Day 2 ( Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada to Cleveland)

Day 2

Driving Time- 3 PM - 8:00 PM
Miles - 240 miles

To See where I am now click here

U.S. map (still got a ways to go ;)

 Canada

Drove along the Niagara River Corridor Parkway (Niagara River connects two of the Great Lakes). Eventually crossed the Niagara River  & had to go through U.S. Border Patrol to get back into NY state

Crossing into the U.S. (1/2 the bridge is Canadian & 1/2 U.S.)
City of Buffal in the background

NY

Drove through the City of Buffalo, which has a population of 361,000. You  could tell there was once a lot of factories and that it was probably a booming city at one point. Like so many cities they all have a story to tell ( a past and a future) and so often just by driving through you can start to hear the story.

Past Buffalo I ended up driving through grape farms after  grape farms. It was so beautiful because the terrain was hilly but it definitely gets repetitive. Grapes need a lot of moisture in the air and since this region of NY and parts of PA (Pennsylvania) are along Lake Erie they get it. Lake Erie is so large that it changes the climate (temperature and precipitation) for the surrounding area. Westfield NY is the grape juice capital of the world, more grape juice comes from here than any where else. This was the original headquarters for Welch's Grape Juice Company. The grape juice and wine we get at the supermarket has to come from somewhere. :)

Grape Vines with Lake Erie in the background
(Westfield, NY population 3,400)

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania was just like the last part of NY, still a bunch of grapes.  The other difference is that I-90 is now called the Pennsylvania Turnpike instead of the NY Thruway. I don't remember much else of importance.

Ohio

Crossed into Ohio on I-90 and now it is called the Ohio Turnpike. Ohio had a lot of farmland but as I got closer to Cleveland the farms disappeared from view. Cleveland is right on Lake Erie and it has a beautiful skyline so there were plenty of great photo opportunities. The sun was setting so this was my last stop for the night before checking into the Comfort Inn in downtown Cleveland.

Day 1 (Plum Island Massachusetts to Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada)

Day 1 
** Video is coming but probably not till I get to Lake Tahoe**
Time on the road : 9:00 am - 12:00 am (15 hours)
Miles Driven : about 500 miles

To see where i am now just click here

Driving from Plum Island MA through Boston was great. Then took I-90 (I= Interstate & if the number is even then the highway goes East/West across the country, if its odd it runs North/South)

MA

I-90 (AKA-Mass Pike) Goes from Boston all the way west across MA (which can get boring at times & there are a lot of State Troopers) and before you get out of MA you cross through the "Berkshires", which is a region blanketed with small mountains, rolling terrain (lots of hills), and is well noted as the region that makes the paper that U.S. Dollars is printed on ( North Adams, MA)

** I will uplaod video but editing the film is taking for ever.**

NY

I-90 ( AKA- NY Thruway) goes from the MA border all the way across NY till it hits the corner of PA. At times the drive was beautiful. Farm land all over the place even on steep hills. When I hit the Mohawk River Valley the highway was right along side the river for miles and it was gorgeous.

 ** Unfortunately this is conveniently the same time my Go Pro Camera decided it didn't want to work. I tried stopping and fixing it by pulling the battery,  pulling the memory card, but couldn't re-format (erase everything on) the memory card until I could stop and spend a couple hours getting all the video I had shot off of it** Eventually I did stop at a Rest area and set up to download all the video and called Go Pro to help me re-format my memory disk (& to complain!!!)  .... It takes a long time to download High Definition video so about 1 1/2 hours was spent downloading the video to my laptop and the other 45 minutes was spent dealing with Go Pro on the phone ( I was not a happy camper - but very respectful :)**

 2 1/2 hours later I was back on the road driving the last  200 plus miles to Niagara Falls and it was starting to get dark.  I was warned about dawn (sunrise) and dusk (sunset) to be very careful if I am driving at these times because that is when you are most likely to encounter animals on the move (either finding food or getting back to "home". Well.... they were right in less than a 30 minute span I saw over 10 deer within 40 feet of the highway at dusk.. This was a unnerving (sketchy) feeling. Some were within 10 feet of the road. After riding in the dark for hours I finally hit Buffalo area which is where I got on I-290  (I=Interstate and since it is a 3 digit number you look at the last 2, which =90 so that tells you that it connects to I-90 and the first digit if it is and EVEN # tells you it connects to I-90 in more than one spot. If the first digit is odd it only connects to I-90 once).

Then I-190 and finally hit the Canadian Border and waited at the border checkpoint. Once I was cleared to cross into Canada it started pouring.. After being thouroughly soaked I made it to my hotel. I dried out my clothes and called it a night.

Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada
In the morning I walked around and took tons of pictures and video taped my voyage on a boat, called the "Maid of the Mist" that goes nearly into the falls. I don't have time to edit video and the full length videos are way to big for the blog so here are some pictures I took for now.

There are two falls and together they are known as "Niagara Falls". One (to the right) is called Horsehoe Falls and one (to the left) is called American Falls because it is located completely in the U.S.

American Falls (U.S. is in the background)

Horseshoe Falls 

Leaving Niagara Falls on the Canadian side of the Lake on the Niagara River Corridor Parkway. A beautiful road to drive on.

Where's Waldo (Well actually Where's Mr. Potter)

Where's Mr. Potter (click here)

As of now you will need to click on the following link in order to be able to track where I  have been and where I am now. I will be trying to get the map to automatically update on this blog...

Test footage from Go Pro 3

Cant upload HD but this will have to do...

Nothing special just playing with film editing! Obviously a lot is left to be desired!! :)

Hope I age like a fine wine!

Broken Down, No Cell Service, No People... What do you do???

One of my fears is breaking down in a place with population nothing and no cell service.. So what do you do??

Well I could....

• Get a gun.. but I'm not the gun carrying type of person (not anti guns but not for me)
• Never mind gun laws in NY plus I'm going to Canada (Niagara Falls)
• Get a machete... but not really the machete wielding type of person either
• Get a GPS beacon that hikers use to alert authorities to your exact location.. :)
• This is the option for me but my only concern is do they respond in time before wild coyotes and bears may cross my path... so in addition I'm getting a police baton and a couple flares

Hope it works!! :)

Belt, Bag, Shoes Have to Match??

NO but trying to find bags for an Aprilia is TIME CONSUMING (& not cheap)

• No one makes bags specifically for Aprilia RSV or when they say they do they never show pictures of the bags on my type of bike...

Things to consider:

• Luggage needs to stay clear of my exhaust
• Needs to be easily removable when I stop
• Reasonably priced
• Waterproof or have waterproof covers
• Need saddle bags, tail bag and tank bag

4 Companies Considered

• Ventura

• Nelson Rigg 

• Cycle Guys SLS

• SW-Motech

Which Way Did He Go.. Which Way Did He Go

The goal is to make the trip enjoyable, scenic and in about a week.. Soooo...

• How many miles can I handle per day?
• Hope to do 500 miles per day  (8 hours of driving time)
• Make sure to pack some Advil :)
• What do I want to see along the way ?
• Niagara Falls (Canada/Buffalo NY)
• Mount Rushmore (South Dakota)
• Black Hills (South Dakota)
• Grand Canyon
• Yellowstone National Park
• Rt. 66
• etc...

Initial map for the ride out which includes the locations of Aprilia Authorized Service Centers

View Cross Country Bike Trip in a larger map