the day did not start well. A far-too leisurely breakfast after seeing our friend Marco’s band last night meant we didn’t get to the bank until midday. That and I couldn’t find my camera after taking some pics of a vintage Ducati the other day. It’s in the house somewhere, but after an hour of looking, I gave up. We’ll take pics and video with Marina’s Nokia and if they don’t turn out well, you’ll just have to trust me if I say something interesting happened.

So, after planning on being on the road at 10 I think we finally left at 12:30. The ride out of town was uneventful. Only two roads were closed, requiring a minor detour before we hit the highway. However, there it all slowed down. The QEW was crawling pretty much the entire way out of town and it never really let up until we almost reach Buffalo.

Crossing the border was a PITA too – Being English, I have to get a Visa waiver every time I enter the US. This one only took about 40 minutes. The net result was that we were about three hours behind schedule already. And that meant that poor Robin Cox (@robincx on twitter) was kept waiting for us. The plan was to meet him in Ellicottville, NY about doing some web work for us. After finally getting through, he rode up to meet us in Springville before taking us back down to Ellicottvile and dinner at the lovely Ellicottville Brew Company, which does excellent French onion soup, BTW. Robin, I’m sorry we kept you waiting and we’ll be in touch soon.

After leaving at about 5pm, it was supposed to be a three and a half hour shot down to Altoona. Sadly, we missed the 219 turn and got slightly lost, ending up in Cuba when I’d realized what we’d done. After a slight and worth detour (the 16 back down to Bradford to pick up the 219 again) we’d lost maybe another 40 minutes.

After picking up the pace, we had a brief gas stop in Ridgway, PA, where we were fortunate to see a bride and groom, in full attire, hit the local sheetz for what we can only assumes was nachos and a slushee – See? Told you, you’d have to believe me about the camera. By the time we got it out, they were gone.

It was at this point we had to change the battery on the Autocom. It seem I get about six hours use from two headsets and an iPod blasting out everything from Dead Kennedys to David Bowie. Wish I’d wired the harness in, but there was no time. Other than that though, my initial impression of the autocom is that it is worth every penny.

Anyway. back to the road. Darkness caught up with us just after Ridgway, so a brief stop to put on more clothing and change visors was in order. This accomplished, it was gingerly down the 530 and i99 to our destination.

Marina spent the whole way since (literally) Buffalo complaining her butt hurts and I understand as mine did too. She’s now sat in the bath, eating a slice of pizza while i write this and snag a quick Tequila.

I guess it’s time for bed now and up early to plan tomorrow. No more getting lost for me.

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