BUFFALO, New York and NIAGARA FALLS, New York and NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario, July 19, 2005 — We could have taken a tour. But we don't like to be herded around. So we gas up the car and drive up to Niagara Falls on the New York side and park. We park on Goat Island. FFP has never seen the falls and I have only been on the Canadian side. It's early. We walk around amazed at how close we are to the top of the falls. We keep imagining when people (first the natives, then some priest supposedly) discovered the thing. We decide to walk over to the Canadian side. I have a little Canadian money so we might as well have lunch over there, see the views from that side. So we stroll over there. There is sort of a long line at Immigration. The guy is giving people without passports grief. So I get ours out. And he's making even the couples and families go through one at a time.

"Where are you from?" he asks.

"Texas."

"Do you have a firearm?"

"No."

"Why are you coming to Canada."

"To look at the Falls from over here."

We eat in a Canadian version of a family restaurant. We wander through a casino, blow five bucks on the slots, watch people gamble. We ask a security guard how to get out to the falls side. He shows us where to take the elevator but also says we can see the falls from the VIP room. We go check that out. Yeah, you can sort of see the falls. But we go take the elevator.

Then we go check out the views. Neither of us is interested in the Maid of the Mist. I've done it. Not interested in going down and doing the Cave of the Winds and getting wet either. (Although at the top the mist rained on us a bit.) We decide to walk back and get our car and go to a secondhand bookstore in Buffalo.

The U.S. Immigration guy is happy with my Texas D.L.

"Where are you staying? U.S. or Canada?"

"In Buffalo."

"U.S.?"

"Uh, yes."

"Did you buy anything in Canada?" I think about it. Nope. Just lunch. I bought postcards and a cap in the U.S.

We wander to downtown Buffalo. Hulking abandoned manufacturing plants. Odd streets upon which people stop for no reason as if they've lost the will to continue. We find the Antiquarian Book Store (Old Editions Book Shop) and have a nice tour around. I even buy a couple of cheap WWII books.

We head back to the hotel. Sadly, we eat the free food on offer (tacos, chicken wings, cookies). Also some free beer. We pack everything up, organize and even put some of the stuff in the car. Tomorrow we will, essentially, drive home with a stop to rest in St. Louis. Over fifteen hundred miles.