Day 44 (16 Sep 09) Port Dover to Fort Erie 87 miles
On the road at dawn and we start by missing a turn. No problem. We stop to review the map on the last street that connects to the street we want - our luck is confirmed by a local passerby. And we’re off into the wind - later to find out that wind speeds were a sustained 15 mph with gusts to 23. Long day on the bikes.
On arrival in Fort Erie, we visited a nearby large supermarket to purchase a rotisserie chicken and sundries for dinner. A stop at the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario - netting over a $ billion last year according to the clerk) netted a bottle of fine (well fairly expensive anyway) French wine. Typical of government run liquor stores, the selection was meager. We returned to the Comfort Inn to eat. When we asked for three paper plates, we were greeted with a complaint from the desk clerk that he would do it this time, but that if he did it for us, everyone would be asking for the same thing - there was no one else around. Three miserable paper plates! You’d have thought we asked for the keys to the city.
Day 45 (17 Sep 09) Fort Erie to Brockport 100 miles
Things were looking good until I (Jim) noticed that the zipper on one of my back panniers was partially open. While straddling my bike in the parking lot of the motel and trying to close the zipper, the handle bars turned and the front gear ring put a big divot in the lower part of my right leg. Off to the ER at the nearest hospital about a mile away. The Canadian health system in this case was far more efficient than any such encounter in the US would have been. I arrive a few minutes before 8 AM and was out by 9:30 AM having been sewn up. A quick trip to the local pharmacy for antibiotics and we were ready to go on a 100 mile bike ride including a crossing of the US Canadian border and a visit to the Canadian and Niagara Falls.
“After they put the 2 wires in my head and I dropped the blood clot I no longer had grand mal epilepsy,” said the white haired woman on the bike in front of the pharmacy. Jim was packing his ointment and antibiotics. She perfected the life story treatment in 5 minutes or less. Husband lost his 4 fingers in the laundry machine; she married him anyway and had 9 children. She pedals off. We know we are facing and epic ride by leaving late.
A fast push of 28 miles to Niagara Falls, Ontario; a quick view and lots of photos of Horseshoe Falls and Niagara Falls and we are pedaling to find the Lewiston Bridge to find our port of entry to the US. After a bit of wandering around and an extra six miles we figure out that the way across is through Canadian Customs. The US Customs Officers see out passports, ask questions about our bike ride and we are waived through.
We are running late, but stop at “Smokin Joe’s” smoke shop on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation doing a brisk business in smokes including to a woman who drives up, unhooks her oxygen tank, buys 2 cartons, re-hooks to oxygen and drives off.
We find the Erie Canal Bike Trail in Lockport and have a flat, dusty ride 40 miles to Brockport. The light is getting low and glows on the water. We will be arriving at the hotel at dusk. These towns along the Erie Canal have character influenced by the trading history of the canal now open to biking and boating. We can recommend that you take a look at riding/boating the canal with 500 miles of boating and 300 miles of biking.
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