We bit the bullet and drove directly from Effingham, IL to Niagara Falls in one day non-stop.

Well, one stop in Macedonia, OH. Very cold, everything frozen over and the congestion was incredible.

Some sort of ski contest was going on, and, being Friday night, all decent restaurants had 60 minute+ wait times. Therefore, we decided to try "Steak & Shake". The experience was "sub-optimal", but there is potential.

While there, my brother showed up, but only spoke French. Seriously, an exact duplicate of David was there. He was either from French Canada, or France. The likeness was amazing. Holly and Reese both thought he was a perfect copy.

We decided to brave the windy wet weather and explore the Canadian side of the falls. A couple of duckbites occurred doing that.

First, the United States had a TOLL on the bridge of $2.50! The Canadians did not. Interesting.

Second, the very stern, almost comically caricature of the stern faced too-serious government bureaucrat "greeted" us on the Canadian side. Never once did she crack a smile - or even look at us.

After the usual questions - where from - where to, etc. She asked "Do you have any firearms?" I said "No." She then asked, "Do you OWN any firearms?" My wife interjected (very quickly) "Yes". Whereupon the bureaucrat asked again, "Do you have any firearms." Whereupon I answered in the negative again.

Was the 2nd version of the question necessary? Why was it asked? Was this just a standard prompt? I have gone into Canada many times, and never was drilled like that before.

My supposition is that the US is asking Canada to ask the 2nd question. OR, the fact that I had CCW from Oregon is available information to them.

Finally, all the cameras taking pictures of the license tags reminds me totally of 1984. I didn't dare take pictures, in case I would be accused of casing the checkpoints.

Hello from Oklahoma City. I'm sitting in another Flying J - boondocked last night in another Flying J in Sayre, OK. They have great wireless access.

OKC represents the last official stop we have to make for site-seeing purposes. In this case, the Christmas light show which we caught accidentally 3 years ago.

This year proved to be just as wonderful, and Reese managed to get most of the pictures - Holly and I both had dead batteries. (though I did get a few pix).

My travails in Gallup are not forgotten, however. The BOA branch manager tried to call me, but managed to do so at the exact same time I was talking. I haven't figured out how to switch callers, yet.

Also, somebody on the BlueBird forum found a Gallup government page, with all the email addresses of councilors, the mayor, and so on. He sent them my blog address about R G Truck Service.

I verified that going down in size for an alternator is a BAD idea. The belts don't seem to be a problem, though - except they shouldn't have been required in the first place!

I'm behind at work, so I'll probably end up staying here most of the day tomorrow. Maybe pulling out around 3 or so for a run to Tulsa to get SOME miles in. Next state is MO.