Today’s goal was to cross over the border, back into the USA and then visit my cousin Bill in Amherst, NY. The ride was uneventful.
I did run into Ken Smith again. He is the fellow that is doing a coast-to-coast bike ride as a fund raiser for his grandson, who has serious medical issues. Ken is full of life and excited about his ride, even after all these miles. I took a short video of him as we approached the Peace Bridge, which is where one crosses to the US in Fort Eire. I’ll send him the video, maybe he will post it. A local fellow, Chris, guided through the area. We had our own personal GPS.
Normally, bicyclists are required to walk their bikes across the Peace Bridge. The bridge is about 2/3 of a mile (1 km). I had heard from Ken that they are providing a shuttle for bikes because they are doing construction on the bridge. He was correct.
I rode around for almost an hour before I finally found where the shuttle pick-up was. It wasn’t obvious. My GPS started to work and it too was confused…”turn left, turn right, turn ?” I gave up on it. I finally found a border worker and he told me to stay put and the shuttle would come and get me where I was.
True to his word, in just a few minutes the shuttle did arrive. The fellow was all set to put the bike on a bike rack on the back of the van but realized that it was WAY too heavy for that, so we put it in the back of the van. He drove me across and now we had to go through the US border crossing. The van driver was holding my passport and I was sitting in a back seat. There is a cage between the driver and passengers. The border guard and the driver talked about me for quite a time. Finally, the guard left the booth, walked around the van and opened the van door to have a look at me. He stared for a few seconds, shook his head and closed the door. After a long day’s ride I must have presented quite a sight. I could see he was thinking, “Wow, they’ll let anybody into this country, wait ’til I tell Trump.”
In any case, I was dropped off at a park in the US. I still had about 16 miles (25 km) to go. My GPS was working! I did Fred Astaire dance moves for the next two hours navigating from Buffalo, NY to East Amherst. Some of the roads were crowded with traffic, but everyone behaved themselves. About half-way to my destination I started getting a GPS voice telling me, “GPS signal lost.” Thanks T-Mobile. When it was lost I would just use my pigeon senses and head in the correct direction. Eventually, the signal would return and would confirm I was still going in the correct direction.
When I was within a few blocks of Bill’s place, I called him to warn him. He was out in his truck but headed back to meet me. It was fantastic to see him again. We have a very storied past and maybe someday I’ll convince Bill he should write his memoirs, it would be quite a read. Bill was in the submarine service in the Navy and had some exciting experiences there. Get started Bill, the world awaits.
A day of “rest” was planned for day two. We volunteered to go help Bill’s son, Adam, to go help move some crushed stone. We managed to procrastinate long enough that by the time we arrived, he only need two more wheelbarrows loaded, out of maybe 30-40? Good timing on our part.
We then loaded up Bill’s truck with some firewood for his lake cottage and went up there to deliver the wood. It was another fine opportunity to lie to each other for a few hours. It was great fun and I was thrilled to see Bill and some of his youngsters again. Too bad we live so far apart, then again, maybe that is a good thing, we’d probably drive each other nuts.
I owe a lot to my cousin. He was there for me when I needed help many years ago and I can never repay that. He played a big part in helping us build our first home, a log cabin in the woods.
