6/9/2022
Since I had to go back to Buffalo today to pick up the new helmet camera, I figured I'd go check out Niagara Falls. After a 90min ride on the Queen Elizabeth Way, I made it to the falls. Thankfully, it was a pretty quiet day and not a lot of tourists. Everyone says the view of the falls is better on the Canadian side. I believe they're right:
After taking some photos and walking around trying to find some souvenirs, I had to rush back to my metered spot since I was thirty minutes late. I got there just in time to yell to the meter maid, "I'm right here!" She pardoned me and continued on to feed the government beast with the next delinquent soul. A few spots away was a guy gearing up onto this Honda CTX. Of course as all bikers do when we smell each other's scent, we started to chat.
This is Kenny. This is Kenny's first bike. This is Kenny's first solo trip. And wouldn't you believe it, Kenny is from Boston! Well, outside of Boston near Worcestor. We started to chat about Boston stuff as all Bostonians are obligated to: colleges, where we lived, lobsters, Red Sox, clam chowda, Dunkin', Mark Wahlberg...(no, we didn't). But Kenny did say he wanted to learn to ride a bike before he turned 50. I think he's killing it with this solo trip and crossing a border as well. Then I asked him a question that no one else can get away with, "Are you Chinese?" Turns out he is Chinese and Cantonese and from Hong Kong originally! He was polite enough to trade some Cantonese with me but he quickly switched back to English since my pronunciation and grammer was making his ears bleed. We said our goodbyes and wished each other safe travels. Another awesome encounter with another traveling motorcyclist. These meetings are really the best part of these trips.
I then got a text from Ray back in Buffalo that my helmet camera got delivered. I suited up and made my way back to Buffalo. I crossed into the US at the Rainbow bridge. The US customs officer was robotic and bored. No big drama which is how I like to cross borders. I had to gas up once back in the US and I was never more glad to pay $4.85/gallon because in Canada it's $2.09 per liter, 3.8 liters in a gallon, $8CA a gallon, which is roughly $6 per gallon, so I'm paying about $22 US per tank over here. Ouch!
I got to Ray's house and he opened the door right away because he heard my BMW GS straight pipes from three blocks away (no, I don't have straight pipes). I told him that he did fix my original helmet camera after all and he was pleasantly surprised. I decided to keep this new camera as a backup just in case. But I do have to now carry another item as if the bike wasn't loaded enough already. Here's Ray the electronic repair magician:
After leaving Ray's, I had to cross back into Canada. I decided to go thru the Rainbow Bridge again instead of the Peace Bridge because it seemed more mellow. After an hour, I got onto the Rainbow Bridge and there was about fifty cars trying to get into four lanes. After about 25 minutes, it was finally my turn at the border. The Canadian border agent asked me the usual questions of "How long are you staying? Where are you going? Have you been to Canada before?" I've had pretty non-chalant border crossings so far but not this time, this agent asked me to ride the bike over to the "special" parking section so they can search my luggage to make sure I didn't have any contraband.
After I parked in the "special" sector, two border agents came out and asked the same usual questions and then asked me to open the luggage on the bike. The border agents knew a surprising amount of info on me. Things that I wouldn't think a Canadian border agent would know. After about 15 minutes of searching thru my luggage and opening every little bags containing tools, zip ties, charging cables, and granola bars, they were satisfied and sent me off my merry way. But the male agent did break the zipper of one of my bags. And I'm sure he squished a few of my granola bars too. And thanks to Ray, I have videos of this encounter.
Off I went back to Brampton to meet Jigger and his brother for dinner where I had the best Tandoori chicken and goat curry ever.