. The bypassed section even included a service center on the one side of the highway.

The pics below are as a result of abandonment since 1968. Somehow between four of us we forgot to bring a flashlight, but caught a huge break when Radio Shack had a mammoth one for half price.

You can see some lights, and reflectors, along with rumble strips which generally are NOT consistent with a two lane section of highway, after the highway was decommissioned, PENNDOT started using the surface to experiment with reflectors, many different types, lane paint and rumble strips. It's hard to tell from some of these pics, but we're basically travelling on the left side of the road, there's a median and then another section beyond all of the weeds and trees to the right.

This is the first view of Rays Hill tunnel, off in the distance, it's the shorter of the two tunnels, here you can clearly see the other side of the highway. The highway is kinda sorta maintained by Pike2Bike - non profit, so you're not trespassing or anything by being on it. Even if we were trespassing I might have had to see this in person. Most of the bridges are out, but there is one that the abandoned highway has immediately prior to the tunnel that's pretty aged but still intact, it crosses a local road.

Two of my three travelling companions as we approach the entrance.

You'll probably recognize Nunzi. Graffiti is not just limited to the tunnel, but it's everywhere in and around the tunnel.

The tunnel is pitch black inside, once you're about 10-20 meters in you can't see a thing. The slit of light at the other end is the . . . . the end. Fortunately it's been a very dry year, so it wasn't moist and horrible smelling in there. My flashlight was very powerful, as is the strobe on my camera, but otherwise you'll just see black.

Finally light again. It was raining for almost the whole time we were in the tunnel. Both sides, its not infrequent to see completely different weather at the opposite end of a tunnel, this wasn't really the highest hill that this tunnel was built on. One of my friends is using this pic as their cover on facebook.

Not quite as much graffiti on the opposite entrance. There's some control booths at either ends, maintenance, the tunnels despite their age are in pretty good condition, you can see some concrete that has fallen around the vents on the ceiling. The highway & tunnel might have been abandoned by cars and the state, but not by Pokemon, there's lots of Pokemon there.

My friend found this on the highway . . . or what was the highway, no idea what the little dude is, sure was bright though!

Edited August 12, 2016 by Breakdown

[Rotundus]

ROAD TRIP !!! Looks like you had a wonderful time of it. Honestly it sounds like the LEGO was just an excuse to hit the road... Cool pics. That tunnel entrance is a LEGO project begging to be made.

Edited August 12, 2016 by Rotundus

[jimmynick]

Congratulations on winning your eBay auction, and thanks for sharing the details of the road trip. The photo of 3 of your friends in the mouth of the tunnel is spectacular.

I never knew this piece of road existed, but it must be why the junction between the 70 and 76 at Breezewood is such a mess.

[-zenn]

Wow, those abandoned roads/tunnels look like something straight out 'the walking dead'! Kewl, orange slamander thingy btw.

Any excuse to get Lego, is a good excuse... Even if it might be 1500KM.

[Breakdown]

Congratulations on winning your eBay auction, and thanks for sharing the details of the road trip. The photo of 3 of your friends in the mouth of the tunnel is spectacular.

I never knew this piece of road existed, but it must be why the junction between the 70 and 76 at Breezewood is such a mess.

Thanks, in hindsight (and hindsight is always 20/20) I wish that I had a higher maximum bid because the Lego and the trip were totally worth it.

I appreciate the kudos on the pic, I'm a hack that takes loads of pictures, and sometimes the ones by accident are the ones that end up spectacular, but this was what I was aiming for while messing around in the tunnel.

To answer your question. Unfortunately no. To the absolute best of my knowledge this should have made the Breezewood interchange better not worse, it navigates the highway away from the city, I was miffed when returning up I-70 that this could be set up in such a way. I don't know if they just want to completely ruin their little crossroads of a city with snarled traffic and accidents, unless it's to have their economy supported by the Travel Center, gas stations and other such highway stops.

If you look on Googlemaps satellite view you can clearly see (it's also marked) where the Abandoned highway is, if you look carefully while on I-76, you can clearly see the exit and re-entry points, they are still paved. The third "abandoned tunnel" is Donegal Twp (find Laurel Hill Tunnel on the Map), there's another two-laned by-passed tunnel that is apparently in private hands as some kind of wind tunnel for aerodynamics or something. That bypass is obvious, but much lesser in length than the one in Breezewood, also about a 10th of the cost.

More pics & stories to come.

[Breakdown]

The Exchange . . . . .

No pics of significance till the return trip.

Did I mention that I was collecting my E-bay winnings from what happened to be a wonderfully nice couple - at least one of German heritage (where the Lego came from).

They were kind enough, since they had a trip planned of their own, to meet part way, and cut roughly 150km off of our trip, which was very much appreciated.

Our trip from Breezewood to Fredrick wasn't so great, we ran into a 15 mile traffic jam which made our one hour trip, more like two hours. Despite our late arrival (we did text them, to warn while en route), they were incredibly nice. I have a big sedan with a very large trunk and the auction description did state disassembled, but their version of disassembled was . . . . we took the city apart and boxed the building's assembled so maybe a little bigger than I was planning for. Three huge boxes. There was a point when I thought I was going to be heading back to the Pittsburgh area (at least a three hour drive) sitting in the back of the car with a box on my lap as punishment for not cleaning out my trunk - there was a big cooler back there. But with their help completely re-organizing, we crammed everything inside. I felt bad not being able to talk with the couple more, they sounded incredibly nice. All I could do them was assure them that their Lego would have a new incredible home and would be cherished and shared online - as well as combined with my already massive collection.

I kind of wish that I wasn't driving, the views on the way home through Maryland in the mountains were spectacular, the highway had a commanding view down on wonderful rolling hills, and despite the earlier rain, it was quite clear up there. So no pics of that as the camera was so incredibly buried in the trunk.

On the way back it was dinner time and after hearing my friends talk about Roy Rogers I had to try it and their Gold Rush Chicken Sandwich - honey & bacon. I'm not a fan of honey, but threw caution into the wind and gave it a try, this stop and sight was unplanned.

Only pic of the return trip from my cellphone.

I had completely forgotten about the late takeoff of that flight. If it had not been late, this would have been one of the many planes that would have resulted in the death of far more people. We did not make the stop at the Memorial, but it was kind of one of those things that you see that makes you reflect, gives you pride and sadness all at the same time.

Between packing a couple flashlights and leaving them at my buddies' home, not ensuring that there would be lots of room in the trunk, and showing up about an hour late for our rendez-vous it was an embarrassing day certainly a far from spoiled one, and one that was only made that much better than great by meeting up with very understanding and friendly Lego fans, who even were kind enough to help try and load my trunk for me.

Next . . . . the trip home and it's 5 stops along the way.

[Breakdown]

Return home from greater Pittsburgh area . . .

My friend let me lock myself out of his house as Monday was a Canadian holiday, but not a US one as he went to work.

The weather with one 10 mile stretch being the exception was spectacular on the way home, extremely hot & humid, but spectacular otherwise. Very blue skies. I turned a 5 hour trip into an 11.5 hour one, but stopping to smell the roses along the way.

Had to take a picture of this, as it was the shampoo that I used during my morning shower. Not entirely sure how I feel about Caffine Menthol in my hair.

I made a quick stop at Ollies on my way out, this is honestly the most screwed up store that I've ever been to. Usually I go in there without an idea of what kind of junk I'm going to buy, but for whatever reason they had a bunch of books on a historical hotel that's close to my family Otherwise it is legitimately the most confusing story ever. If anyone is look for RUN DMC headphones, this is the place where you get them.

Now for the "real stops" on the way.

Stop #1 Playthings, etc

It's a flying saucer with toys . . . how can you not want to stop there!! If you like RC these guys have . . . EVERYTHING. They have lots of Lego, but it's mainly at MRSP, I looked lots but wasn't tempted enough to buy even more Lego that would further trouble my border crossing.

Stop #2 Erie, PA

I've always loved this highschool, the first time that I saw this place was in the middle of the night and I was mesmerized by the place, even without light just because of it's commanding position up on the hill, two roads intersect at a 30 degree angle at the bottom of the property.

My friend's shop just happens to be in the same neighbourhood as this place and we went downtown for lunch, pizza was delicious, it was cool just hanging out.

The Fireworks & Karate supply store!!! Believe it or not there's two of them, and even more other fireworks stores. The slogan for the store is: "The best times start with BIG WOODIES."

As a young child on trips to my grandparent's house, I honestly thought that the people from this city and area were mentally derranged. The reality of the situation is that they are on the NY/PA border and while it's illegal to sell Fireworks to PA residents, you can sell them to people out of state. It's kind of throw the contraband over the fence and it's their problem. They even have a room where the only way for entry is to show an out of state driver's license, it reminds of of the porn rooms that video stores had back in the day where kids weren't allowed.

It's one of the very rare times that I've seen both of these sign intact, they're like the 420 mile markers that keep on going missing. Last bridge before New York.

Toll Plaza!

The time during the trip where I left the US, but wasn't quite in Canada.

This is the Angola Service Center. There's twin gas stations on both sides, then a covered bridge that takes you to washrooms and piles of food options.

Peace Bridge just before crossing.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Breakdown

[Breakdown]

Stop #3 underneath Garden City Skyway . . .

There's two skyways that are about 100km apart on the way home, both pretty much on the same stretch of highway. The Garden City Skyway in St Catharines, and the Burlington Skyway, closer to Hamilton.

The Garden City skyway doesn't have the best access from and to the highway. If I've been there it was for a field trip back in grade 5. This Skyway is there crossing a river . . . the Welland Canal which is built to bypass Niagara Falls, with a series of locks that make up for the difference in heights of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie for commercial shipping traffic. A container ship can basically travel from the Atlantic Ocean and this would be its' only way to hit Windsor/Detroit.

Surprisingly . . . despite my love of all things Lego trains, I really don't care of trains much. But bridges, I love big structures, like bridges.

Welcome back to Canada, we've ensured that there's plenty of Geese for you, on your return. It's hard to see in the pics, but this Skyway has some chest hair it isn't straight at all. It also plunges down directly into the heart of St. Catherines, which makes some of the roads that access the highway extremely awkward.

Lift bridge on the local road below the skyway.

Remember what I was saying about how blue the sky was!!!

STOP #4: JORDAN HARBOR

Jordan Harbour isn't much of anything, there's a hotel there, and obviously a harbour, it's one of the points where the lake kisses the highway (which is named the QEW - Queen Elizabeth Way, it's pretty much the only 400-series highway that doesn't have a 400 number.

Jordan Harbour is known more for the curiousity of a ship that sits there.

The Grande Hermine . . . it's a former fairy, turned North America expedition replica ship, turned listed hulk. Back in the 90's someone brought the ship to the Niagara area with the intention to use it as a floating restuarant for parties etc, etc, etc.

He never really got the project off of the ground and later died. Leaving this ship kinda resting on the bottom of the lack close to shore and kind of half floating. Apparently, the owner of the harbour was requested to remove the eye sore and refused to noting that he didn't own it and on top of that, he was owed monies by the previous owner. In the early 2000's vandals got on board and lit the boat (formerly filled with wood cladding on fire), prior to the fire it had more of the appearance of a pirate ship. Now and presumably until the sea gradually claims her, she lies waiting. It's fresh water, so this won't be rapid procedure. I could see this ship standing throughout the rest of my life and I'm not 40 yet.

I honestly feel for the people who work at the nearby hotel, they've probably been asked about a thousand times, "what's up with the rusty boat over there?"

And for those interested, yes, yes, I am more interested in real boats over trains.

[Breakdown]

Stop #5: BURLINGTON SKYWAY

If I haven't travelled over this thing 100 times, it's been 200, but I've never but underneath the stupid thing, after having done it once, I think that I'll try doing it often. It's not even a detour and the sights are fantastic.

My only shot from the westside.

The absolute last thing that I was expecting to see was a public beach under a massive highway, but there it was loads of people were enjoying it and there seemed to be piles of parking.

You can see the lift bridge (which I always incorrectly thought was railroad since it's so industrial looking), you can also see the near original span of the skyway under construction. Some idiot driving completely drunk smashed a dump truck into the area that they are rehabing on the bridge, it was only of those very long dump trucks and he had the bucket up and while it terrified workers up there and closed the bridge for a week with concerns it could collapse, no one was hurt everyone was just really, really, really inconvienienced!!

Closer look at the lift bridge that I would be using 45 minutes later. In all of my times passing it, I've only seen it up once on the skyway. Looks really weird seeing it while up there.

My plans of starting a fire on the pier were immediately thwarted. See the little, boat on the far right, it was a spec, when I first showed up, and I was shocked at how quickly it closed the gap!!

There's that boat again, which around this time meant alarms on the bridge.

Looks higher than the skyway from this perspective, but they're about the same.

You'll notice a lot of people in my photography (animals too) they are as important as minifigures in a Lego setup, the people bring the pics to life.

The bridge will typically have 1 car cross every 45-60 seconds in either direction, there was a flood of traffic once the bridge came back down.

I've just never stood in the middle of one of these and looked up. There's always weeds or some crap in the way.

That's it from the trip, now all that's left is to chronicle my Lego haul.

Couldn't have asked for a more wonderful summer mini-vacation. Especially thanks to great friends. An amazing couple that I met from E-bay, and some spectacular weather.

[legoguy1984]

Thanks for sharing your awesome road trip and letting me see bits of of other countries. Can't wait to see what you got.

[Breakdown]

Some pics of my haul, just about everything is disassembled and washed and dried at this point.

Now, the only thing from the haul is the two Shunters 7760, as far as I can tell both are complete, would never have anticipated having a pair of these things. I've always been a huge fan of those Shunters, but haven't been able to justify buying one because of the lack of other parts or cars. I have it pictured with my newest passenger car design and the 60050 station. I still have yet to tear down the Shunters and wash. I'm thinking of making light gray stickers for the bottoms of the doors on the passenger cars (I do intend to build others).

I just got the red station a couple of months' back for about $10 US out of the US. I only grabbed it because it was cheap and I was buying other stuff from the same vendor and the price was excellent. It's really pretty radical having the America version (590) and the world version (374) together. Aside from the swapping of colours on the actual station, there's also opposite coloured ladders depending on what you have. Station No. 9 is the only set that I've torn down and rebuilt.

It's the Train station #149 (background), that hasn't been disassembled and washed yet, and you can see the bus station (the bus has already been disassembled and washed) in the background as well. This is only a small portion of what was acquired, but some really exciting classic stuff!!

Edited August 17, 2016 by Breakdown

[Mesabi]

Geeze, you really are determined to avoid tariffs. Kudos to you for your trip!

[Breakdown]

Geeze, you really are determined to avoid tariffs. Kudos to you for your trip!

I've done the math for some and it's ugly.

Let's say that I have $800 in auction winnings.

Ship to US and drive to pick up:

$100 Domestic shipment (we'll call it 5-7 auction winnings)

$100 1000km round trip to my buddies' house (price of gas)

================================================

$200

Ship to Canada.

$180 International shipment cost (over 5-7 auctions)

$104 Tariffs ($800 X 0.13)

$110 in Custom's clearance fees from brokers, e-bay pretty much enforces that you pay this!

=========================================================================

$394

Add to this . . . . the fact that 1/2 the US auctions will NOT ship to Canada. And the specific auction that I won was explicitly stated local pickup only, it would have been in very, very bad shape if it was shipped the way that they had it packed away. Some of the key is patience and some of it is having something to do while in the states. Usually the to-do is go to a baseball game or a hockey game. In this instance it was . . . abandoned highway.

I usually take my buddy out to dinner or something as a thank-you. If I didn't have an amazing friend to visit, then I wouldn't be overly excited about visiting the US for 48 hours.

[Mesabi]

I've done the math for some and it's ugly.

Just curious, is that using paid time off? If not, are you factoring lost wages for vacation? Or is this a weekend trip and I'm overthinking this?

[Breakdown]

Just curious, is that using paid time off? If not, are you factoring lost wages for vacation? Or is this a weekend trip and I'm overthinking this?

Weekend trip & having fun. To be honest most of my lego trips are hockey trips.

If you break out a map, I will routinely go to hockey games in Erie, PA, and used to just turn around and go home from them. They are a 3.5 hour drive. My friend's house is another 1.5 hours each way, I get to spend time with awesome friends, hang out and save on customs. One time I was a little over my allowance and it's ugly, if you're over they charge you the tariffs on EVERYTHING, not just the amount that you are over. So . . . . I jammed almost 3 or 4 complete Lego airports into a box and was like yes . . . . that was one auction worth. It's Lego they aren't going to dissect every piece!

My last Lego cross-border haul in June was fun. I forgot to print out a nice manifest of what I had, and ended up making a list with dollar values on the back of a Bob Evans placemat in crayon. The border official was like, I see that you did all of this at Bob Evans, I had screen captures on my phone, he was more or less shocked that everything was $20 here and $30 there and then BOOM!! $275 - that was my 6399 Monorail in box, he was kinda shocked at that value that it was so high, I told him old, rare and desired and went on my way with the guy smiling.

Edited August 17, 2016 by Breakdown

[JGW3000]

Nice excuse for a road trip. I vaguely remember driving through those tunnels when I was much younger, and I see you enjoyed your time in Breezewood. Also stopped many times to see that old ship off of the QEW - a good distraction for the kids. Well worth it in the end!

[Mesabi]

You know, you could probably avoid the tariffs if you hid the Lego in the spare tire compartment. Who's going to suspect an AFOL of being a smuggler?

[Breakdown]

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6814976-burlington-skyway-video-daredevil-charged-with-trespassing/

So . . . . . someone decided to walk across the trusses on the top of the bridge and got arrested last week.

I wish I had his courage/level of stupidity. That video would be completely worth the $250 trespassing fee. The only issue that I have is that if he had fallen onto the road, it could have caused multiple fatalities.

I'm still working on re-assembling and cleaning some pieces. I've got one entire train done, and if I do say so myself, after replacing some sun-faded parts, it looks pretty spectacular, pics to come.

[Breakdown]

You know, you could probably avoid the tariffs if you hid the Lego in the spare tire compartment. Who's going to suspect an AFOL of being a smuggler?

I wasn't thinking (and this was a completely honest mistake) and got blacklisted on my way into the US with my coupe once, and every crossing with the coupe after that was hell. As soon as they saw the plates, they just started to write me up for a complete inspection of the car. I don't mind the 48 hours thing, it's more heading down there that is the hassle.

For the record, I was caught crossing with a couple of powder coated metal parts that I was bringing to a car meet. Net worth $80, but didn't think to declare them.

I still have the coupe. In 2010 the transmission on the car died, In 2011, we put the car back on the road with a new engine/transmission. It was 2 months shy of my birthday, but the government wanted $100 for renewal of my plates for those 2 months. I told them that there had to be a better option. And there was. Buy new plates and pay a pro-rated portion of the year. That was about half the price so I did that, and at the time didn't realize it, but with the loss of the old plates, the border people also lost interest in the car.