Day 1 - Raiders Territory!

From: Waterloo
To: Buffalo/Williamsville NY
Mileage: About 250km

First: breakfast.  Ginny and I ate at Coras in Waterloo.  I had some weird cinnamon bun turned french toast, covered with bacon and eggs?  I dont know, I ate it in separate pieces.  After breakfast, I got a haircut, then went home to load up, and suit up.

Home for the next few weeks

Yours truly

Fully loaded

Poor bike...  So much weight...

From there I rode straight to Oakville.  I just took the 401 to Bronte Road (highway 25? I forget).  I grabbed a few things from the storage room and stopped at my parents office.  There I handled a few grad school related things (accepting NSERC) and said bye to the parentals.  I FINALLY got on the road after much ado, and eventually I was reaching the border.

I had a nice chat with a friendly border guard who wasn't expecting me.  I think he was expecting some spikey haired punk biker because he came out a little stern looking.  After asking me where I was going, his face was priceless when I told him "California".  He then asked what I do for a living, or how I support myself.  Before I could answer, he quickly followed that up with "So you're looking for work?"  I said no, and told him I'd graduated, and grad school in September, etc.  He stopped with the serious questions and then started asking me about the trip, the bike, my gear, plans, etc, and smiling, rather than frowning.

I tried to take a well framed, artistic picture of my bike in front of the border with Canada in the background, and two US flags waving above the bike.  I had it framed and autofocused, but I didn't get to snap the shot!  I was scolded by a border guard who then pointed me in the direction of the washrooms.  No photos allowed I guess.

From there I went to the Walden Galleria to buy a cell phone.  Took forever in best buy and I still don't have a phone.  Maybe tomorrow morning...
I went to the Buffalo airport area and stopped at four hotels before finally settling into the motel 6.  Nice and cheap :)

In case you're wondering - I didn't stop for food, so my cinnamon bun egg thing was all I ate (aside from four granola bars)

I'll be updating as frequently as possible, with photos whenever I can.  For detailed things like this, I need wifi, but I'll do my best.  Starbucks has wifi, and I have a $25 gift card... Thanks Ginny!

Tired now...