Could Niagara Falls be more beautiful than in Autumn? // Full-Time Truck Camper Living // CtW S3:E13

Welcome back. We're in the town of Elma. It's a small town just outside of Buffalo and I have a deeply personal connection here. Going back, I don't know, as long as you've known me and more. Since before me. Since before you, yeah. 2011-ish. So I worked in documentary films and we made a documentary on it called American Made Movie and it was about manufacturing in the United States and this was way back before it became a hot topic. So in the course of creating the movie, we met this really awesome guy named Mark who had a welding shop and they lost a lot of business just overnight and it was all going to China and he researched it and found out what was happening. Couldn't stop that, but what he could do is he could open a store that promoted 100% American Made products. Down to the wrappers, down to the tags, down to the ink on the paper, on the receipts and the wrappers and everything. So Mark has a really amazing story. We became friends over the years of making the movie and releasing the movie. I haven't seen him in a couple years. So we're up here in Elma. Going to meet up with Mark in a little bit. Going to take Lindsay and show her kind of the old stomping grounds of when we were filming here. Go show her the store, the Made in America store. So we're going to link to all this, not to promote us in any way, but to promote Mark and the passion that he has for really doing an awesome thing for this country, for the workers of this country. He is, I mean, he's as patriotic as it gets and just a really awesome energetic guy. So anyway, without saying anything else, let's go in and I'll show you. Let's go check out the store. Show you the store. Sitting in the American Made chair at the American Made store. Made in America. Made in America store. Hey, hey, quick update. So yesterday we went in the store, bought some goodies. Pretty awesome place. They've got a great online store. So definitely make sure to check out the madeinamericastore.com and buy all your American Made products. Support all of the workers who make the products that are in the store. I'm sure Mark has a little bit built in to pay for his workers in the building, but he's not in it to make money. He's in it to help keep people working. So it's pretty awesome. Anyway, Mark came up yesterday afternoon. We were able to chit chat for a little bit and set plans for hopefully tomorrow. Today though is errand day. It's our favorite day of the week, isn't it, Lindsay? It's shower day. And it's laundry day. And it's dump day. Oh yes. And it's propane day. And everything. It's errand day and grocery shopping day. And grocery shopping day. So we're just outside of Buffalo. All this stuff is nearby-ish, but it's going to take us a full day to run around and get all the stuff done. We're not going to show you all the nitty gritty details. If you really want to see nitty gritty details, watch that video or that video about what it's like to run errands in Baja Mexico and Mulehay. But it is errand day and we don't like doing a little bit all the time. We're just going to knock it out in one day and be done with it. And yes, it means a hot water heater is running right now. Lindsay gets to wash her hair. But before all that happens, I'll show you a little bit of what we got going on. This is our wet bath slash closet. And it is a mess. So before we can shower, we got to take all that stuff out. We have reduced the amount of stuff that we have in here and it's relatively simple. We've got containers and boxes and all that. But there really is no other place where you can put your stinky dirty laundry except in the wet bath or to hang up a towel except in the bathroom. And for us, we've got a rack in there where we can hang up our jackets and Lindsay hangs up her shoes and we keep anything that could possibly spill. So the dog's water, extra water, all of our chemicals for cleaning, all that stays in the wet bath because if we ever hit a bump and things broke open, we want all the liquid to spill inside the wet bath and not on our floor or anywhere in the camper. So that's all the stuff that we keep in there and we got to move it all when it's shower day. As you pretty much know already, we don't shower every day so it's not like we do this often. So we do need to do it because we haven't stayed in a campground in, shoot, like a week, I think. The only campground with a shower? Yeah, with a shower. It's been a while. And we don't see ourselves staying at one for the next week or so. So this is going to be our shower right now and then we'll do another shower later on in the week sometime. But for now, we'll get all the stuff moving. Move it from this messy place to that messy place. And the dog's got their bath. Well, this one did. Where all of our water went. Yep, this one got her bath because she found a nice pile of deer poo to roll in. Everest loves rolling in poo. So she got to use up a third of our water tank yesterday because there was no way she was getting back in this camper with poop literally on all sides of her. Absolutely disgusting. But that's what she loves to do. So she gets her one fun day and then we get to suffer the consequences. But she's part of our family. If you have kids, if you've raised kids, you know how it is. God forbid my parents are watching right now and all the things I put them through. I don't think I ever rolled in poop though. Are you sure about that? I don't know. I am the kind of person that as a kid probably rolled in poop. So anyway, we're gonna go ahead and get this going and we'll check back in throughout the day as we're getting our errands knocked out. Not an exciting day. We probably made the cover photo for this, a beautiful picture of Niagara Falls. We'll get to that soon. I don't know why I always say it, but it sure feels good to be all dumped. We're totally dumped, filled up on propane. And I'll tell you what, I have to always keep justifying spending money in ways that I didn't expect to spend it. But it was $20 for four gallons. So that's quite a bit. Wow. Yeah, it's quite a bit. We paid $12 a tractor supply and that filled up our whole one tank and half of another one. And this was just one tank plus a tiny bit in the other tank. But we got a free dump out of it and free water. So that's how I'll justify it because we spent $17 at that dump way in upstate New York without free propane. So that's how I'm gonna look at it. We spent $20 dumping and then we got free propane. On to the next task. Oh, what a day. What a day. What a day. We got everything done now. We did. We have clean laundry. We have clean tanks. We got fresh water, full propane. We're stocked up on food. Tons of food. We are good to go. We spent a good penny today, but we will average out over the last couple of days and over the next couple of days without spending money. But tonight, because we got all of our errands done and just because... Sorry, Huck's moving the camera. We're doing an impromptu date night because we're in Buffalo. Date night? We never go on dates. I know. I know. I can't afford to take you on dates. And you cook food, so it's not like I can even cook you a meal. I could cook you a bowl of cereal. You can cook food. You've just kind of Yeah. So anyway, we're in Buffalo and when in Buffalo, of course, you've got to eat bison burgers, right? That's what Buffalo is known for. Bison burger. Buffalo wings. We are going to go scarf down some Buffalo wings. Not in the original place. We thought about doing that, but that was actually in the city of Buffalo. We don't like cities. I'm not really liking Buffalo. We're in East Aurora, which is a nice little suburb of Buffalo. And this is the number one wing place in all of Western New York for this year. That's what it was rated. They may have said it. They may have paid TripAdvisor to say it. I don't know how that works, but it's supposed to have tremendous wings. And they also have great beef on weck, which is another local to this area. We're going to skip beef on weck tonight. I think we're going to splurge on two going outs in one city because we want to try beef on weck. I want Lindsay to try beef on weck, actually. I like roast beef. Yeah. So yummy. We like we like food. We should do more eating food when we're out, but that's not in our budget. So this is going to be in our budget because we're going to make it in our budget because who does not like a good fat, delicious Buffalo wing? The question is, what sauce are we going to get? Yeah, but it's known for Buffalo sauce. It is. I'm not a big Buffalo sauce fan, but I will eat some Buffalo sauce, Buffalo wings in Buffalo, New York. We just have to see what they have. Well, we'll eat whatever they have because I'm starving. So we're going to get the dogs put away and we're going to go eat. Hopefully it's a little bit late. We couldn't make reservations. It is New York, which has been really tough on restaurants. We don't really know how it's going to work in terms of I know they're at least... We might be ordering to go and eating in the camera. We might be. We'll find out. Who knows? Because I don't even know what capacity is. Like Florida just got off of 50% capacity and that's Florida. So New York's been really tough. Who knows? But there were people inside eating. So let's go get our name on the list and let's eat. Yum. That was short-lived. Yeah, there's nothing available until like 830. I'm not waiting till 830. Yeah, we're going to do takeout. It's still date night. Yeah. We ordered to-go food at least an hour and a half ago and it's time to get it. I'm excited. Are you excited? I'm very excited. I'm stinking really hungry. I haven't had wing in a long... probably a year. It's probably been over a year since I've had non-homemade wings. So if you don't like them, if they don't digest well, I'll eat all 20 of them for you, okay? Gonna go pick them up and then we're going to drive back to the Made in America store where we are camping and we're going to have date night in the camper eating wings. Yes, and the dogs have already eaten. So I'm going to stop talking. I'm going to go get this food. I'm hungry. Please. This is it. This is date night with the best wings in Buffalo. Looking forward to it. Disregard the mess in the back. I'm not talking about Lindsay. I'm talking about the bed we have to make. I am a hot mess. Delicious. It smells amazing. These are the best smells I've had. And we got our tv set up. Hardly ever bring it down here. Gonna watch a little tv, eat some wings. This is a special night. Gonna watch the 100. We're currently binging the 100. So we're gonna put that on, eat some wings, and enjoy the night. And tomorrow it's Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls. Until then. It's cold. It is cold. I'm sorry this is what you get, Lindsay, for your trip to Niagara, but I honestly, I feel like Buffalo only has maybe two and a half full days of sunshine a year. And that's not today. We thought yesterday the sun was like peeking out and then it rained and we thought it was gonna be sunny all day. So anyway, we are here at the Made in America store and we're gonna go to the Maid of the Mist. We're not gonna ride the Maid of the Mist. We've got our game face on. We're gonna go to Niagara Falls right now. So we're excited. About as excited as I was eating those wings, which by the way, phenomenal. Top notch. Lindsay didn't like the buffalo sauce. I don't like buffalo sauce and I thought it was phenomenal. The sauce just tasted different than what I've had in the past. Maybe it was more buffalo style. It was real buffalo. They were good wings. They were delicious. They were very well cooked. I'm sorry you can't see me right now. You're watching the dogs licking their ears. Stop. All right, so you probably, we don't even have feedback yet on whether people think that's gross because we're behind. So if you think that's gross, you might think it's cute, but it's gross. Or maybe you're like, why do they keep this camera angle when the dogs are always in the way? I don't know, but that's just our life right now. This is where we like filming. This is the office and this is how it works. So let's get out of here and move on. See, even Google wants us to go. She's screaming at us to drive. So we're going to drive. We're at the falls on the American side. Of course, we can't get into Canada right now thanks to COVID. But we're here on the American side and it's going to be pretty awesome. Lindsay hasn't seen it. I don't know why I say that because we keep saying that. If you can get to the Canadian side, the view is supposed to be more spectacular because the falls are on the American side. But you still get pretty good views. We'll go check it out. Go on the island. Where they were walking across? Yeah. As a It's huge. Huge. Huge. Well, there were squirrels everywhere, which means their dogs are misbehaving. So I brought the kids back to the camper and Lindsay went across to go to island to get her pictures. And now I am going to drive over there because we found out there's parking and there should be RV parking. From what she says, it's only eight to $10, something like that. So where we're parked right now is $5 per hour. And that's crazy because I don't remember paying that. But I also was here 10 years ago. So anyway, we're dogs that are going to go move and meet up with Lindsay. Come in here in your RV. There is a parking lot on Goat Island. It's parking lot number three. And today it appears to be free, which is nice. I don't know what it costs normally, but there's nobody at the gate. There's the payment kiosk is all covered up. So it appears that it is free. And I'm going to go meet Lindsay, take some photos, look at the falls, and then we'll come back and get more because it is a cold Buffalo day. Lindsay hates squirrels, like hates with a passion. And here she is stalking this one. I've never seen a black squirrel. I don't know what they feed them here in Niagara because the signs say do not feed. And yet everybody seems to be feeding them. So when you come here, don't get the plague from touching a squirrel. He thinks we're going to feed him. Heavy. He's silly boy. Silly boy. Sweet boy. So what'd you think of Niagara Falls? Oh, I loved it. It was incredible. One of my favorites for sure. Sure. If you're ever in the area, you must come. Obviously. Pretty sure everyone's heard of Niagara Falls. And if you're in the area and you skip it, you're stupid. You must come here. Why else would anybody be in Buffalo? Yeah, I don't. I mean, maybe for the wings. For the 362 days of overcast and cold weather, come here for Niagara and come for the black squirrels. They are kind of cute. Just a little cute. And that's coming from somebody who doesn't like you. Hate. I hate squirrels. No, I hate geese. I hate Canadian geese. Lindsay would watch YouTube videos, basically squirrels dying in awful ways. Like the ones where they fling them off or they get catapulted. That's the ones I watch. Not dying. And like, they get caught upside down. Yeah. She doesn't like squirrels at all. So that was a pretty rare moment watching her go after that black squirrel. Oh, beef on weck. Beef on weck. We've got to have beef on weck. Yeah, since we didn't get it last night, we just found a place that serves it. In the town of Elma. Yeah. A little cafe place. Supposed to have good beef on weck. So we're gonna go do that. Hopefully. Yeah, I'm starving. I'm starving too. Beef on weck, beef on weck, beef on weck. B-E-F-O-N-W-E-C-K. It's just roast beef piled high on a roll. But don't say, don't say just. That makes it sound like it's not. But the roll is supposed to be special. And that's where it gets the weck from. It's like, yeah, the weck roll. Pepper weck or pepper nicker weck. The last part of it is. Kimmel weck. Kimmel weck. The last part is weck, so they shorten it to beef on weck. And that's just how it goes. Let's go get some beef on weck. That meal destroyed me. I'm being destroyed by a puppy right now. You are. It's nap time. Not gonna put any story to that. They gave us so much food. It was ridiculous. I don't take food home. I always finish my meals and I'm taking it home. It was, wow, it was a lot of food. It was delicious. So, uh, what's the name of this place? Elma. Elma Cafe. Elma Grill or something I'm so bad. Lindsay will put a description, the name in the description. Um, but we're going to go nap because I, I ate myself stupid and I'm not going to eat out again for another three weeks. I think it's back to eating carrots and lettuce and cereal. Buffa hi. Buffa hi. Buffa bye. Buffalo. Hi Buffalo. Hi Buffalo. I thought you were saying like hi and then I say bye. We're saying goodbye to Buffalo. Cold and rainy. Good riddance. Yes. The food was fantastic. It was. Niagara was amazing. Niagara was great. It was awesome to be able to catch up with Mark. I know we didn't put him on camera. We really only got to talk to him for a couple minutes. Made in America store. Awesome. We're linking to it. Support the American workers. Yes. If you ever come to the area, you need to come to this store, check it out, buy something. It's great. And I'll link to American Made Movie if you want to watch it. Would appreciate it. Again, it's not a plug. We don't get any money from it. Um, it is just, uh, entertaining and gives more of the backstory for Mark and manufacturing in America and why it's so important for our economy. But this is not a political comment. We are apolitical. So leave your political comments on, uh, underneath your butt. And, um, yeah, cause no, we don't need them. Nobody else needs them. No. Anyway, we're closing up with Buffalo. We have a cool little story of where we'll be tonight, but for now, let's get on out of here. And if you liked our visit to Niagara Falls and us getting wrecked by that beef on wex sandwich. Getting wrecked by beef on wex. Please like this video and subscribe to our channel if you haven't already. Send us a positive comment. Positive, positive, positive. If it's negative, it's deleted. You know that by now. Or you get a sarcastic response back from me. Some of you. It's always from him. I'm too nice. Well, sometimes they're mean and then I say, hey, Lindsay, can you fix this for me? Anyway, thanks for being a part of our journey. We appreciate you being a part of our story and continuing to encourage us as we try to inform and inspire you and others to hit the road and pursue abundant life. We will be back next episode. Stay tuned. Right, Huck? She can't reach. She can't reach to say goodbye. Goodbye. And we're going to do a little outro. Listen to this. The dog's snarling and wicking each other. Come on. What a face. What a face. Dog lick. Dog lick.