SEP 30,14 .. NIAGARA FALLS ..

Just one itty bitty quick peek ahead into time .. NIAGARA FALLS !!

Yesterday .. Monday the 29th of September .. WAS A WEATHER DAY FOR THE RECORD BOOKS.  Yesterday .. in terms of weather .. it was as-good-as-it-can-get.  PHENOMENAL day and evening .. Indian Summer at its very best!

WHOA!  WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?

Patti and I awoke today in London Ontario Canada to dark skies and 50 degree temperatures and rain and more rain.

Good Grief said Charlie Brown of the Peanuts cartoon strip.  What  happened to Indian Summer Lucy?

NO such thing as a noon meeting in London Ontario.  We got to the Intergroup Office for a meeting schedule and found the noon meetings meet either at 10AM or 2PM .. more or less .. you get the idea.

We visited my parents burial site at Woodland Cemetery and it was just-right.  Two visits actually.  And some visits to head stones of neighboring people adjacent to my folks.  One large vertical head stone was adorned with decorative colorful painted stone Lady Bugs .. it was very touching.  One I always visit .. honored a flier in the Royal Canadian Air Force .. who died during a mission over Dusseldorf Germany in 1944.

Then off for Niagara Falls Canada.  Via Route 401 to Route 19 to Route 3 to Fort Erie and North to Niagara Falls.

In the dark .. in the rain .. I got mixed up! I wanted to go to Niagara Falls Canada.  Riding shotgun for me Patti said “We are on the bridge heading for the USA!”

“Last exit for Canada ONLY FOR TRUCKS.”  So into it I dived in our 1998 GMC Suburban ‘Truck’.

Black Beauty thinks he is a truck. Who’s to say he isn’t a truck?  He is NOT a car is he?  I don’t think so!  But the sign over the highway stating ONLY trucks should enter the exit that I darted onto meant over-the-road long-haul SEMI-TRACTOR-TRAILER rigs.  So there we were .. mixed in with Kenworths and Jimmies and Peterbilts and REAL RIGS.  All lined up to return to Canada having changed their minds (I guess .. I don’t know why they were all crowded together there in the dark and in the rain!) about going across the bridge to the USA.  Black Beauty IS nimble in comparison to the Big Rigs so .. passing them on the right shoulder-area I shot to the head of the long line of Semis and cut in front of the first-in-line at the customs booth.

Upon seeing Black Beauty and Patti and I suddenly arrive in the midst of this sea-of-trucks .. a surprised .. shocked would be more accurate .. woman customs officer waived at me and said sternly .. “Come over here and bring your identification with you!” Being lost and disoriented does not mean I was stupid so I did-as-she-asked me to do.

Keep in mind she was at elevation eight feet or so above the ground so she could look eyeball-to-eyeball with the truckers in the cabs of their Big Rigs.  I was at elevation six feet LOOKING UP AT HER. It was dark and it was raining.  To hand her our passports I had to stretch out my arm to hand them to her .. she was reaching down to meet-me-halfway!

This is what I am talking about here .. A TRUCK (on the left) and A Truck (Black Beauty sized Truck on the right) .. I added this photo on October the 2nd ..

THANK YOU OH GOD OF ABRAHAM CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH AND THE UNIVERSE!

This stern lady customs officer and I immediately established some really great people-chemistry the two of us.  The longer we chatted .. it seemed the more amused she became with me.  I can’t say that she actually was giggling by the time we finished but you get the idea.

I said .. “We are lost.” .. She said .. “Where are you from?”  .. “Alaska.” .. “You REALLY ARE LOST! Where are you going?” .. “To the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.” .. “Why?” .. “The Canadian side is far superior to the United States side.” .. “You ARE making points with me.” she said smiling down upon me.

Long story short .. I escaped with my freedom and was not arrested.  NOR was I run down by the Big Rig guy I cut in front of.  I told my lady savior customs officer to thank him on my behalf when he came to her window.  She smiled again.

Any lady that spends her days rapping with Big Rig Drivers has got to be an OK lady!

In the dark .. in the rain .. it was another 30 minutes back North to Niagara Falls Canada.

Patti and I got to Motel 6 here in Niagara Falls and are about to crash.

Smiles .. Cap ..

Odd! Come-to-think of it .. as Patti and I were running North on the QEW a Big Rig BLASTED PAST US .. in the dark and in the rain .. about six inches away from the left side of Black Beauty .. I mean he scared the living day-lights out of me! Could it have been HE was the Big Rig I cut in front of (he having waited about an hour in the long line of Big Rigs to re-pass through customs) at the above discussed venue??

Trucker Tom 48067 .. would a Big Rig gear-jammer do such a thing?

• ← SEP 29, 14 .. ON THE ROAD ..
• OCT 1, 14 .. NIAGARA FALLS .. →