Chasing Rain

The first night on the road is always rather tough.  It’s a different bed, much smaller than we are used to, so it takes a couple days of adjustment to really get into the swing of things.  Neither of us slept very well.  This was compounded by the rather high humidity and then the rain.  This was the weather system we outran yesterday now catching up with us.  I could hear the rain pelting on the roof for most of the night.  And, at the first couple of rain drops, the rain sensor in the roof vent causes the vent to close and the fan to turn off, so now we have humid air that isn’t moving at all.

But that seems to be typical. We’ve come to expect the first night or two to be less than optimal..

Today was mostly a travel day.  Since we were traveling in the same direction as the rainy weather pattern, we expected rain on and off for the entire day.  So no real opportunities for hiking or outdoor activities.  May as well petal-to-the-metal to our next destination.

Highway 401 through Ontario reminds me a lot of rural Indiana.  Lots of farmland, picturesque in a very flat and featureless sort of way.  After about three hours of driving, we saw a Costco next to the freeway in Hamilton and stopped to stretch our legs.  

Costco is usually good for some food samples if you’re there at the right time.  We were just a bit early.  Many of the sample booths were just being set up, so we only scored a few morsels.  We found a jug of maple syrup for way cheaper than is available in the States, so we took that to the checkout and then were stymied when my Costco credit card didn’t work at this particular Costco.  The woman managing the self-checkout told me the regular checkout lanes would accept American cash.

“We do?” asked the woman at the regular checkout, appearing a little bemused when I handed her an American twenty dollar bill. “I didn’t know that.  I’ll have to check.”  She poked at her phone for a bit and then pushed a few buttons on the register.  “That will be $11.89,” she told me.  The Canadian price was $15.99.  I handed her the twenty and received ten dollars and eighty five cents back.

This kind of math can really blow your mind.  Buying a $15.99 item, paying $11.89 for it, handing over a twenty, and receiving $10.85 back.  The math is no longer simple.

We then drove to a nearby Walmart and bought a half gallon of milk and four chocolate bars, spending most of the $10.85 in cash received from Costco.  We wanted to leave Canada with as little Canadian cash as possible.

The border crossing in Buffalo, New York, was painless and took less than five minutes.  Then we were back in the States.

Unlike the Indiana-flat of southern Ontario, western New York is quite hilly with rolling farmland and wooded land. Our route took us down several minor roads and we enjoyed the view as we traveled through this scenic area.  We passed several roadside stands selling corn and maple syrup and finally stopped at one, coming away with four ears of corn.  May as well extend the corn-on-the-cob season as long as possible.  That will be part of tomorrow’s dinner.

We arrived here at Letchworth State Park at about 3:30pm, parked the RV in site 501 and went for a hike as the forecast called for rain to start in about an hour.  Our weather system is catching up with us again.

Trail 18 wanders along the top of the gorge that this park calls “The Grand Canyon of the East”.  We could catch some glimpses of the gorge through the trees, but never had a good unobstructed view.  It started raining on our way back and now we have a steady rain drumming on the roof of the RV.

We’re staying here for a couple of days.  Maybe this system will get far enough ahead of us to allow us to have better weather.

Calling this “The Grand Canyon of the East” is somewhat akin to comparing the Porcupine Mountains with the Himalayas.  Both have their own beauty, but really can’t be compared to each other.   I’ve been to the Grand Canyon.  Multiple times.  From what I could see here through the trees, this is nothing like the Grand Canyon.  Hopefully we’ll get some better views tomorrow.

Meals can be somewhat opportunistic on a trip like this.  Today we have a campsite with electric hookups, so we had some high-energy-usage foods, like baked potatoes.  We also got out the instant pot and are cooking up a slab of meat for tomorrow’s meal.  Sliced thin, this “mystery meat”, as we called it, will make shoot-from-the-hip fajitas, so named because we’re just making this up as we go.  An unknown cut of beef, found at the discount grocery store in Shipshewana, along with some spices scrounged from the limited supply in the RV, and cut-up onions and peppers, will be on the menu for tomorrow.  Not sure we even have tortilla shells, but we’ll make it work.

Miles Traveled today: 322