Day 04: Waddington, NY to Lancaster, Ontario

September 9th, 2016

45.7 mi / 3:18:59 time / 13.8 mph avg. / 658 ft. climbing
Staying at Glengarry Campground 

This morning was a fine improvement over the previous. We were able to sleep without the rainfly on the tent, slept in “late” til 7am, and woke to a beautiful, clear morning. 

Today was planned as one of the shortest days of the trip, mostly because I figured we might need something easy after three relatively tough days, but partly because we had an international border to cross. So it was nice to be able to slowly work our way out of camp and onto the road. 

Some jerks the other day had scared Rett with tales of people they knew getting denied entry into Canada, so suddenly that was an added concern. I figured living so close to the border, they’re simply aware of far more crossing experiences, and thus disproportionately remember the still-exceedingly-rare denials, and repeat horror stories about them to poor tourists. 

But those jerks also made me check the web to reconfirm that we could bike across our intended bridge, since they were skeptical about that too. A website about bike touring in the region confirmed it was rideable, and critically added “beware of the expansion joints!” 

The first couple of expansion joints we passed on the climb up the bridge were like tightly meshed steel teeth clenched together, so no big deal. But the third one was more like giant steel fingers, and very loosely meshed, with the giant gaps between them perfect for swallowing our tires. So we had to stop in the middle of the two-lane bridge, walk our bikes across the joint, and even then my rear tire still dropped anus-clenchingly into the gap before I could drag it out. And the next joint was the same deal, but also actively screaming as the bridge expanded under the midday sun. After that we rode safely down the other side, but it could have been a lot worse for us if I hadn’t seen that warning. So sorry, no pictures, but the view was nice up there! 

The actual border crossing was then the easy part. Unlike on the way to Niagara Falls where we went through at a regular booth, here cyclists walk into an air conditioned building where a friendly agent asked the basic questions, told us to sit for a minute while he ran whatever magic database scans they run, and sent us on our way. 

And we were through! Canada! 

So while the border crossing was quite efficient, it was the previous and next steps that burned a lot of time and made me thankful for the short day. Before crossing I had to call Capital One to figure out how to get my never-used debit card working (since it has no foreign transaction fees!). Then after the crossing we had to find an ATM to actually get cash, figure out the alcohol situation in Ontario (wine sold only in government shops), get groceries, and finally continue along our way. It was a bit frustrating for Rett that even on our “easy” day we didn’t make it to camp too much earlier than normal, but I find that somehow bike touring days just expand to fill the available time. 

We had been in Canada at Niagara Falls on our last tour, but I realized we had not really ridden anywhere in Canada until now. Is there right on red? What does that flashing green light mean? What’s the km to miles conversion? Still don’t really know, but I guess riding a bike is basic enough that there isn’t too much we really need to know. For half a day we would be in Anglophone Ontario before crossing into the distinctly more French province of Quebec, and I think it was nice to have that transition zone. 

We got our fourth waterfront campsite in four nights, this one on the opposite side of the St. Lawrence River, where we could see the Adirondack Mountains rising up in the distance back in the USA. Not only is sleeping four nights in a row outside of a house a likely record for Rett, but it’s also equal to the total number of nights we camped on our last tour. Some practical things like a better tent, a more-comfortable sleeping pad, and coffee in the morning have helped make that possible, but mostly it’s the result of Rett’s lack of pain and exhaustion compared to the last tour. 

And that’s great, because, man, I sure love camping (ok, and it’s great that Rett isn’t in pain and exhausted too!) Being able to get such prime campsites each night has made it even better, but I would have loved even the “bad” sites in these parks. Though I could tell I’d already gotten spoiled, as the Friday night “crowds” of weekend campers started to annoy me a bit, even though the park was still 80% empty and no one was set up within 75 yards of us. First-world camping-problems! 

3 Responses to “Day 04: Waddington, NY to Lancaster, Ontario”

  1. Louise Says:

    After our recent border crossing into Canada, it’s interesting to read about the efficiency/quickness of your experience. Most likely their database had a record of your more recent crossing at Niagara Falls. You were lucky to deal with only one agent. As we drove up to the window, our first agent asked the usual questions. Then we were told to drive ahead, park and show our slip to the agent. We thought someone would come to check our camper but when no appeared after awhile, I went into the air-conditioned building to ask what happens next. We had to stand in line (short line) and separately step up to the next available agent who asked additional questions about crime, arrest questions etc. We sat down while they searched their database. Someone before us failed to tell the agent he had an arrest record (30 years earlier) so he had to answer a few more questions. Sometimes the database came up with a person with the same name which caused that person to be alarmed about identity theft. I was asked if I knew someone else with my name, I said no and added I thought my name was not common. He didn’t agree. Name he was looking at was similar. Whew. I can see if someone has outstanding tickets or other issues they might get a bit nervous.

  2. Swati Saxena Says:

    What beautiful pics! Those bridge expansion joints can be alarming, so I’m glad nothing was swallowed. Especially skinny Rett. 😉
    Also, as Aunty said, I was pretty sure that when crossing into Canada last summer in Montana, early in the morning, like at 2:00 am, they’d ask me to hang out with them for a while. Because I
    1. was by myself,
    2. was sleepy,
    3. said I was tracking my husband and his friend on their bikes,
    4. had to pull out my printout to figure out where I was stopping for the night (morning!)
    5. and it was 2:00 in the morning!!
    They let this brownie get through, so I didn’t think it would be as much of an issue. Maybe because it was such a tiny border crossing? Just two guys, and I think they asked that I eat my banana or such. 😉

  3. Sue Harms Says:

    Great pics and story!