On the pavement thinking about the government

After a delightful but expensive week in Ontario, we ended up gazing dumbstruck at the awesome majesty of Niagra Falls along with a gaggle of tourists and honeymooners from around the world. Jacques was duely impressed with the Falls and sorry to leave the company of scores of Canada geese we encountered along the trail.  From there, we crossed the Lewiston-Queenston bridge and re-entered the USA, getting temporarily lost in the maze of power stations and bleak industrial landscape before finding the relatively low-traffic Upper Mountain Road through the Tuscarora Indian Reservation on the way to Lockport and the start of the Lake Erie Canalway Trail.  In the meantime thunderstorm clouds were gathering once again. We took temporary refuge from the rain at a Tuscarora trading post, where we were offered free coffee, conversation, a rain cover,and a bumper sticker that reads "Sure you can trust the government...JUST ASK AN INDIAN." This gave rise to a flurry of thoughts about, among other things, who owns the maginficent natural wonder we had just witnessed and the massive industry and urban sprawl that has sprung up around it, the wars, the high-rise hotels and clogged highways. Grateful for the coffee and rain cover, we pedaled on to Lockport, where the heavens finally burst open and gave us a thorough soaking but also welcome relief from the heat and stifling humidity.