Canada Day 1: Newmarket, Toronto

2007 Jeep Commander Overland

3/31/07

4X4 ICON 2000 - 2008 The DVD! - Click here for details!

4X4 ICON 2000 - 2008 The DVD!

Saturday, March 31, 2007 - Road-Trip from West Virginia to Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

Route traveled 3/31/07 (yellow)

We got the Jeep Commander a couple days before our trip.  Generally speaking it's a good idea to shake down new equipment before relying on it for a long trip.  That gave me two days to check it over and drive it locally to see if anything surfaced.  I took this time to install the roof box for our luggage.  This called for drilling four holes in the brand new luggage rack cross-rails so the u-brackets for the roof box would work.  Alternatively I could have purchased different rails with t-slots in them but there wasn't time and I didn't want to spend another $200 for redundant rails.  So I got to drill on the vehicle less than two hours after taking delivery... The tradition continues...

We learned with the Wrangler that having everything out of the passenger cabin made for a much better travel experience.  Even with the larger interior capacity of the Commander, we wanted to leave the rear area as unburdened as possible.  All the overnight stuff would be in the overhead.  So here's what fits in the roof box with a little room to spare:

Loading the Roof Box on the 2007 Jeep Commander Overland - Mission Impossible?
Loading the Roof Box on the 2007 Jeep Commander Overland - Mission Impossible?

That's one very large roll-away duffle bag (too large for airline carry-on), one carry-on roll-away, two kid-sized roll-aways, one over-stuffed suit bag, two athletic duffels, and one tote bag.  Enough clothing for a clothes-horse family of four for eight days.

Loading the Roof Box on the 2007 Jeep Commander Overland - No Problem!Loading the Roof Box on the 2007 Jeep Commander Overland - No Problem!
Loading the Roof Box on the 2007 Jeep Commander Overland - No Problem!Loading the Roof Box on the 2007 Jeep Commander Overland - No Problem!

Now I realize that getting it all up there without a step ladder is not going to be much fun, but that's where teamwork comes in.  In actual practice I was able to stand on the rear wheel and have items passed up to me.  This works fine.

Here's the Jeep all ready to hit the road - nice and clean with no crazy roof rack things going on.  Like I said:  The same but different.  We're still using overhead storage but we streamlined it for this type of trip.

2007 Jeep Commander Overland with Roof Box2007 Jeep Commander Overland

We drove pretty much straight through except for the necessary sorts of stops along the way.  We had brunch at Golden Corral near Erie, PA at 10:35.

3/31/07 Brunch and Sneaker Stop

I had to stop to get sneakers because my big boots were very uncomfortable in the limited space of the driver's side footwell.  With size 13's, large shoes do not work well in this vehicle - in direct contrast to the Wrangler.  My leg was cramped within an hour of setting out - even with the cruise control engaged.  Wal*Mart to the rescue...  We got back on the highway at Noon.

We reached customs at 1:50 and cleared them at 2:11. 

3/31/07 Customs

We spent about 20 minutes at customs and another 10 minutes immediately after customs to get snacks, Canadian currency and refresh ourselves.  After that we continued up the highway until we reached the Best Western Hotel in Newmarket, Ontario at 3:50pm. 

3/31/07 Best Western Newmarket

After checking in and unloading, at 4:45pm we drove over to Cliff & Anna's, about 5 minutes away, for dinner (KFC) and to visit.

Cliff and Anna's House

I had ride in their 2007 Dodge Charger R/T w HEMI on the way to KFC (whoosh!).

Cliff and Anna's Challenger and our Jeep
Cliff and Anna's ChallengerCliff and Anna's Challenger

We visited for a while, got the latest news. 

AnnaCliffTom and AnnaCliff and TomVisitingVisitingVisiting

The kids had some fun in Cliffs den.  At 8pm we headed back to the hotel.

I downloaded the GPS data from my legacy system, loaded them for the maps and routes to Montreal and Québec, while Maria got the kids cleaned up and ready for bed.

Next: Sunday, April 1, 2007 - Toronto Ontario to Montreal, Québec

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