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| In New York State - Eventually! |
Up with the lark today and ready to hit the road early, with 700 Kms or more to do, we needed a prompt departure. So darned organised are we that we were packed and hitched up the previous night so it was just us that we had to get moving. Sure enough, we were rolling off the driveway and into the wild blue yonder at 0740hrs. Ish.
The weather was fine, not too hot, and we made excellent and uneventful progress up the 401, the 402 and the QEW towards our crossing point into the USA at the Queenstown-Lewiston Bridge over the Niagara River. We had spent a little time behind an articulated lorry (Tractor-Trailer or Semi-Trailer for my North American readers) whose trailer was pulling to the right. The driver seemed to be struggling with it but it didn't keep him from maintaining 100 Km/hr whilst veering all over the shoulder. We unleashed the enormous power of the Toadmobile and passed him, leaving some other people to fret over the impendinging disaster, not that I want to over-dramatise it you understand.
Our big issue was the flashing signs as we neared the border telling us that all the local border crossings had a thirty to sixty minute delay. Erk! We had no choice but to soldier on and I think I was the only one who noticed the next sign that said the delay was now one to two hours. We hit the back of the queue about two or three kilometres from the border and, well, just sat there. Or rather crept forward at an alarmingly slow rate. We entertained ourselves with silly games, let the small tadpole abuse other people in the queue and listened to some music. We crept up through the Canadian side of the border and its new Duty Free area that they seem to have designed to MAKE you stop, through the construction and onto the bridge. It took us about two hours from hitting the back of the line to getting to the International Border (mid-way across the bridge), and still we crawled to the Customs and Immigration kiosks. We were within sight of the one and only kiosk for RVs (it has a tall radiation detection device to cope with the height of the caravans and whatnot) when the guards descended on a yellow car and removed three young men, including the driver, and hauled them off into the office, leaving the car blocking the lane; Frustration on frustration! Eventually a border person came out and moved the car and we were on the crawl again. So, two hours and forty minutes after hitting the queue, we were talking to the humourless border official and answering his questions. Travelling with a British Passport in amongst the Canadian offerings always causes a raised eyebrow but, having done the visa-waiver nonsense earlier in the week, the guard didn't really need to make any decisions so in thirty seconds he handed back the passports and we were through.
The Toadmobile now contained four very full bladders but very little petrol, so we dived off the Interstate at the first possible opportunity into the mean hinterlands of Niagara Falls, New York. It took us a while to find a gas station but when we did, Towed Haul was opened up and her travelling facilities made immediate use of!
Back on the highway, we let the Satnav take the strain and headed for the I90, the New York Thruway, that would take us to our destination for the evening. We had to stop to pay a bridge toll at Buffalo, where the wag in the box suggested that if we didn't want to pay the additional seventy-five cents for the trailer then we could leave it with him. Oh how we laughed. The I90 is a toll road, too, so once on the Thruway we collected a ticket at the Toll Plaza and headed east.
Our first destination, though, wasn't the campground but a branch of Wegman's, the noted New York grocery store, over in Syracuse. It was only about thirty kilometres off the Thruway so was worth the detour, especially as we had brought no food with us at all. That no food thing comes about because our American cousins can be very fussy about edible stuff crossing the border, even when it has been imported from the US in the first place, so we have learned to just travel without and buy locally. Actually, if you have a Wegman's to go to it's nothing to do with the border regulations, it's just a great place to get your groceries. A few lines back I said that we made a detour, and we did, only it was a little more detour-ish than I'd planned as I took a turning slightly too early and ended up in suburban Dewitt when I should have been on the strip-mall. No matter, the Satnav just led us through lots of leafy streets with big, wooden fronted houses, nearly all bedecked with the Stars and Stripes.
A few minutes later than planned we rolled into the Wegmans lot and descended on the store. It has all the usual stuff but also has a huge bakery, something called "Nature's Marketplace", full of wholesome organic and low fat stuff, a deli and a place to buy hot take-away food. Oh, and a beer section that I could have spent days in - Ontario liquor licencing authorities please note! So, we bought some groceries, some beer and then some of that hot take-away food. It wasn't cheap but and we sat at the table in Towed Haul, in the Wegman's parking lot, we ate richly and throughly enjoyed the experience.
Being about three hours behind schedule (thanks border peeps!), we looked to be getting to our final destination of the day at around eight-thirty. That slipped again as we had to get some more petrol, although the good Mrs Toad did call ahead to let the good folks at the campground know that we were running late. In attempt to avoid the hideous roaming charges extorted by the phone company, Mrs T tried to find a public phone to use. The gas station didn't have one but the young chap behind the counter let her use the firm's phone and even said that she could have used his cell phone had he had any credit left; what a nice young man.
Pulling off the Thruway at the town of Mohawk, we made south on 20 and into the hills. I mention hills because out of Mohawk was four or five kilometres of steep gradient up. We don't often do hills and there are plenty that scoff at our feeble tow vehicle and say that it won't work. Well, we certainly didn't go up (and up!) and any great speed but we were steady and the Toadmobile dealt admirably with it. Actually, it's harder coming down such gradients with two and half tons of aluminium pushing you; all the same, the tadpoles looked a little relived as the road levelled out.
We still had one adventure before we hit the campground, and that was down to the Satnav. It had us turn a little earlier than I'd have thought to get to our destination and we ended up on some tiny little roads in the back of beyond. I knew we weren't far from where we needed to be but it was now dark and I thought we might miss the campground office as it shut at nine-fifteen. I needn't have worried, though, because we did eventually pop up on the road we needed to be on and only a few yards from our goal; Glimmerglass State Park.
It was nine in the evening and we'd been on the road since before eight that morning; goodness we were glad to be there! Gas Mileage a creditable 19.3 L/100Km
We checked in, dumped the holding tanks and filled with fresh water (at the same time!) then found our camp site. Backing up is never easy and in the dark it's even harder. However, the great Mrs T just gave me instructions over the walkie-talkie and we were in and level in just a couple of minutes, which I think was one our best ever backing-in jobs.
Un-hitching was quick, too, as the tadpoles have learned where they can profitably help and where they can't. By ten we were seated and enjoying a drink and some nibbles, contemplating the day's adventures. Credit to the tadpoles as they'd borne the long day really well, but we were all knackered. Disaster of the day was the discovery that there is no cell phone signal whatsover here, so no network data, no internet and no Facebook for a couple of days! This blog, dear readers, will get published when we return to civilisation.
We now have a free day before we hit the road again. The park is beautiful, I'm told, so I'm looking forward to exploring. Actually, I'm looking forward to seeing the camp site we're on!
There's more to come, Toad fans.
