Day 111: Back in the USA
Toronto, ON, crossing back into the USA and over to Painted Post, NY
231.56 Miles | 4:17 Riding Time
It’s Tuesday, July 30, 2024, and it’s Day 111 of my cross country motorcycle trip.
It was a drizzly morning as I left Toronto and headed around the southern tip of Lake Ontario through St Catherines, and Niagara Falls to the US border. The weather cleared up, the sprinkles were scattered, and there was a bit of morning commute traffic, but it wasn’t too bad. The roads were mostly dry.
The theme of the day would be intermittent showers. A few, brief periods of hard rain (about 5 minutes), followed by clear skies and sun. This happened about 7-8 times during the day, and it was often refreshing.
The border crossing in Buffalo took the longest of any border crossing on the trip. It was about 30 minutes of traffic, and some detailed questioning from the border agent. Apparently, my clean-shaven passport picture and my unruly beard looked different enough that I needed to take my helmet off to confirm that I am me.
I made a short stop in Hamburg, NY to visit a Karate friend that I hadn’t seen in about 8-9 years. It was nice to see you, Sensei Downs, and I’m glad you’re doing so well. Talk soon.
Then it was on to Painted Post, NY (near Corning) through western New York farm country. It’s pretty up that way.
I arrived at my hotel, checked in and got settled, right before the heaviest rains of the day. I wasn’t into riding somewhere for dinner, so my last dinner on the road was a takeout sandwich from 7-11. It’ll do. Hard to believe this would be my last hotel night, and that I’d be having dinner at home in NYC tomorrow.
