We left Geneva with no place in mind to end up in at the end of the day. We took the scenic route around Lake Erie until we reached Ashtabula where after doing another of our suburban tours and consuming 2 gallons of gas, we eventually ended up on the Interstate heading north. We had to make a slight detour of this to get gas and Propane (LPG). We’d had problems finding this today and as our meter was showing this to be empty it was quite a necessity. None at this gas station but the young guy directed us to a Propane station “just up the road”. About 10 miles later we reached it only to discover it no longer fills tanks but if we go back the way we came the hardware store about 2 miles back does. It did and charged twice the price as everywhere else we had filled, but at least now the contents of the freezer were safe and a mass cook up would not be needed. A little drama in the town as we left ensuring the local fire brigade had something to occupy themselves with. Don’t know what was on fire but there certainly was a huge amount of thick black smoke spiraling into the air.
Before we knew it we had crossed into Pennsylvania. We stopped at a Niagara Falls Tourist Information to try and find out a bit about where to camp etc in Niagara but the woman was only interested in selling us a package tour and when we couldn’t decide whether or not we wanted to do that she rolled her eyes and became quite disinterested. We told her we’d go and have lunch and discuss it – which we did then drove off without going back in.
We crossed into Canada at Buffalo without any hassles at all and had no problems locating a camp to stay in for a couple of days. We unloaded the bike and headed into Niagara for a look around. We were only 3 miles from the falls so it wasn’t far to go. We got a park (illegal of course, everywhere legal was charging $20 ) across the road from the falls and wandered over to view them along with hundreds of other tourists. There was a real diversity of nationalities here. We were quite surprised by the number of Muslims. The falls were beautiful. Stunning in fact. It is just a shame they have turned Niagara into a circus sideshow. But I guess they are after the tourist dollar and that is a sure way to get it. We went for a short ride up stream passing the 
old Power Station Building. A beautiful building now lying empty and forgotten. We returned to our parking spot and went back to the falls to see them lit up. This happens each night around 
9pm with the colours changing every 15 minutes or so. They look magnificent. Tearing ourselves away we hunted out an Indian restaurant for a very late dinner. We were the only round eyes there for most of the time. Our waitress was not particularly friendly, almost rude, so no tip for her when we left.
I was glad to get home to bed. We had traveled through three states and two countries. No wonder I was knackered.
Our second day in Niagara was spent traveling along the Niagara Pathway, a road that follows the river north and takes you to the city of Niagara on the Lake. We made quite a few stops along the way to view various sights. The first of these was The Niagara Spanish Aero Car which is a little tram type thing that propels people across the river above the Whirlpool, where if you want to part with even more money you can be taken to the whirlpool in a boat. I was quite
happy just to look from the viewing platform. We stopped at the power station and read up on the history of it all and more importantly to me – used the loo. We had heard about the big floral clock in the botanical gardens so we stopped to see that. We both had expected it to be bigger. The lady at the tourist rip off centre had told us you could go inside it but we never saw anyone doing this or anywhere offering a tour so that was crossed off the list. We arrived in Niagara on the Lake around lunchtime so we took a stroll up and down the main street, then bought some lunch and took it down to the waterfront to eat. It was so peaceful there. Everyone just seemed to be enjoying the tranquility and the view across the lake. On the return ride we stopped and had a stroll through part of the Botanical Gardens. After thinking we wouldn’t have much to do this day we managed to occupy ourselves quite easily all day. 
After much discussion and umming and aahing we decided that we would not spend too long in Canada. The area we really wanted to see was on the east coast and too far to go in the camper with gas prices even higher than the US. The plan now was to travel along the shoreline of Lake Ontario up as far as Ogdensburg and cross back into the States. The road was nothing spectacular till we got past Toronto. We never learn and again took the waterfront route through Toronto at 4pm. It took us nearly an hour to get about 5 blocks onto the freeway and that was an experience. The drivers are very impatient and looney compared to those we had encountered on American freeways and it was a relief to get out of it unscathed. We stopped for the night at PresquÃla Point Provincial Park on the edge of Lake Ontario. No chance of swimming though. Ontario is not a swimable lake. Rather on the dirty side. The Mosquitoes were doing a roaring trade on anyone silly enough to be outside uncovered. And that was us for a while as we had decided to go on an evening stroll along a lakeside trail. It was back to the camper, play cards and nearly die in the hot humid conditions.
But we survived and lived to travel another day. We took SR33 along the lake edge and this was a very picturesque road with very little traffic. It was particularly lovely around the Thousand
Island area of the St Laurence river. Part of 33 is traveled by a free ferry. A short 10 minute crossing at Glenroy. By 5pm we were at the duty free shop on the Canadian side of the border. We went in to change our Canadian $’s. We converted some into 151% OP rum and the rest cash for the coke we would need to accompany it.
We had been told it can take hours to get through customs so I made sure I’d visited the little room before we began our approach. The Officer we got was quite official and not very friendly. Asked us all the normal questions then told us to pull over to the side. I was glad I’d been to the loo. He came aboard to check that we weren’t trying to smuggle any Canadian beef or illegal aliens. The first thing he noticed was how hot it was in the old girl. “Don’t you have air conditioning in here“ he asked as the perspiration started dripping of his brow. “Only when we are traveling and the windows are open”we replied. (But it works very well when we are plugged into electricity) “Jesus Christ”’ or words to that effect he said as he hurried out and shut the door. You can go he said. But wait. He wasn’t going to be let off that easily. No way we said. We want our Visa’s renewed. Don’t need to he said they are still current. But we want to we cried. He reluctantly agreed to do it and had us follow him inside the building where all aliens go for interrogation. Take a seat and I’ll deal with you when I can he says and calls some other poor unfortunates to the desk who don’t have all the right paperwork. So we sit and wait, but our legs aren’t crossed yet cause we were prepared!!
After a few minutes another guy asks if he can help so we explain what we want and he says no problem at all and with lots of laughs, more finger printing and eye looking we have our renewed visas and are on our way.
We found a neat little town to overnight in called Madrid. We pulled into the Municipal park and discovered we could stay there and use the facilities for no charge. Met a couple of the locals and had a walk down by the river before calling it a day. Felt good to be back in the USA.
Before we knew it we had crossed into Pennsylvania. We stopped at a Niagara Falls Tourist Information to try and find out a bit about where to camp etc in Niagara but the woman was only interested in selling us a package tour and when we couldn’t decide whether or not we wanted to do that she rolled her eyes and became quite disinterested. We told her we’d go and have lunch and discuss it – which we did then drove off without going back in.
We crossed into Canada at Buffalo without any hassles at all and had no problems locating a camp to stay in for a couple of days. We unloaded the bike and headed into Niagara for a look around. We were only 3 miles from the falls so it wasn’t far to go. We got a park (illegal of course, everywhere legal was charging $20 ) across the road from the falls and wandered over to view them along with hundreds of other tourists. There was a real diversity of nationalities here. We were quite surprised by the number of Muslims. The falls were beautiful. Stunning in fact. It is just a shame they have turned Niagara into a circus sideshow. But I guess they are after the tourist dollar and that is a sure way to get it. We went for a short ride up stream passing the 
old Power Station Building. A beautiful building now lying empty and forgotten. We returned to our parking spot and went back to the falls to see them lit up. This happens each night around 
9pm with the colours changing every 15 minutes or so. They look magnificent. Tearing ourselves away we hunted out an Indian restaurant for a very late dinner. We were the only round eyes there for most of the time. Our waitress was not particularly friendly, almost rude, so no tip for her when we left.I was glad to get home to bed. We had traveled through three states and two countries. No wonder I was knackered.
Our second day in Niagara was spent traveling along the Niagara Pathway, a road that follows the river north and takes you to the city of Niagara on the Lake. We made quite a few stops along the way to view various sights. The first of these was The Niagara Spanish Aero Car which is a little tram type thing that propels people across the river above the Whirlpool, where if you want to part with even more money you can be taken to the whirlpool in a boat. I was quite
happy just to look from the viewing platform. We stopped at the power station and read up on the history of it all and more importantly to me – used the loo. We had heard about the big floral clock in the botanical gardens so we stopped to see that. We both had expected it to be bigger. The lady at the tourist rip off centre had told us you could go inside it but we never saw anyone doing this or anywhere offering a tour so that was crossed off the list. We arrived in Niagara on the Lake around lunchtime so we took a stroll up and down the main street, then bought some lunch and took it down to the waterfront to eat. It was so peaceful there. Everyone just seemed to be enjoying the tranquility and the view across the lake. On the return ride we stopped and had a stroll through part of the Botanical Gardens. After thinking we wouldn’t have much to do this day we managed to occupy ourselves quite easily all day. 
After much discussion and umming and aahing we decided that we would not spend too long in Canada. The area we really wanted to see was on the east coast and too far to go in the camper with gas prices even higher than the US. The plan now was to travel along the shoreline of Lake Ontario up as far as Ogdensburg and cross back into the States. The road was nothing spectacular till we got past Toronto. We never learn and again took the waterfront route through Toronto at 4pm. It took us nearly an hour to get about 5 blocks onto the freeway and that was an experience. The drivers are very impatient and looney compared to those we had encountered on American freeways and it was a relief to get out of it unscathed. We stopped for the night at PresquÃla Point Provincial Park on the edge of Lake Ontario. No chance of swimming though. Ontario is not a swimable lake. Rather on the dirty side. The Mosquitoes were doing a roaring trade on anyone silly enough to be outside uncovered. And that was us for a while as we had decided to go on an evening stroll along a lakeside trail. It was back to the camper, play cards and nearly die in the hot humid conditions.
But we survived and lived to travel another day. We took SR33 along the lake edge and this was a very picturesque road with very little traffic. It was particularly lovely around the Thousand
Island area of the St Laurence river. Part of 33 is traveled by a free ferry. A short 10 minute crossing at Glenroy. By 5pm we were at the duty free shop on the Canadian side of the border. We went in to change our Canadian $’s. We converted some into 151% OP rum and the rest cash for the coke we would need to accompany it.We had been told it can take hours to get through customs so I made sure I’d visited the little room before we began our approach. The Officer we got was quite official and not very friendly. Asked us all the normal questions then told us to pull over to the side. I was glad I’d been to the loo. He came aboard to check that we weren’t trying to smuggle any Canadian beef or illegal aliens. The first thing he noticed was how hot it was in the old girl. “Don’t you have air conditioning in here“ he asked as the perspiration started dripping of his brow. “Only when we are traveling and the windows are open”we replied. (But it works very well when we are plugged into electricity) “Jesus Christ”’ or words to that effect he said as he hurried out and shut the door. You can go he said. But wait. He wasn’t going to be let off that easily. No way we said. We want our Visa’s renewed. Don’t need to he said they are still current. But we want to we cried. He reluctantly agreed to do it and had us follow him inside the building where all aliens go for interrogation. Take a seat and I’ll deal with you when I can he says and calls some other poor unfortunates to the desk who don’t have all the right paperwork. So we sit and wait, but our legs aren’t crossed yet cause we were prepared!!
After a few minutes another guy asks if he can help so we explain what we want and he says no problem at all and with lots of laughs, more finger printing and eye looking we have our renewed visas and are on our way.
We found a neat little town to overnight in called Madrid. We pulled into the Municipal park and discovered we could stay there and use the facilities for no charge. Met a couple of the locals and had a walk down by the river before calling it a day. Felt good to be back in the USA. 
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