Thursday morning with the new number plate secured to the back of the travel trailer we headed out of the camp towards the border between Canada and the USA. Our destination was Syracuse which is in New York State, USA less than 200 miles away. We entered the designated RV line and drove up to the officer. We went through the normal questions once we had handed over our Australian passports - why are you in the USA, how long are you staying (promptly checks our six month visa), whose car is it, who owns the travel trailer, how long has your son lived in the USA, what type of visa is he on, do you have a fire arm (definitely no), what food do you have on board (very limited as we knew we were crossing the border). Then he said to pull over and park the vehicle, and go to the office. No explanation, not even particularly polite and certainly no smile, and he retained our passports. So with every other RV heading directly through to the freeway, we stopped and presented ourselves to the office. There we were told to take a seat and wait. Wait we did, and continued to wait. Peter eventually asked after about fifteen minutes what was the problem, how long would we have to wait etc. We were just told that Customs would come and speak with us. Two girls arrived, asked for the car and trailer keys and questioned me what meat, fruit and vegetables, eggs, rice etc we had on board. They then went to do their search while we just waited. After about another twenty minutes they returned, gave us the keys and a printed form giving information on what can be brought into the USA. They found nothing of concern but gave us a good lecture and we assume it will be recorded we have been advised. We were then allowed to continue on our way and enter the USA. We were not impressed and felt somewhat that we had been targeted. Perhaps it was the Aussie passports! We had decided to visit Syracuse as Peter's father had attended two summer schools at the Syracuse University studying sales and marketing back in the late 1960's as part of his role with Dominion Life - certainly an achievement for him. The road from Niagara heads north towards New York before changing freeway North East to Syracuse. We stopped a couple of times during the morning at rest areas along the way. These were quite impressive but not as impressive as the North Carolina ones we had stopped at a few weeks ago. However each one did have about four fast food outlets but remember we had food in the trailer so we weren't tempted. As we arrived in Syracuse we saw a Camping World (large business that sells RV's and has a camping store plus service department etc). We needed a new light bulb for the outside of the trailer so we came off the freeway to make a stop. Light bulb purchased we got back in the car to continue on to visit the University, but that was not to be the case. The automatic transmission would not move out of "park" but just slipped through. We were going no where. It was certainly not our day, but at least we were not in a rest area miles from town, or stopped on the freeway. A call to the insurance company to activate the our roadside assist that we understood was part of the policy gave a negative answer - no roadside assist. Little bit of panic with dollar figures probably associated, when Peter remembered when we bought the trailer they said it had Good Sam's Club including roadside assist. One 'phone call and they were ever so helpful. Car would be picked up within the hour and taken to local transmission company. They also checked with Camping World that there was somewhere safe for us to leave the trailer. Sounded like hotel accommodation for us. Camping World went over and beyond in customer service (after all on that occasion we bought a light bulb). Out came three guys, they said that we could stay on site in the trailer, they connected the trailer to a tractor and shifted it, plugged it to power and water, and said bathroom, television, and tea and coffee facilities were available in store until 7 pm and that there were at least one or two other couples staying on site overnight. We have our own toilet and shower in the trailer as well so 7 pm store closure was no problem. How lucky were we. So the car went off on the back of a truck and we stayed put. We thought that as it was 4.30 pm nothing was going to happen that night however we did get a 'phone call from the garage to say it would be checked first thing in the morning and we would be updated then. A caravan yard with over one hundred travel trailers, campers, fifth wheelers and motor homes of all sizes isn't too bad a place to stop and have a wander if you are interested in camping. Only the new motorhomes were locked so we were able to wander in and out giving our opinion as we went. Next morning we did receive the promised call - the problem was the linkages and cable. Parts had been ordered, quote provided and we would be on the road again by 2 pm. Again, how lucky were we. Come 11.45 am we had received a call to say the car was ready and that the garage owner would collect us as he was aware we had no transport and it would be $US50 in a taxi. So we were very lucky - only a maintenance issue really and not anything that we could foresee. Tim Le Roy and others will understand that if you are travelling with cars, boats caravans etc there is always ongoing maintenance issues, and these cost money. This time we were extremely lucky and the bill wasn't too horrendous. So yes we were delayed, but we were ever so grateful to the roadside assist service, the staff at Camping World and the garage. They certainly looked after us. We will always remember our stop in Syracuse. With the car back on the road we made our way to Syracuse University - what a large complex that is. We had no idea which building that Jim did his study, or where he stayed but we made our way to the main buildings, and walked up the paths just as he would have done. It was one of those special moments for Peter as he remembered his dad and the time he spent in Syracuse and how it was always such an important experience for him. Back to collect the travel trailer, and we were on our way again continuing north in New York State. It felt good to be on the move again after our unplanned overnight stop.