Buffalo Wings and Motorhomes

Reluctantly, we had to leave the Finger Lakes region. We will definitely be back- both for the religion and for the bike riding. It was off to Buffalo for the FMCA Motorcoach Rally. There were somewhere between 4000-5000 motorhomes attending this rally (plus all the vendors bringing their new 2004 models for viewing). The motorhomes filled the Country Fair grounds and spilled over into the parking lot of the Buffalo Bills football stadium. It was quite a sight. “Camping” was in the football stadium parking lot with electricity and views of 1000’s of other coaches. We managed to figure out the drill- the primary goal of the rally was to get free service from all the vendors. We pinned down appointments with American Coach, Carefree Awnings, Xantrex and the car tow brake folks. The Xantrex appointment alone was worth the price of entry- they spent over 2 hours with 2 technicians replacing a board in our Source Manager—for free! In between all this excitement, we walked through the vendor booths buying more RV products (water filters, awning straps, museum putty) and got to see all the new 2004 coaches. The American unveiling of the new Eagle was a huge flop. The exterior was hideous and the interior was a bit like a whore house. People were singularly unimpressed. On the flip side, John got to drive a 45’ quad slide Travel Supreme and fell in love. Unfortunately, the best deal that they could come up with on a 2003 with our trade was $180,000….just a bit too much for a depreciating asset.

We had hoped to spend some time in Buffalo during the rally, but we were too busy with vendors and “shopping”. So, we decided to extend our stay by a day and explore Buffalo. We went to the Broadway Market in the heart of the city’s Polish neighborhood and had a great polish sausage sandwich and bought some NY style rye bread. Then it was off to the Anchor Bar, the home of Buffalo chicken wings. They were spectacular.

Before we left, we had to visit the Original American Kazoo Factory in Eden. It’s the only metal kazoo factory in the world.