They say timing is everything. And after being awake for nearly forty five hours straight, I'm not counting the half hour sleep I got on the last night in Toronto, arriving in Corning was like a savior from my inner insomniac. This little insomniac critter had been taking me over and slowly but surely wearing me down but I suppose that was always going to happen when on a once in a life time kind of trip. In any event arriving in Corning, a couple of hours north of the Pennsylvania state border, I found the right amount of relaxation, sleep and great company to get a new bout of energy for moving forward.

I don't think anything, or anywhere, else on this trip could get Maddi and I a more authentic slice of Americana than our visit to Corning to see some of Maddi's family. It was upstate living at it's chilled out best. Home cooked Mac & Cheese, comfy couches you sink right into, good ole' fashioned family banter in the living room, middle school ice hockey and Sunday football at the local among mountains of beer nuts and chicken wings had us leaving with full stomachs and well rested eyes.

A nine hour sleep on Saturday night felt amazing after a sampling of a fine, juicy, upstate steak from the biggest and busiest steakhouse in town. It's the venue in which the entire family decided to tell the staff it was my birthday so I could earn a free ride on the steakhouse saddle. I think the most embarrassing part of the whole thing was being labeled just sixteen years old. Not even clean shaven could I pull that look off. We all had a laugh none-the-less.

Corning is a lovely little town with a long strip of stores, bars and restaurants, a glass factory and a back drop of stunning foresty hills that stand out when covered in snow. Granted it is cold sitting watching ice hockey on concrete bleachers on a Sunday evening or walking the town strip from bar to bar but like other areas of the U.S. the locals are completely undeterred. It's just on and off, on and off with the ski jackets and hoodies.

It's considered the done thing here to sweep beernut shells on the floor while at the bar watching football. I have to say I was a bit surprised to pull up a stool and hear the crunch of thousands of shells under my feet but the most important thing is the bar is clean. Like going to a sports bar back home to watch a big AFL game the beer was flowing and also like back home fans gets vocal when their team scores. My fist pumps and little cheers were isolated however. Not many people in Corning cheer for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots and I was the only one at our table of seven with my head turned the opposite way from the Buffalo Bills game to watch the screen showing New England clench it's AFC east championship. This is a Bills and Steelers town as evidenced by the logos on the walls behind the bar. After walking away from this experience, which also involved four different types of spicy chicken wings to munch on, it's fair to say it'll be happening again come playoff time.

Oh, and our room for the weekend was a taxidermists' dream come true. Its walls were plastered with once live deer and ram heads which were shot by Maddi's cousin's partner who is an avid game hunter in his spare time. Having these glassy eyed things stare at me while I slept and me not being freaked out even for a second goes to show you how much I really did need sleep these past few days.

So now we say goodbye to upstate and hello to the state's, and world's, biggest city for the next week. New York City promises so much and I have no doubt it will deliver.

Number of days I've gone without getting struck by Ebola: Sixteen.