2 Weeks in the Northeast – Day 6

Day 6 – June 27th, 2019 – Erie, Pennsylvania to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada: ~130 miles
Vy and I cross the border.

Missed Day 5? – Day 5 – June 26th, 2019 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Erie, Pennsylvania: ~150 miles

Half an hour out of Erie and we were at the New York border – which meant Vy had to get one of her state sign photos.

We stopped in the town of Westfield, where a gentleman on a Harley-Davidson was out for a ride.

But the real reason we were in Westfield was to see a statue of President Lincoln and a 12-year-old girl named Grace Bedell. Back when Honest Abe was a presidential candidate, Grace sent him a letter with a piece of advice: grow a beard, because “all the ladies like whiskers.” Your guess is as good as mine as to if Lincoln followed the advice, but do you know what he looks like clean shaven? After Lincoln became Commander-in-Chief, he visited Grace’s hometown of Westfield on February 16th, 1861. She met him at the train station and the moment is commemorated with this statue. Baby Jack decided to get comfy in Lincoln’s hat.

The Original American Kazoo Company is located in Eden, New York. I’ve never thought twice about kazoos, but the factory is open to the public and much more interesting than I first suspected. The original factory dates back to 1907, when it started as a sheet metal workshop in Buffalo. They became the first (and only) metal kazoo factory in America in 1916. Ever look at a word frequently in a short period of time and it no longer seems like a word to you? Apparently that’s called “semantic satiation”, and it’s just happened to me with the word “kazoo.”

At its zenith, the company was making 1.5 million kazoos a year. It eventually moved to Eden, and now it’s owned by SASi (Suburban Adult Services) as part of their mission to provide employment training and jobs to adults with developmental disabilities.

The assembly line still runs over 20 machines off of one 10 horsepower motor – everything is connected with jackshafts and leather belts!

The museum attracts visitors from all over the country (and the world, but international tourists are forced to pin up a piece of paper and write in where they’re from).

We had to get one, right?

The daughters of the gift shop owners had a lemonade stand going – we had to get one of those, too, right? It was delicious, and they kindly threw in a bag of chips with our purchase.

Making a pass on the “Moo Juice Express.” Gross.

I want both these Camaros for very different reasons.

Triumph Bonneville sighting.

Informally called “Shark Girl”, this statue in Buffalo is the work of Casey Riordan Millard. Vy’s helmet seemed like a good match.

In Buffalo, we knew that we had to stop at the Anchor Bar – where buffalo wings were created.

I was prepared to see some chicken. I was not prepared to see several motorcycles on display just underneath the ceiling of the lobby! There was one stereotypical collector bike – a Ducati Paul Smart 1000LE…

…but I was really pleased to see some oddballs. This Moto Guzzi 1100 Sport puts the ketchup/mustard BMW K1 to shame.

A BMW R26 (which I mistakenly labeled BMW’s “first post-war motorcycle” at first, my apologies for the mistake). It featured a 245cc single that produced 15 horsepower.

My favorite was the MZ Skorpion Sport Cup.

We move to a different kind of food product. The Wonder Bread factory in East Buffalo shut down in 2004. If you’re so inclined, it’s not difficult to get inside and do a little exploring.

I flirted with the idea of going inside, but I just lurked around the exterior because Vy and I were scheduled to meet a reader in Canada and we weren’t sure how long it would take for us to cross the border. According to this site, the building has “been on sale for $800,000 since 2010”, and the author has lots of photos of the interior that are worth checking out. The employees did not seem happy!

One of the highlights of our trip was Niagara Falls, which Vy and I had never been to before. We were advised by several people to check it out from the American side and to get on the Maid of the Mist boat tour that brings you up close to the falls. This is the observation tower, which we went down to get in line for the boat.

Sure, it was touristy, but it was a wonderful experience that was complemented by a rainbow.

If you look closely, you’ll see that it’s actually a double rainbow!

Once you get too close to the falls it’s almost pointless to take a photo as you’re surrounded by mist (especially when your camera isn’t waterproof). After the boat trip, Vy wanted to check out another angle.

We really could have spent an entire day at the falls, but we were still on a schedule to meet Bike-urious reader John G! He kindly waited for Vy and I to slog through all this traffic to meet us on the other side of the border.

Among other motorcycles like a V11 Sport and a ’76 RD400 (that he’s the original owner of!), John’s got a beautiful BMW R1150R Rockster Edition 80. I love this bike, I think it’s a great mix of practical and quirky. The Rockster was BMW’s take on a streetfighter of sorts, made by pulling together the headlight from a R1150GS, gauges from the R1100S, and throwing them onto the R1150R with a distinctive paint job. Released to commemorate BMW’s 80th anniversary, the Edition 80 got white/black (Alpineweiss) paint, heated grips, ABS, and a special identifying badge on the frame. Because it was released in 2004, it got the dual-sprk oilhead motor.

We followed John to meet some of his friends at a local restaurant, and they also had great taste in motorcycles.

I was extra-pleased to see that these bikes had all been enjoyed – John’s BMW and this ZRX had over 50k miles on the odometer, while the Commando had just shy of 40k!

It was an absolute delight to meet everyone, and we spent a couple of hours getting to know each other. John and his lovely wife Mari-Lynne (who rides a CBR125 and a SV650) are all the way over on the right.

John and Mari-Lynne kindly put us up in their guest home. On the way there, I discovered that the falls are lit up every night with incredibly colorful lighting (not shown here). They also have fireworks every evening at 10pm during peak tourist season, which was the perfect way to close out the night.