Niagara Falls Ontario

We set off yesterday in the pouring rain and the temperature had dropped like a stone also, it caught us out a bit and we had to stop after 100 miles for a heat up and to dig the heated jackets out of the luggage (just when we thought we'd not need them again) We rolled into Niagara, kind of surprised at how tacky it is really, a bit like Vegas but not on the same scale, here we have a wonderful natural spectacle and the tourist industry could have been tailored to suit the more discerning customer but its all Neon signs and shops selling souvenirs & T shirts.
The falls however didn't disappoint, I never realised the river splits and there are actually two falls, all very impressive but once again as I should have expected it was full of tourists! Lines of blue ant like people everywhere, queueing up for this and that, funny actually.
Not much else to report, heading tomorrow a bit further East, enjoying the day off from riding, almost 27,000 miles now (43,000 Km) and the last three weeks have taken their toll but by tomorrow I'll be looking forward to getting back in the saddle.

Old Police car

We were there!

Blue Ant people

Fiona Framing the shot

More blue ant people being ferried around the queues

Impressive

The other falls not quite as impressive

Power of Nature

More of the same

At this pont it felt like you could easily be swept away

Had a chat with a couple of cops riding these, the boss asked if I wanted my photo taken on the bike, I declined!

Back into Canada

As has been the case since we left Anchorage this part of the trip has been about getting in the miles to get us back on track. Last night (Tuesday) we stopped in the town of Gaylord which is of course a funny name to all Scots, so funny it was worth a stop, we visited Gaylord Harley Davidson (of course) stayed in a dodgy Motel and generally had fun wandering around loking at what Gaylord had to offer. Today we have crossed back into Canada in Ontario and heading to Niagra Falls for the weekend. We have passed the great Lakes in the last couple of days but to be honest they are so huge its hard, no impossible to photograph them in a meaningful way, so big its just like looking out to sea so I'm afraid we are picture limited just now, hopefully Niagra will rectify that.

Outside our Motel in Ashland 

Big Fish

Mackinac Bridge, impressive apart from the steel deck, not good on a bike

You had to be there

Nice Church

Look, in Perth this would be unacceptable!

This is our life, lunch in a gas station comprising a sandwich & Coffee standing by the bikes, excellent

Nice Scottish Colonial Church in Canada, amazing how 2 miles from the border the architecture changes so much 

Lake Huron flowing past us, the nice view

The Industrial view

Interesting building, somebody's got their Christmas tree up already!!

To Minnieapolis, pllaying cowboys then Lake Superior

The ride from Bismark was warm but pretty boring, we stopped for the night at Alexandria before making our way into Minneapolis to pick up filters & oil at the bike dealers. The staff and the people we met there were super friendly and a big change from most of the shops we have stopped at so far. Then onto Kevin Stratton’s house who we’d originally met (riding with his son Kale) in Alaska. Kevin invited us to stay if we were passing. His friend John was there already in party mode as Kevin had laid on a bit of a party for us. We met his lovely wife Carol and son Conor and proceeded to have a fantastic night partying and chatting with his friends and neighbours, An apology here, we were having such a good time we never took photos! Sunday, Carol dropped Conor off at his pals while we serviced Fi’s bike and then went out to Kevin & Carols farm to have some fun shooting handguns, something I’d never get to do in the UK. Kevin was super careful to explain the guns and the safety rules, then he even managed to coach us well enough to hit the various targets he’d set up, a Jedi master indeed. We stopped for lunch on the way back and Carol took a call that Conor and his friend had been in a car accident whist being driven back from the park by his friends father, some 16 year old kid driving a Jeep Cherokee had T boned them after running a light. We were an hour away, I’m surprised how calm Carol stayed, we got back to find Conor was basically OK, a swollen ear and some bruising but his pal had been cut when the side window imploded. The good news is he should be OK, a night in ER having glass removed from his face but high stress for both sets of parents. We left on Monday once again humbled by the warmth and generosity of people we have met on this adventure, that’s two weekends we have been hosted by two Kevin’s, can we make it three? Only joking, we intend being in the tent near Niagra falls by next weekend. Mondays ride was nice, back North to Lake Superior, only problem was getting pulled by the Sherriff for running a stop sign that caught us unawares on Highway B we actually thought we’d been stopped for speeding (which we were). He was a grumpy sod and wouldn’t take my feigned ignorance of US law as an excuse, at one point asking if we really wanted the two of us cited, I backed off and he went to write me a ticket, all those miles and countries and we get fined here. After 5 minutes he appeared from his car, it appears they have a new computer system and he couldn’t get it to take my postcode (zip code) so it was taking too long to write me up (I think he needed to go get his doughnut fix) so I got off with a warning, woo hoo hooray for computers and computer illiteracy!

Kevin's artistic breakfast pancakes

Down on the farm

Kevin's great grandfather parked this here

Danger, man with gun

More Danger

Pretty pleased after expert tuition

Carol shows us how its done 

Jedi master Kevin overlooks dumb pupil

Good shot by Fiona got the cartridge ejecting

Conor, still smiling aafter the crash

Our great hosts for the weekend

Waiting to find out our fate

Scorching across Montana, North Dakota and now Minnesota

We have had another hectic few days trying to get the miles in, we have now re joined the heatwave so thats good (mainly). The ride across to Minnesota has been windy and in the main a bit boring, the prairies of Montana offer no real landscape and plenty wind, entering North Dakota it got a bit better for a while and we stopped at a place called Glasgow. Nothing like its Scottish namesake, damned hot and not a fried Mars bar in sight, strangely most of the locals never even knew there was another Glasgow in Scotland, welcome to small town America. Nice place though and nice people, but the mozzies and wasps were gunning for us at the campsite. Onto Bismark (the town not the battleship) and we stayed two nights so we could have a day off at the excellent KOA campsite there. Once again the insects have been winning though and once again we met some very nice people including Joe & Colleen who we had a pleasant chat with this morning. The other stroke of luck was that there was a big Pow Wow on (an Indian gathering) so we went along last night to watch. Very interesting to see these people keeping their traditions alive, not unlike Scottish Highland games , just different clothes. Its great to see youngsters keeping their traditions alive and the older people embracing it also. Today we have stopped at Alexandria for the night, a shortish run tomorrow into Minnieapolis to pick up some spares for routine servicing on the BMW's and then to meet Kevin Stratton who's kindly putting us up for the weekend. 3500 miles in the last two weeks leaves me to think that I need a beer!

Typical small town church

No stop at the chippy for a deep fried mars bar

Very Hot

Always bullet holes in the signs

Vetran's leading the parade

Very Colourful!

Happy faces

Aztec Dancers from Mexico

Amazing drummers and singers providing music for the dancers