Dec 15 - no silliness

We left Linda's about 9:30 and followed a route up I81, west on I76 and then joined our "normal"north/south route at Pittsburgh.  Up on the ridges of PA the temperature dropped to around 21F but rose to 30F by Pittsburgh.   We'd seen a few flurries and a little bit of snow in the bush but the roads were either wet with salt or dry.  At that temperature salt works quite nicely.

As we got close to Erie PA we got more snow with a light accumulation on the roadway at times.  It was well salted, however, and there was little to no traffic.  That all changed on I90 from Erie to Buffalo.  Lake Effect snow was in full swing.  So were the highway maintenance people, however, and the road was clear until about 10 miles west of Buffalo.

At that point we understood why Google Traffic was showing red.  That section hadn't been cleared or if it had, they weren't keeping up.  Traffic moved at a steady 12-15 mph for that section and we just lumbered along with everyone else.  No one was being silly; we didn't see any accidents or anyone off the road.  At 12mph an accident wouldn't even class as a fender-bender !  It would be a bumper kiss :). It wasn't stop-and-go ... it was go slowly, which is the best kind.

Once we got to the I190 turnoff for Buffalo it basically cleared.  Through downtown Buffalo the snow on the roadway faded and as we headed for the Queenston/Lewiston bridge, rather than the Peace Bridge, the roads were bare.

The border traffic info was showing no wait but of course that can mean up to 15 minutes.  All lanes were open, all with 4-5 cars waiting.  I picked a lane, fully expecting that since I picked that lane, it wouldn't move.  Lo and behold, it moved and it was my turn.

I handed over our Canadian Passports and he asked where we lived.  He asked where the car was plated (no doubt the plate was covered with snow or at least the jurisdiction).  He asked about alcohol and tobacco and our status in the U.S.  He asked to see proof of our status, so I handed over the U.S. passports.  He handed the wad of passports back and waved us on.

There I was with a car packed to the ceiling and my hitch rack off the back.  He never asked what we were bringing in.  I had my list handy, since we have a pile of Christmas presents as well as stuff that we're leaving at the cottage and a few items that we're bringing up for Stef & Aaron and Gavin.  Unlike other times when we have a few expensive items, this time I had a million small items, typical of Christmas gifts (for us).  I thought that I might have to go inside to pay HST on any expensive gifts and some of the non-gifts, but no.

From there we headed to Jason's, following the Red Hill Valley Parkway to the 403 and then into Brantford.  It cut off a lot of driving around Hamilton but somehow it seemed like a long way.  Perhaps I was just tired; no, I know that I was tired.  Although the drive was "only" 11 hours, it seemed longer.

They'd waited dinner for us so we relaxed with a beer/glass of wine for a few minutes and then dug in. We actually had desert two nights in a row !

It's cold.  I think that the internet said 11F here and it says -15F/-26C up north !  That's crunchy !  The high today is -2F.  Yikes.

When I packed the car I'd forgotten to keep the small box of stuff with Gavin's camera equipment (filters mostly), accessible.  I have no idea how that box fit into the trunk but I do know that it's under the bike and more.  Getting to it won't be fun but I'll have to do so.  Everything else can wait until we are up north, since we are coming back to Barrie on Friday.

On our way north we'll stop in Hamilton to drop off Sandy's Passport application.  That's not simply a drop-off, however.  You pick a number and they check your application while you're there, ensuring that it's mailed back to you speedily.  That's a good thing.  She'll have her new passport before we head back south.

Somewhere on the way north we will have to do some grocery shopping.  I'm betting at this point that we'll save that for Parry Sound.  We don't have room in the car for much but need a few things to keep us until Wednesday when we/she will make a trip into Sudbury.  At least that's what I'm thinking.  I wonder if we could make it to Friday ?  That would mean no Sudbury trip yet and simply doing some more major grocery shopping on Saturday before heading north again ... hmmm.

Onward into the frozen north !