New York or Bust - Day 4

Packing up and travelling home day and yet, mysteriously, very little rain. Very odd.


It took us a while to hitch the trailer to the Sienna, my backing up skills having forsaken me somewhat. It was a bit touch and go getting the electrical connector to fit, it still being a little mangled, but it went together in the end. Getting the trailer out from some very nearby trees and yet avoiding putting the car into the drainage ditch was proving a little difficult but we managed, albeit that we ended up facing the wrong way on the road. 


Holding tank dumping went well and we were even able to flush the poo tank properly as there was some piped water handy. A secondary check of the lights found that the connector wasn't quite as well connected as we'd thought. Still, a bit more wrestling with it and all was hunky dory.


Then we were off! Hugging the lake again, ignoring all entreaties from the man in the Sat Nav to turn left, heading for the New York Thruway once more. It was nice to do the trip in the daylight, especially as we had to overtake a tractor on the lake road. Once on the Freeway we headed towards Buffalo and realised just how windy it was. We were driving right into the gale, and rain later on in the day, and the gas needle was plummeting! I kept it at 60mph and let everything overtake us, and I mean everything. The speed limit was 65mph but like in Canada, that only seemed to be only a suggestion. 

After just one stop, we rolled into Buffalo and made for the border crossing over at Lewiston. Unfortunately, so did everyone else, so the queue for the immigration check was epic. There was nothing we could do about it, though, and amused ourselves watching people trying to jump the line and failing miserably. The lady on the customs post did have a bit of a double take when she misread the date on my permit and asked how I came to have a form issued that very day. She backed off when she realised that it said March, not May, so we were allowed to proceed, actually a bit more quickly than many around us.

Back into Canada and we still had the wind. Shame we didn't have the gas as well because I had to take a detour to fill up, frightening everyone in the gas station as I swung the Airstream into a position by the pumps. That bit of road skirts the western end of Lake Ontario and it was ever so windy. That said, the Airstream followed obediently and we cruised past a truck towing a lighter trailer that was being dragged all over the place with the gusts.

Lake Ontario, next to the QEW

We still had to negotiate the Niagara Escarpment at Hamilton and I was wondering how the Toadmobile would manage, being fully loaded and with the wind against us and all. I needn't have worried, though, because although chugging at 90 Kph, we powered up the hill and even accelerated to pass a truck; goodness I was proud!


Then it was just wind and rain all the way home. We ended up being mighty close to running out of gas at the end but just managed to get into Chatham before we expired. 


It was 350 miles from Taughannock Falls to Chatham and we had used two full tanks of fuel, recording a dreadful 10.5 mpg (US), which is 12.5 mpg (Imperial). Shocking!


Still, it was a great weekend and I'm really pleased we did the trip. 


Next up is a local trip to Goderich; I hope we can better that gas mileage.