Day 26: Erie, PA to Niagara Falls, ON

Getting up this morning wasn’t easy. After 130 miles of riding, Will and Wes were tired, so tired that Wes wasn’t sure if Will was going to make it the whole century today. Just in case it became too much, I waited at the hotel in Erie, where I took advantage of the workout facility.

It wasn’t until 9pm that I hit the road. I got a text from Wes on my way to Dunkirk that spirits were not high. Will was tired, and they were stopping for lunch to refuel. Wary, I hung back and found a spot to run. Evangola State park was nearby, so I decided to check it out. The entrance fee of $10 was a tad pricey for an hour to run around. Instead I parked on a road adjacent to the park in the town beside it and found a footpath entrance. There was a solid stretch of beachfront that felt good on bare feet.

After my run, I zipped on up to Buffalo. Not hearing anything from Will and Wes, I assumed they were planning to call it at day there, which was right around a century. I parked outside of town and waited for further communication. Finally word came through that they were crossing the border. A hotel had been reserved on the Canadian side in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

I have never been to Canada before. It was really different because everybody spoke Canadian and not American, so all the signs looked funny and such.      Just kidding, the only difference was all the numbers were higher, because of kilometers and Canadian dollars and such.

The hotel that was booked had a view of the mist of Niagara falls. Wes and Will came up to the room around 7:30. Their total mileage was 127.

After the riding, Will insisted that we get some go-karting in before dinner. I found a local place. Not only was it outdoors but it was a 1 kilometer long track. Will was stoked to get behind the wheel. Plus I found some coupons online, so we got some extra laps in as well. At the end of the day we probably paid for 4 laps and ended up doing 15. It was quite the time.

Finally, we got dinner. I was reminded quite quickly that the drinking age was 19 when I took a look at the drink menu. That's all I will say about that.

After dinner, Will and Wes went for a swim and went to bed later than usual, expecting to wake up closer to 8am tomorrow.