Friday, October 13, 2017

Niagara Is Worth a Second Visit

August 12 - 30, 2017

I spent more time camping in the woods a bit south of Utica in an area that seems to be mainly used by local folks as a picnic area.  I'm a happy introvert and empty campgrounds suit me well, plus the forest rangers always seem to check on lone campers and marvel over a single woman on her own in the trees.  The engine is still getting warm and the flatness between Utica and Niagara Falls is welcome.  I tend to stress when things aren't working correctly despite not panicking about it.

The other thing that needed to be dealt with was rabies vaccines for the cats.  Canada does not like the idea of people's pets infecting their critters (understandably) and will not let in pets without a rabies certificate.  Cool. $170 dollars and a couple pissed off cats and I'll be set, right?  Except that New York doesn't issue certificates for cats, only dogs.  Sigh.  Fortunately the receptionist was willing to work with me to create a document that looked official and had all of the required information on it.  Hopefully I won't have to haul the cats out at the border for an inspection.

Stopped at the Walmart instead of the casino to be close enough to the gym for a morning shower.  Thought I'd be somewhat clean for meeting the Canadians.  Thankfully I wasn't in a hurry because oddly, in a giant parking lot, people couldn't come up with a better place to park than right in front and behind me.


Clearly I wasn't going anywhere any time soon so I decide to check the muffler - one of my possible sources for an extra warm engine.  I grabbed the tailpipe to jiggle it and found the entire thing twisted in my hands. Welp . . . even if that wasn't the source of the problem it definitely needed to be addressed.  I looked for a national muffler shop in Niagara Falls but didn't find anything closer than Buffalo.  Oh well. The way to Toronto is mostly flat anyway. It can wait. 

I debating walking to the gym since it was only a mile away but dithered long enough that the guy sleeping in the van eventually left.  The folks in the big RV seemed to be planning a longer stay and were still there when I left around noon.  I only went as far as the casino anyway.  No point in hurrying since I wanted to take a stroll around Goat Island and hang out for the evening light show.


No, that isn't a picture of the light show because my camera doesn't do dark well. I also think the view would be much better from the Canadian side but I wasn't up for a walk across the bridge.

Wanting to get an early start across the bridge in the morning, and also getting cold from the spray and wind, I left before full dark and went 'home'.


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