Born in the USA

Today started at 6:20am.  It was the first time I've had to use my alarm clock since I started this trip.  Probably because I spent nights 3 and 4 in the Howard Johnson Inn in Fort Erie.  Resting up for a full day was exactly what my legs needed.  They were absolutely terrible. It felt as if I had hit my thighs with a hammer for about 10 hours. Not comfortable.

When I left Fort Erie I headed north along the Niagara Parkway.  It was beautiful.  The landscape was lit orange and red with the rising sun on the morning dew.  It was truly picture perfect.  The Niagra river was to my right and colonial styled, and actual colonial homes from the 1700s were to my left.  About 10 miles before I entered into Niagara Falls I came up to the historic town of Chippewa.  How Chippewa came to become a historic town has to do with my "Days 3 and 4" entry.  During the battle of 1812 there was a massive battle called The Battle of Chippewa.  I stopped and saw a memorial park and the actual battle ground where soldiers and native American soldiers gave their lives to defeat the british.  It was awe-inspiring to say the least.  Just looking over the field I could almost hear the muskets firing and people yelling for covering fire.  I envisioned lines of soldiers dressed in green, grey, and red coats, all storming against one another, and firing cannons filled with golf ball buck shot. To  stand where men fought a major battle, to physically see the battle field from a war that long ago in our nations history was simply amazing.  It took me a while to muster up the will power to leave such a historic front, but Niagara Falls was only about a mile away and I could see the river begin to turn rapid.  As I moved closer to the falls the moisture in the air become more pungent.  I could faintly hear the roar of the Canadian horseshoe falls and the water turned white.  Riding along the endge of the river gave me a better appreciation for the forces at work that shaped the falls.  It wasn't too long ago I took the Maid of the Mist tour into the falls with Katie, but riding along the entire river put it all into perspective. When I entered the path along the actual falls I stopped for a few minutes, took some pictures, and went on my way.  I had seen the falls before so a little reminder was nice.  They are truly remarkable, unlike the city, or should I say hollywood cluster-fuck that encompasses it.  Following the actual falls are a set of hills that are pretty fun to climb up and ride down, that is, until you have to ride back up again, but whatever.  About a half an hour later I was under the queenston bridge where my Adventure Cycling Maps told me to ride my bike onto and cross into The United States.  The only problem is, is that these maps seem very outdated due to people like me who complain about it, but fail to actually do anything about it.  Where the maps failed again was here.  According to the maps I just go under the Queenston bridge, then do a little loop around and get into customs.  Well, it turns out that customs security has been upgraded.  I had to ride about 1.6 miles away from the bridge, turn onto the 403 (MAJOR EXPRESSWAY) and ride on the shoulder.  Cars were buzzing past me at high speeds, truck blazing in the right hand lane.  It was nerve racking.  I then crossed the bridge into the USA with traffic and stood in line with all of the other cars.  The looks on those peoples faces were priceless. Naturally I got a lot of questions from different cars and one man began to laugh and said "I have been traveling this bridge for a very long time and I have Never seen anything like this before.  Are you even allowed to go through here?"  I laughed and told him I haven't seen anything like it either.  Even if customs didn't allow me to do it, what were they going to do?  Deport me to where I'm going?  When it was my turn to proceed to the New York customs police again he wasn't phased with what I was doing.  We talked about my trip and he found it very cool and wished me luck.

When I entered the US I had an overwhelming feeling to sing "Born in the USA" and I did.  Although I go by Canadian Bacon rules because I only know the words "Born in the USA" and I sing them over and over.  I tried raising my arms in victory, but  bike was unevenly weighted so it violently turned forcing me to grab back on.  I made some calls and used my smart-phone for the first time in five days which was nice.  Good to have technology on the road again.  In New York I followed the Erie Canal to the camp ground / City park in Holley, MI.  Along the way I saw one of the Adventure Cycling group tours ride past me.  They started in Bar Harbor Maine, and are heading to Seattle, Washington.  I would have been impressed hadn't been for the fact that they put all of their gear in a van following them.  Wimps.  I also met a kid from NY who was on his first day of his first tour ever.  Because we were, and are, going to same way and the next campground is about 50 miles away, we decided to ride together to Holley and camp.  He told me that the actual campground has been closed for years now (he got the about 10 minutes before me), but there was a park that was rumored to allow campers.  I said "What the hell" and so we checked it out.  It turned out that they do allow tents and it was free.  Music to my ears.  The town is quite small with a pizza place and a Subway being the only food open on a Sunday after 3.  Go figure.  

The lake Erie Canal is a great way to tour if you have never toured before. Because the trail hugs the man made canal within 5 feet at all times, it it a very smooth, flat ride.  The road is not paved however, but is made of ground pebbles, then pack down, which makes it fairly decent to ride on.  I recommend it to anyone who has never biked in NY before and wants to ride coast to coast.

The current time is 8:35pm on June 5th, 2011 and It's time for bed.  Good night and I look forward to writing tomorrow.