Day 64 Fort Erie, ON-Medina, NY

more photos

Jo Day 64 (Oct 3):  Happy Birthday, Eddy!  It was a nice morning at the Comfort Inn in Fort Erie, Ontario.  Kevin, Alan and John took off for their 67 mile ride...they got to ride on the Niagara River Recreation Trail and another trail along the Erie Canal.  Janut, Bob and I drove under the Peace Bridge along the Niagara Parkway, there wasn't much traffic.  We saw lots of black birds with long necks and grey chests flying over the river, swimming in the river, and sunning in the trees along the river. Oh, and lots of big mansions.  We drove by Niagara Falls but could not find a parking space for the van (the lots started at $18 for "autos"), what a madhouse.  I hung out the window and took pictures and videos of the falls while Janut maneuvered through the traffic.  Tourists were walking all over the place, and tour buses were parked in the bus lots.  All the side streets had "no parking" signs.  We drove 2.5 miles beyond the falls (by downtown), and I noticed a residential street with a church and no "no parking" signs, so I said "turn here, and then turn there, now we can park."  Yay, free parking!  I was feeling a little under the weather and not up to a 5 mile round trip walk, so Bob and I hung out by the van (ate lunch, took a walk, read a book, saw tourists pull their heavy luggage down the street, and watched the black squirrels eat the almonds that I tossed out of the van window).  Janut dashed to the falls, took pictures, and dashed back within 2.25 hours.  We stopped at the "Whirlpool" overlook...wow, big rapids and a really big eddy! Then we headed for the Lewiston Queenston Bridge (border crossing into New York, USA).  Not much traffic on the bridge, it only took 15 minutes to cross the border.  The border patrol guy was serious and all business (no laughs or smiles like the Canadian border patrol lady).  He asked for our ID, what is our citizenship "US", did we purchase anything "no, just groceries", got any alcohol "no", have any vegetables or fruits "apples and bananas", any citrus "no", he walked around the van and looked in the windows but said they were too dark so he opened the side door and looked inside, then asked "is that a cat or dog in there?"  Janut replied, "he's a beagle".  Well, we passed.  Uh, regarding alcohol...we are the support van for Kevin and John...what do you think?  We traveled through Lockport, NY and drove over the Erie Canal a few times. Saw a tug boat pushing a small barge.  Drove on a small steel bridge over the Erie Canal in Middleport, NY.  Tonight we are camping at the Medina/Wildwood Lake KOA.  Got a small cabin for John and Alan. Laundry night...Janut was getting ready to load the washer, she looked inside and saw something so she pulled it out...a black lace thong! We asked the woman who used the washer before us if it was hers, and she shook her head and said no, so we left the wet thong on top of the dryer. Well, the laundry is right across from our camp site and that lady was the only other person doing laundry at the same time.  When we went back, the wet black thong was gone! Too funny...at least it was clean?  The guys made a tasty dinner for us, egg noodles, broccoli and kale, and roasted chicken.  I like these KOA's during the off season, there are "no activities" = peace and quiet! Yay!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kevin Day 64 Fort Erie, Ontario to Medina, New York. 66 miles. We left Fort Erie this morning and rode north, along the Niagara Parkway about 18 miles to Niagara Falls. There are many large, attractive homes along this stretch, and  traffic was light.  Soon we were at the falls. John and I were looking at the lead in Rapids to the falls-just looking at them made us nervous!  And the horizon line at the top of the falls is one you'd never want to see in a kayak!  We walked out bikes along the falls viewing area, negotiating the throngs of tourists. The area around the falls is quite built-up with hydropower facilities, tourist stuff, and big hotels and casinos on both sides of the river. We met a group of some old people (older than us!) from Colorado that were all cyclists and they were going to ride the Erie Canal trail from its start in Lockport to Albany NY they were all quite interested and excited in what we are doing. We continued our ride along the Niagrara Gorge and crossed the border at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge.  We waited about 35 minutes, in with the cars to cross.  20 miles or so on the road brought us to Lockport where we had a late lunch at The Pot o'Gold Tavern.  Owner Judy was friendly and made delicious food for us!   Then we got on the historic Erie Canal Towpath trail, and rode this hard packed dirt trail 13 miles to Middleport, and then found out camp at the KOA at Medina, about 5 miles off our route.  Tomorrow we will get back on the Erie Canal trail and stay on it for another 70 miles or so.