GreatLakes

Day 17

Saturday, 13 Jun 2009
Port Dover, ON to Youngstown, NY
93.2 miles, 6h46m, 13.7 mph
Elapsed Time: 8h27m, Max speed: 41.2mph
Total Climbing: 1236ft, Max elevation: 718ft
Total mileage: 1147.0

I'm done. Touched Lake Ontario. No more Great Lakes to conquer. Another really long day though.

Linda flew in to Buffalo last night and she got up early this morning so she would get to Port Dover before I left. I could have been on the road a little earlier, but if I waited I wouldn't have to hang the bags on my bike. So I waited and I got to ride a light bike. I really noticed the difference in the crosswinds. It's the difference between driving a loaded dump truck and driving an empty dump truck.

I started on the coastal road, which was plenty scenic, but had recently be given a fresh chip seal coating, so it was like riding in gravel. After a few miles of that I'd had enough and moved inland to the faster, though less scenic highway 3.

A cloudy morning on Lake Erie.

Canadian geese, chillin' at home.

As I always say, if you ride long enough eventually you will have to wait for a train.
I also say that about draw bridges, but that didn't happen on this trip.

Once I realized that I was going to have to do ridiculous mileage in order to finish today, I started changing my route. After several revisions, I decided I would just head straight for Niagara Falls, cross into the US, and then north to Lake Ontario. I would just finish the ride there rather than ride back into Buffalo. I found a great road that took me into Welland. Then I roamed around on the road grid until I rolled past the outlying strip clubs of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and then pushed on to the Falls.

I took this tunnel under the Welland Canal.

I was shocked at the Disneyfication of the Canadian side.

A long way from Duluth.

As you can see by the bear, the American falls are not really that large.

Ye olde Canadian falls.

I crossed the Rainbow Bridge and breezed through the border checkpoint. I met Linda for some ice cream, but the place didn't have soft-serve custard so we went hungry. Back on the road, north through the crappier parts of Niagara Falls, NY.

A look at the Lewiston bridge and the lower gorge.

As I rolled north, NY 104 turned into a highway and dropped down off the Niagara escarpment. Through Lewiston, on to the quaint village of Youngstown, and in to Fort Niagara State Park, where Lake Ontario awaited at the far end of a big sloping lawn.

Lake Ontario. You can see Toronto from here (if you look in the right direction).

And I touched the Lake. Woo-hoo!

Weary travelers rest.

We loaded the bike into Linda's rental SUV and headed off to the bike shop that was going to ship the bike back to Maryland. They were closed. So we consoled ourselves with wings.

Duff's was not closed.

We actually ate all but 7 of 40 wings. And all but 68 of the fries.
We did drink the entire pitcher of beer.

On the way back to the Falls I took Linda on a tour of Love Canal. Nothing much has changed there.

A busy Love Canal neighborhood.

Tomorrow we take the bike to the shop, engage in some tourism, and fly home. We'll probably eat lunch at the famous Anchor Bar, where wings were invented. Our first meal on this trip was at the Anchor Bar in Superior, Wisconsin. It only seems right to end it at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo.

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