Niagara Falls Welcome Center & Seneca Niagara Welcome Center
Just want to RANT for a few minutes. Niagara Falls Visitors Center, exit 57A off I-90 east bound told me Niagara Falls was accessible to 18 wheel trucks this afternoon. The lady told me to travel to the Seneca Niagara Casino on 4th St. and park in their oversize lot. She gave me detailed directions on the Niagara Falls official map and said I would be able to walk a short 15 minutes from the Casino parking lot to the falls and view the falls from 3 different vantage points.
Sounded too good to be true cause it seems every where I travel I get the shunned away, the "go to hell look", the Jethro Bodine # 1 finger Lol... Portland, Wash. State, Moab, Utah, the Grand Canyon (1), Yellowstone (1), Sturgis, SD. (2), and the list goes on...
It has been a childhood dream to visit Niagara Falls in person. I've read books, articles, hell it was in the National Geographic, and I watched it the on the World News. It's one of the oldest State Parks in the United States. Since I was traveling through Buffalo this afternoon and Niagara Falls is just a hop skip & a jump north of Buffalo I thought heck, I don't deliver until Tuesday morning and there isn't anything pressing me to arrive in Middlebury, Vermont before Monday night so why the hell not... I realize it's frozen over but I can still take pictures...
Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino at one time allowed 18 wheel trucks to park on their oversize lot adjacent to the Resort & Casino hotel guest parking lot. I know this as I walked up & spoke to the Supervisor of Valet inside the Hotel & asked where was the oversize lot to park 18 wheel trucks ? The following words out his mouth were not music to my ears. He asked who told me Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino offered oversize parking for 18 wheel trucks ? I said the Niagara Falls Visitors Center at exit 57A inside the Service Plaza where there is a Mc Donald's and other fast food take out. No, no, and no and I don't know where I could legally park a 70' tractor & trailer and that's all I need to do is to walk away from the truck and walk back say within 1 hour to find it missing from where I parked it.
This reminded me in 2012 when I took an exit, the wrong exit off the main highway onto a Parkway close to the City in New York. Parkway's are a big (No No) to 18 wheel trucks. It didn't take me long to figure out the sign language everybody was using when I eased up to a 9' bridge. Thank goodness there was a exit ramp right there. New York's sign language, is a closed fist pounding a open palm.. In other words a 13' 6" height truck & a 9' bridge. Bam Bam maybe ? I dunno...
For some reason I turned right at the stop sign at the top of the exit ramp. I was scared & all I could think was the Cop's are going to fuck me, I took a wrong turn & good cop bad cop bullshit. This is no bullshit, I circled around in a tiny neighborhood, I rutted some ladies front yard & flowerbed with the trailer tandems, gouged up a few bushes and then found myself back out on top the bridge. Some older gentleman saw me & pulled up in a Cadillac CTS and parked in front of me and got out & said son, are you lost ? I offered the man a crisp $ 100.00 bill to please get me back to the highway I was on before I made the wrong turn. He was a retired truck driver & said follow me and follow me when I get on the highway. He didn't take my $100.00 bill but I would have gladly paid him double for getting out of there pronto & getting me on the right course. I know what Parkway's & New York means now.
The City of Niagara Falls, I'm sure urged the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino to reevaluate their decision in an effort to clean up the city & the congestion these big trucks make. I'm not sure if it is a City Ordnance prohibiting downtown parking as the city allows passenger buses & motor coaches in specific areas but 18 wheel trucks get discriminated against one more time.
I'm fully aware & understand their reasoning. The trucks weigh upwards 80,000 lbs loaded and you turn one around on a asphalt parking lot and churn up the asphalt & do that over & over again & it will cause the pavement to churn up, pot hole or become wavy & eventually the lot need repaving... It takes 300 yards to bring a 18 wheeler to a complete stop traveling at 55 mph, it could cause some major damage to anything in its path...
This isn't the City of Niagara Falls fault and it's not the Casino's fault, their just trying to revitalize their city yada yada yada...
The Niagara Falls Visitors Center "Representative" @ exit 57 A inside the Service Plaza needs "retraining". If she doesn't know for sure go spend a day, a weekend touring the places you promote. It pays to be on top of your game. I am not an evil person, all I'm going to do is Tuesday or Wednesday I'm calling the Visitors Center and ask to speak with the Director and tell them what happened. I'll just ask that the misinformation be corrected so the next Texas Redneck that comes from DFW Texas to Niagara Falls in a 18 wheel truck doesn't get their hopes up sent away empty handed except for the worthless Visitors Center map.
Since this forum is ALIVE & KICKING I hope everyone has a HAPPY NEW YEAR! COME BACK NEXT YEAR - DON'T DRINK & DRIVE!
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