It started off as an ugly day in Buffalo, cool and rainy. I headed over to my niece Michelle's around 11:30 with plans on grabbing lunch. We caravanned in two cars with her b/f and his friend to Bella Pizza. Bella's was fitting because her kid is named Bella (or Isabella) and I used to work there (plus my cousin owns Bella's Italian Grille in Celina, Ohio). We both had a deep-seated longing for making sweet loving to a chicken finger sub. If you've never been to Buffalo for a CF sub, you simply MUST have one before you die. (get it shaken in barbecue sauce and with mayo or blue cheese on it.)

Her boyfriend Zenni treated us, which was very cool. I ordered a water, but then I saw they had Loganberry and just HAD to have some (if you've not had it, it's another reason to visit Buffalo, kind of like a non-carbonated black cherry sugared drink). So I went to pay for the loganberry and talked to Dave (the owner and my former boss), figuring he wouldn't remember me, but he did! The dude looked good, like he hadn't aged a bit and he ran down the list of people I knew that still worked there. I'll fast forward through the meal, but we did talk hockey a bit and it was great. 

So Michelle wanted to head down to Allegany to see where her Dad wrecked, for both closure and to see if there was any wrongdoing in his death. As we understand it, he sat on the side of the road for 2 hours until help came. On the way, we talked about her Dad and she filled me in on the last several years when we didn't talk. Apparently, he cleaned up shortly after Michelle's 1st kid, no pot, nothing and really became a great grandpa. He told Michelle about a few things to give me when/if he died. It seemed that he knew he was going to go soon. It really filled me with regret that I hadn't talked to him before he died - I had totally forgiven him and him me, but we hadn't talked since '98. 

(Note - by the start of our trip everything had cleared up and it was sunny and beautiful)

We went thru the absolutely stunning hilly countryside that Bob loved to hunt and fish in around Allegany. His girlfriend has 50+ acres and that must have been a wonderland for Bob. We stopped for ice cream but realized we were hungry again, so got some Texas Red Hots (is that another Buffalo food? I think so.) Then we got some Perry's Ice Cream (ANOTHER Western New York food that can't be beat).  I got my Dad's old favorite: Butter Pecan (and we say it like "butter pee-can", deal with it)

Then we went to the place Bob wrecked. It took us a bit to find it, but we pieced together the scene CSI-style and found where paint scraped off his bike. This was really tough and emotional, but good in the long run. Michelle asked neighbors for info and the once guy was a state trooper who was on the scene within 5 minutes. He also said it didn't look like Bob's injuries were life-threatening: Bob had tied off his broken leg and wasn't bleeding too badly. Not sure of the rest of the story, but if it's true he sat there on the road for two hours, there may be cause for legal proceedings. Michelle says some other questionable stuff happened while in the hospital, but I don't remember exactly what. At the very least she was able to talk to him before he passed. 

It was rough, but I was glad I could be there for her.  She thanked me for joining her on the trip, but I got a lot out of it too. We reconnected in many ways, and I think she got a lot of closure. 

I had possible plans with my friend Scott to hang out but I was too tired after the day's events and had to head back "home".