Day 6, Niagara Falls, ON to Evangola SP in New York.  We are back in the US now, and will book over 70 miles today when we get back to camp.  We had to have breakfast at Tim Hortons, because you know, he was a famous hockey player or something.  I didn't think it was great, but it was compare to Dunkin Donuts so I guess that's par for that course.  We took the Rainbow bridge to get back into the country, and we knew there was a pedestrian/bike way to go, but none of the signs in Canada said anything about that, so silly us, we followed them, and ended up crossing with cars and busses.  They had quite a discussion in the booth at the other side about bikes and what to do, but finally let us through with one of the standard questions (how long were we in Canada)... And we didn't have to pay the 50 cent toll.  Sweet.

Viewing the Falls from the US side is also really awesome, and a different point of view besdes just being on the other side of them.  We got drenched before putting no our rain gear, but enjoyed the up close and personal view.

 

 

 

We then found a waterfront path that took us a long way towards our destination, with some nice lake proximity.  However, at one point, we were directed (with excellent signage) through a maze (yes, literally a maze) of ramps, corners, tunnels of fence, overpasses and more, and ended up crossing over the adjoining Interstate and then almost immediately crossing back.  Pretty wild, and I think I got it on video :-).  We had some urban riding in Buffalo, but it wasn't bad.  We finally ended up on roads again, and it wasn't bad riding and mostly polite drivers, but the wind was incredibly strong, it seemed, and changed directions a lot.  But we got into camp around 6:15 with no issues, and backtracked 1.5 miles to get dinner.  Nice sunset out the window came with that.  On to Presque Isle SP tomorrow, in PA.  We can't camp there, but will find somewhere nearby.  We hope.

We are in good shape, bodies and machines, no major issues.

Day 5, Port Colborne to Niagara Falls (ON).  We booked about 43 miles today, a very nice change of pace!  Much of it was on the rest of the paved trail we were on yesterday, and pleasant to ride on.  We had breakfast at Maria's in Bridgeway.  We got a recommendation from the post office when we were getting stamps there.  See picture.  We stopped for a bit at Old Fort Erie, where they do reenactments of things that happened long time ago, probably battles we think.  We were on our way again before long, and really enjoyed going along the Niagara river (downstream, it turns out--I had pictured that all wrong).  The road along the river was great to ride on, with 2 or 3 minutes passing between cars overtaking us (IOW, very light traffic).  We must have had a tailwind since I clocked a number of stretches at 17 or 18 mph (our average is usually just under 12).  The Falls are amazing, as always.  I remember seeing them from the US side a few years ago, but I don't think I've seen them from here.  We enjoyed seeing them and getting sprayed, and took lots of pictures and video.  We ventured a little further North before turning around and finding the "old" downtown section of Niagara Falls.  First stop was a bike shop that took my bike right away, replaced the rear bearings and put it all back together, for $17 CN.  Big relief not to have to worry about that now.  Can't stay home for that.

 

 

 

We had dinner (somehow lunch got skipped) at Taps, a microbrewery, which was quite good.  It started to rain before we finished, but our raingear was ready and, well, we put it on and rode off to find a campsite.  We settled on Scott's Campground, which is very nice and has everything we need, including laundry (sometimes when things get wet it seems like they need to get washed, even though they just got wet, and, well, you know...).   The rain stopped by the time we got to the campground, and we're all set up now, with laundry done and using the wifi.

 

 

 

Tomorrow, we cross back to the US!

Day 4, Turkey Point to Port Colborne (Pleasant Beach campground).  We had a great breakfast at a crepe place in Port Dover, and checked out a local bike shop to see if someone could take a look at my rear wheel, which is a little noisy.  No mechanic was available, but we used their wifi anyway!  Love bike shops.  We had a very long day (for this trip, anyhow), of 90 miles.  Lunch was in Dunnville, at a great place called Flyers, with good food (Pesto Ravioli!), lots of water for our bottles, wifi and great conversation.

 

 

 

It was kind of a long slog to get there, against the wind, and we took a little bit of a shortcut and skipped some of the shoreline to get there.  Better than bonking...  Rode out of Dunneville on a pretty busy road with no shoulder, but drivers are all pretty nice and provide a wide berth when they pass.  Lots of actual lake shore today (unlike some others), though a lot of it did not smell very good.  I think it's the same thing that caused the water problem in Toledo, and the beaches we saw didn't look that nice either.  Had some very strong cross winds for awhile, and thought we were going to get caught in a storm, but that didn't happen until after we turned in later.  Dinner was in Port Colborne, which was the beginning of an awesome paved trail that goes all the way to the mouth of the Niagara river (which may be Lake Erie at that point, not sure).  We only took it about 10 km out of town and then turned South to get to our campground.  Very nice, but we were the only tenters (lots of seasonal residents in trailers).  At $13 Canadian each, it was a bargain even with the pay-as-you-go showers.  I blew a front spoke near the end of the day, but was able to ride to our destination without issue.  We fixed it once we got to camp, and it'll do just fine until I can have a pro tweak it up.  More worried about the rear bearing.  Storm came through big time but our tents held up, and our stuff was packed, so all was dry this morning.  We took a look at the beach there, and stuck our feet in this morning, and it's the nicest one we have seen yet.  And the water is quite warm.  Off to Niagara Falls!

Day 3, Dutton to Turkey Point Provincial Park.  Breakfast was at Tall Tales, a local gas station and restaurant, which afforded us wifi (not sure if we were supposed to be able to use it but it worked!).

 

Had some gravel roads between the Breakfast stop and our next one (Port Bruce).  We finally got our feet in the Lake Erie water at Port Bruce Provincial Park, in addition to refilling our water bottles and snagging a candy bar.  Water was pretty cloudy, but warm.  Took me some time to clean the sand and pebbles out of my riding sandals after I went in with them on.  We met Tim, a cyclist from England that was circumnavigating North America, at least until the money runs out.  Had a nice chat, and exchanged "cards".  Stopped in Port Burwill for lunch, which, like Port Stanley, is a little touristy and has lots of places to eat.  Had sandwiches at an ice cream place, followed by (wait for it...) ice cream.  Started seeing wind turbines again, so we are apparently out of Elgin county (lots of anti-wind turbine signs there).

It was a long haul to finally get to Turkey Point PP, but it is a nice place, and the community is just about 1 km away which is very nice.  Unfortunately it's a pretty big climb back to camp after dinner (which I'm currently at).  My first time being served Poutain (fries, cheese and gravy -- delicious).  Total miles for the day will be close to 90 once we get back to camp.  Looking forward (again) to my tent (actually, the sleep that will occur in it!).  One more long day, tomorrow, and then a short one to Niagara Falls.

 

 

Day 2 had us traveling from Wheatley Provincial Park, where my phone was stolen, to Dutton, where we stayed at an RV / trailor park.  We were welcomed enthusiastically and provided with burgers for dinner, and free ice cream.

 

On our trip today, we saw probably 300 wind turbines, all turning in indication of the headwind that we were fighting all day.  Those are just huge machines.  We also passed a lot of solar panels, and maybe 15 oil wells, many of them producing.  Didn't see any nuclear plants though.

We had breakfast in camp (banana bread and granola bars), and didn't stop for lunch until 1:30 or so, near a Provincial park (Rondoleux, or something like that).  Most people were pretty interested in what we were doing, and we had some nice conversation.  Dinner was 7:30 in camp but we ate quite a bit of snacks in between.

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We found a nice little shop/cafe, called the Crazy 8 Barn, and the welcomed us, asked us to sign the guest book, gave us free WiFi, filled our water bottles and talked to us about biking.   Very cool place!  We met a guy that stopped there, that was thru-biking from Oregon to the East coast.  Bob has a journal on-line, which is part of the Crazy Guy On A Bike thing.  Nice chat with him.  Unfortunately when pulling into the place, I managed to dump my bike and banged up my left knee, and put a gash in my right calf.  I think it'll be okay, but the knee still hurts when I start riding.

Tomorrow we have another day of around 80 miles, and then the days get shorter for the rest of the tour.  Yay!

Day 1, Windsor, ON to Wheatley Provincial Park, 50 (or so) miles.  From now on "PP" means Provincial Park, and "CG" means Campground.

We started out (very late) on the Chrysler Canada Greenway:

 

 

where Brian's cousin dropped us off., It is crushed limestone (not paved), but which was not a bad path usually.  We stopped at MJ's Pizza in Wheatley when we finally arrived in town, and had a late dinner, after riding in the dark for 45 minutes or more.  The trip to the park was short after that, and we had a reservation so were in and set up quickly.

Posting will be more difficult for the remainder of the trip as my phone was "lifted" last night. I am hoping that someone will restore my faith in the goodness of all people and I'll get a call that someone turned it in at the campground, but not holding my breath. Great weather so far! Late night last night, as brian lost one of his panniers and we spent 45 minutes and more than a few miles looking for it (found it), after getting a really late start out of Windsor. Otherwise the machines and operators worked well and we have the first day under our belts.  Day 2 will be a long day at 80+ miles, but we will start on time so it should not be nearly as late of an arrival.

 

 

Clockwise around Lake Erie

Brian and I are doing it again, starting Friday. Our self-contained tour, by bicycle, around Lake Erie has been almost planned out now.  To get started, we'll drive us and our bikes to the Detroit area, where his cousin will give us a ride across the Canadian border into Windsor, ON.  With that, our bike trip around Lake Erie will begin! Here's the rough itinerary, by campground/Provincial Park/State Park:

Detroit Windsor Tunnel
Wheatley Provincial Park	49	Day 1	8-Aug
Rondeau Provincial Park
Hickory Grove Campground
Duttuna	78	Day 2	9-Aug
Port Burwell Provincial Park
Turkey Point Provincial Park	82	Day 3	10-Aug
Rock Point Provincial Park
Pleasant Beach Campground	78	Day 4	11-Aug
Mather Park
Niagara Falls Funiculars Lower Station	41	Day 5	12-Aug
	308
Lower Lake Erie
Niagara Falls State Park
Evangola State Park (NY)	51	Day 6	13-Aug
Lake Erie State Park
Presque Isle State Park (PA) - nearby camp	69	Day 7	14-Aug
Erie Bluffs State Park
Geneva State Park	50	Day 8	15-Aug
Cleveland (Rock-n-Roll)	50	Day 9	16-Aug
Sandusky Cedar Point Campground	57	Day 10	17-Aug
Maumee Bay State Park	69	Day 11	18-Aug
Superior Township	77	Day 12	19-Aug
	423

The rows with the dates and day numbers on them are our proposed stopping points, although that could change some of course.

So, follow us on Twitter (@amedsker), and Facebook (Alan Medsker, I think I'm the only one).  We are looking forward to the trip, and will have more stories to tell when we get back!

Let us know if you are somewhere along the way and would like to meet up as we pass through.

Alan (and Brian)