Take Me To The River – 25 August 2008

In this case it was the Niagara River and the series of five lakes between USA and Canada known as the “Great Lakes”.

We left Johnson City and headed north towards Lake Ontario, on the way passing through Mt. Morris, the birth Place of “Frank Bellamy”, who wrote the words for the American “Pledge of Allegiance”.

We reached Lake Ontario at Orlcott Beach New York (yes we are still in the State of New York), which as you can see had to be the spot for a photograph with the lake in the background, a bite for lunch at the local pub  and we were on our way.

Now, if I was going through Buffalo on the way to Milwaukee, I would stop at the Niagara River and have a look at the world famous falls, which we did.

I still can not fathom out why some people go on their ”honeymoon” to the Niagara Falls, but I’m sure some readers could offer feasible and practical reasons why.

 The falls themselves are very impressive, the sheer power of the water sends tingles up your spine (or was that the tourist next me), but this beauty of nature is totally surrounded by commercialisation, including hotels and casino’s.

Old Fort Niagara which is adjacent to the falls once controlled  all traffic on the Great Lakes and was the scene of several battles between the United States and the British in the early 1800’s.

Tonight in Buffalo, we went to dinner at the “Anchor Bar”, world famous for their chicken wings and visited by many celebrities and dignitaries over the years – a bit like Arthur Bryant’s in Kansas City and I do recommend it to anyone travelling through Buffalo.

Like riding into Sturgis at the beginning of August (it now seems like an eternity away) we are seeing more and more bikes on the road, making their way (home) to Milwaukee.

Tomorrow we again join the throng as we ride around Lake Erie, through Cleveland and on to Toledo.