Week One in Austin Texas 2013

Hotter than I’d remembered but I arrived later in the season in previous years and it is warmer. Good to have air conditioning and ceiling fans. It’s the first time I’ve ever slept with a ceiling fan running.

Backing up I left Palo Duro near Canyon, Texas and drove down to Abilene through Lubbock known as being Buddy Holly’s birthplace. Aside from wind farms and pump-jacks cotton is king here though this year the plants are so short one wonders how the equipment will manage once harvest begins. Abilene KOA was a disappointment. The drought made pecans not worth the effort and the Wi-Fi was pitiful. Left before dawn next morning, Friday October 25th, taking I-20 East to Texas 183 which led me south the 200 miles to Austin. The clear sky turned pink in the East before the sun rose in my driver’s window. Driving at 70 on a two-lane takes some getting used to. Fortunately I had the road almost entirely to myself. A few slower zones for small towns and stop signs but most traffic goes East to I-35 it would seem. Eventually the road becomes a four-lane divided highway though not limited access. I saw no traffic until I was 25 miles from Austin.

I stopped for a few necessities in Lampasas and had the line-up been shorter would have gotten gasoline at the HEB there at $2.85/gallon. Skipped the 183 tollway and drove through Leander and the other suburbs until I reached Austin. Made it by 10:30. The driveway was clear and the house airing. Hooked up with George to go for BBQ. Later a shower felt very good and a bed that doesn’t rock when one turns over or the wind blows even better. Alas no coyotes yipping and howling as in Palo Duro two nights earlier and certainly a lot noisier.

Worship Sunday at 8:15. I do live across from the church. For once got to listen to the choir from a pew. Went home to read the comix. Spent the afternoon at the Cap City Comedy Club where the Austin Traditional Jazz Society had their 3 hour concert. Good Jazz but a seat in a crowded venue gets hard after 3 hours. Joined Wes and Flo for that trip. Again not much time to move in.

Monday finally got a chance to join George at the church office and catch up online. Uploaded pictures I’ll insert here later. Went for gasoline and dishwasher soap in the afternoon and dropped down to Pecan Grove RV Park to renew acquaintances. Rob and Carol are retiring after 20 years as managers there.

Tuesday online early then off to Mann’s Smokehouse for BBQ. Finally a chance to move a few things into the house where I’m living. Finished reading a book.

Wednesday more time online after helping prepare 500 church newsletters for mailing, then home for lunch and back to church for cookies and coffee. Wednesday Connections begins with Dinner at 5:30 then Spanish Class. Eucharist followed by choir. A Thunderstorm came up while we were in the church balcony. It continued to rumble and flash all night dropping up to a foot of rain in some areas. Two people are known to have drowned in flooding in South-East Austin but the Lake Travis reservoir rose 20 feet in the run-off. It’s still 40 ft below optimum level. Thursday morning low water crossings were flooded, schools closed, and traffic chaotic.

Thursday finally got an opportunity to do some serious moving in after Chef’s Salad at Pok-E-Joes with George. Read a paper copy of the Austin Chronicle and got out to walk the neighbourhood. Collecting litter is part of the gigue.

Friday finally got down to the Hancock Centre 5 miles from here and shopped at the HEB there. Things have been moved around somewhat though I dread the renovation I learned is coming in January. With some help found everything I needed. Coffee has been moved to the Deli section and one gets to weigh and price one’s own beans. Managed to get there without my GPS but navigating Austin Roads is still a pain. Went to Mann’s for BBQ and ice cream after unpacking. Set up my bird feeders adding a new one for Niger Seed; then swept the floor inside my house. Got online to pay my bills mid-afternoon. Cleaned 2 dozen votive candles for lighting during All Saints observance Sunday. Cooked Quinoa in a rice cooker; made pea soup in the slow cooker earlier in the week.

I’m still getting awakened at 2:00 AM by the fleet departure from SAIA Warehouse and Trucking next door. I saw one of their trucks in Ohio. Hence I’m here writing this at 5:00 on a Saturday morning.

Playing Snowbird in 2013

I started a rant back in August and never did get around to posting it. I did manage to read over 30 books that month and posted reviews of most of them on my sister blog.

After much preparation set out the day after Canadian Thanksgiving for Southern Climes. Away from Lake Ontario the trip has not necessarily been warmer than it’s been back in Oakville but it has been drier.

I set out at 4:00 AM Tuesday Morning with no second thoughts about the items I”d forgotten, well maybe my sanity. :-( I no longer enjoy night driving but they were familiar roads. Tuned into Toronto Classical Stations on my RV radio. The US Customs Agent I encountered at Fort Erie/Buffalo had not taken the public relations course our own are apparently being sent on but after a few insults and poking his flashlight in my side door he sent me on my way. I made it out of Buffalo before rush hour and discovered that South of Lake Erie the leaves have turned and some trees were bare. The New York Turnpike on I-90 cost me $5.95. Gasoline along the highway was $3.59--I was glad I didn’t need any.

Pulled into Erie Pennsylvania just after dawn and decided to go explore Presques Isle State Park, the reason for my stop there. The drive out on a four lane roadway is 13 miles return with some thirty parking lots marking the various beach locations along the sand spit. The peninsula is stabilized by 100 offshore rock-filled barriers sequentially numbered. The one remaining lighthouse is surrounded by trees that block its view of the lake; the lighthouse keeper’s home occupied by a park warden. Once accessible only by boat the location is not the lonely isolation post it once was. The Nature Interpretive Centre marked on the park map and prominently signed I discovered closed permanently in 2007!

After 9:00 AM dropped by Sara’s Campground and got a site parked on the beach with my rear window facing the water the sound of the waves lapping in my ears. The adjoining amusement park’s roller coaster overshadows the campground but mercifully it closed Labour Day Weekend. Across the road in season Sara operates several fast food restaurants and amusements adjoining a second campground. A Mennonite Group had 9 tents pitched 10 ft from the water on the sand. One of the seasonal campers made a bond-fire on the beach that night. I walked the beach noting neighbours out searching for polished glass. Enjoyed talking with the locals.

Since it rained on Wednesday I didn’t hang around. Filled up for $3.09 in Erie and set off for Cleveland and then headed South to Delaware, Ohio. Cross Creek Campground was all dollied up for their annual Hallowe’en Celebration already past and about to become Santa’s Workshop for the local Christmas Lights Trail. Although it drizzled off and on all day I did get in a walk on the park’s ‘nature’ trail and collected a couple Osage Orange Hedge Apples. Spent a layover day catching up with my reading.

When I set out Friday Morning the inside of my windshield was totally coated in moisture that took ages to dry off. This made driving narrow backroads in the dark even more troublesome. Droplets remained hours later when I reached St Louis. I got past Columbus, Ohio before rush hour and spent the day with the sun at my back dodging truck traffic. I crossed the middle of Indianapolis without incident. The one moment of terror all day occurred when a suicidal individual stepped backward and stood in the middle of my lane. I’d have pulled over into the inside lane but for the left lane hogs who prevented my doing so. At 75 mph it happened so fast I didn’t have time to get an Adrenalin rush as I missed him by inches.

St Louis Drivers are aggressive and slow to react at intown traffic lights. If you give them quarter to enter a lane they will not take it as they assume you’ll behave as they do. The road system is confusing and made more cumbersome by unco-operative drivers who will not let you in to make your exit. Being a National Park the St Louis Gateway Arch was closed by the government shut down. Until reading a book recently I had no idea there were viewing ports inside the Arch.

Belleville RV Park in Fenton south of St Louis is a residential community with a few free spots for overnight campers. The Office Sign is missing in action but I finally found someone to take $60 in cash for two night’s stay supplying a written receipt and the Wi-Fi Code. The power worked when I finally found the remotely located circuit breaker. The St Louis Cardinals clinched their berth in the World Series that night tickets $90-$360. Saturday night Yo Yo Ma played the symphony tickets $100-$150. I decided a visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens was more my style especially since they accepted my RBG Membership. This gardens made news in 2012 when their Corpse Flower bloomed. A native of the island of Sumatra this three foot flower blossoms at ground level with a four foot phallus shaped pollen body sticking skyward while it perfumes the air with a powerful fetid odour. It bloomed again last Thursday. The flower lasts one day. The female cone appears with no particular schedule at a later date as does the plant a single 10 foot stalk with an umbrel of leaflets up top.

After leaving the Visitors Centre with its restaurant, washrooms, and gift shop one can take the tram ride with its live audio tour or walk the gardens on one’s own. There are various greenhouses and themed gardens on the 700 acre grounds. The two homes of the garden’s founder Henry Shaw are located on the grounds along with a garden director’s residence. By far the largest area is devoted to a Japanese Garden but there is a box hedge exhibit, scented, herb, woodland, rhododendron, rose, shade among other sections and a maze to amuse the children along with a building and garden for children. A home garden section features an on site plant doctor and a geodesic dome holds a tropical greenhouse.

I left St Louis Sunday Morning traffic aside from Sunday drivers not being an issue. I’d filled up the day before at a balky pump for $2.95. Plenty of truck traffic even on a Sunday. I spent the day driving through the Ozark Region of Missouri passing almost 200 miles of ads for Branson. Missouri not being one of the states that bans billboards. Crossing into Oklahoma they at least have the grace to Welcome you before they hit you with the toll booth--another $4.00. The tourist bureau I took a break at served burnt but drinkable complimentary coffee. If I thought Missouri was bad billboards in Oklahoma are egregious.

When I reached Tulsa I was thankful my GPS knew how to negotiate the serpentine route to my campground. I met myself going and coming several times. I also collected my first kamikaze insects that day. Warriors RV Park’s Office is not open Sundays. I found a place to park and an envelope supplying the Wi-Fi Code and hooked up to power. Visited the office next morning where Kobi the white-footed black cat had the run of the place. He rolled contentedly on the welcome mat inside the door on Sunday. Enjoyed a warm shower in their facilities and spent a quiet day beside I-44.

Leaving town Early Tuesday Morning I discovered i-44 wending South-West is a toll highway under construction. Guess we’re paying for the work. At Oklahoma I-40 parallels old Route 66. I stopped in Clinton for fuel where a very tired pump took 30 minutes to pump 30 gallons of fuel at $3.09/gallon. Four miles later I stopped on the Frontage Rd to visit Jigg’s Smokehouse a local phenom I’d read about in a Route 66 Guidebook. Noted for the excessive size of their burgers I decided that’s all they have going for them. Judge for yourself by mousing over the menu items:

https://jiggssmokehouse.com/menu.html

They don’t do vegetables, plates or cutlery. Process cheese, condiments I couldn’t detect and cheap rolls. Potato salad in a small foam coffee cup. Water without ice. Oh well, it was an experience. The daily allowance of salt for a week in one sandwich. I’ve been thirsty ever since.

Sixty miles later I entered the Lone Star State where the Welcome Centre is 100 miles further on in Amarillo. There I discovered it to be on the wrong side of the highway and didn’t bother stopping. Took I-27 South from Amarillo which will eventually take me to Lubbock and Abilene. Hung a left on 217 and balked at driving 75 mph on a two-lane with level intersections and cow pastures on either side. Welcome to Texas. Fourteen miles later reached the Palo Duro State Park Gatehouse. Two forlorn longhorns were gazing over an adjoining pasture fence. The Visitor’s Centre is located on the crest of the cañon affording a magnificet view. The water cooler figured prominently in my visit. Aside from a hikers guide there was little else of interest. Two screens afforded an opportunity to watch feature length movies available in the gift shop but there is no intro to the park movie. The ravine is accessible via switchbacks that drop you 800 ft to the valley floor where 5 Water Crossings pass over the Red River. I decided to drive the entire Park Road 5 before settling into my campsite.

Palo Duro is worth it for its scenic beauty and utter peacefulness. The deer wander at will and wild turkeys walk up to your picnic table looking for handouts. Mind you in summer the temperature hits 120 and scorpions, tarantellas, spiders, various snakes and poisonous plants call for caution. Flash floods make Water Crossings hazardous. Once home to the Cherokees and still used for cattle ranching the mile wide cañon is a great place to hike, mountain bike or go horseback riding. Remains of its life as a cattle ranch remain as do the sites used by the CCC Boys who developed the park.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 for my full day in Palo Duro I hiked 7.24 miles in 90-100º F heat to see Palo Duro’s so-called Lighthouse rock formation. When I finally got in sight I did not feel it necessary to go the extra mile to actually stand under it feeling I’d walked enough already. I was glad to find a water tap at the trail head as at that point I still had over a mile to walk. I took 139 pictures still well short of the 700 I took when I visited Western Brook in Newfoundland. That coffee and ham and tomato sandwich tasted good when I got home. A/C felt very good as well.

What is it about being a bachelor that there is always someone nearby with a loudly whining brat. Thank goodness the people across the way moved out this morning. A young couple from Switzerland with an RV with Swiss plates moved in.  The other truly annoying facet of Hackberry Campground is the fact that it is overrun by flies. It’s nearly impossible to keep them out and they’re on top of everything. Whether they’re endemic to the deer or breed on human garbage the place has swarms of them.

Digital Publishing

The telephone arrived in my home as a black, rotary-dial wall-phone on a ten-party-line that hung in a living room unheated in winter when I was ten. I have never attempted to text on a smart-phone and feel uncomfortable with instant messaging. Since I became acquainted with Kindle on my tablet and BookBub’s free offerings I have become acquainted with a cadre of young authors who grew up texting, skyping, and using instant messaging with aplomb. They also went to school at a time when self-expression was more valued than grammar, syntax, or spelling. Some seem to be barely literate.

When writers sat down with quill and ink, pencil, or ball-point to laboriously double-space up to 20 versions of their books their editors blue-penciled mercilessly and all non-essential text got eliminated. Much the same occurred when the typewriter made things easier if not quieter. It was the arrival of computer word-processors 30 years ago that revolutionized writing forever. Today most copy does not see paper until the day it is printed on newsprint, glossy magazine, or paperback. More recently digital self-publishing has virtually eliminated the middlemen and books go almost directly from the author to the reader’s nook or kindle. Budgetary constraints seem to have almost eliminated proofreading and even the most prestigious outlets print copy with glaring errors.

Since computer word-processors arrived on the scene I have read too many books that would have benefited from being 200 pages shorter. The word-bloat is palpable. More recently the e-books appear on my tablet missing even the simple formatting of page justification. Authors may not be using instant messaging abbreviations and short-cuts but punctuation, capitalization, and formatting seem to have gone out the window. Spelling is a sometime affair and homonym errors, such as to, too, two abound. After a page or more of dialogue it helps if the reader is given some indication of whom said what; especially in the absence of capitals and periods.

Free or not asking the reader to edit your copy is an insult. I don’t hit send on any copy be it E-mail or this blog-post until I have run spell-check and reread the text at least once or more. I wish writers would do the same. Alas I fear too many don’t recognize their own errors. I have read 21 books in the last month and earned my 50-book pledge, perhaps Malthus’ Law of Diminishing Returns is beginning to kick in.

Aborigine Experience

Just finished listening to Joseph Boyden and Richard Wagamese on CBC and it has me thinking about the aborigine experience in Canada. Having attended conferences at Cape Croker I’ve been immersed in the tales of children being wrenched from their homes and forced to attend residential schools where they were forbidden to speak their own languages or observe their native customs and often sexually abused. To an outsider it is hard to understand how soul-destroyingly destructive this was to an entire generation. The objective of Indian Affairs Policy in Canada was the utter obliteration of Native Culture and the people themselves. What was added to my knowledge base was the fact that ‘Indian’ children were seized from reserves and sold to adoption agencies in America.

Thomas King, another aboriginal author has quipped that the indigenous population of Canada had an immigration problem--US. Upon first encounter with European Settlers Native Populations suffered death rates of up to 90% of their peoples as soon as these interlopers got within 200 miles of their tribal lands from the diseases that were brought with them from the old country. The Beothuks of Newfoundland were utterly exterminated. A people who lived communally and had no sense of property rights or ownership of Mother Earth were ill-equipped to negotiate treaties with White Settlers. With no words in their language to conceive of lies or untruth they could not understand deception and connivance.

Land-hungry Europeans sought means to get rid of the Indian Problem and relegate them to the confines of Reserves where they would not get in the way of settlement. In a time when the only good Indian was a dead Indian policies aimed at extermination were the order of the day. Again, as an outsider to this process generations later I would ask how long do we have to apologize for the sins of the past and make reparations for those evils. Land claims settlement negotiations have dragged on for generations with little end in sight. Those on reserves have no ownership of the land on which their homes sit. It is difficult to have pride of place and invest in property you do not possess.

The Indian Affairs Commission should have been abolished long since but this agency pours millions into reserves yearly and the elected band councils who profit from this investment are loath to give up a good thing. Unfortunately these elected officials bypass the cultural traditions of hereditary chiefs in an often matrilineal society creating rifts within these societies. Cronyism and patronage are often rife on band councils and all that money poured into reserves often does little to benefit the average member. Politics is as corrupt and self-serving on band councils as it is in white society. Indian Affairs appears to be a self-perpetuating reality.

The policy of annihilation attempted to spread disease through trading unwashed blankets from tubercular hospitals and a trade in ‘fire water’. Aboriginal peoples seem prone to alcoholism, diabetes, and obesity only adding to the problems of over-crowding, lack of sanitation, and running water on reserves. In many ways government policy came close to succeeding but the human spirit and cultural pride have prevailed and a push to reclaim language and customs before the elders who preserve those memories die out is presently underway.

Among the problems encountered in settling land claims is a perception that an oral tradition is made up to suit the situation at hand. We tend to forget that until the time of David our Bible was an oral tradition and until the invention of the printing press few possessed expensive hand written texts. On the other hand those still on reserves are loath to give up tax-free status and the other perks afforded band members such as free education and support to those who manage to go on to higher education. Indian Affairs is a love-hate relationship.

Of Censorship and Free Speech

Since the advent of word-processors on computer authors are no longer faced with the laborious task of rewriting their texts by hand. This has simplified the process of editing but has also facilitated an epidemic of word bloat in books. In the last ten years I have read many books that would have benefited immensely by being reduced by at least 200 pages. Publishers no longer seem to edit books hence print editions are often rife with typos created in the publishing process and alas, by the author as well. With the arrival of self-publishing and e-Books the lack of grammar, syntax, and spell-checking has reached epidemic proportions and a new cadre of would-be authors raised in an era when self-expression was deemed more important than spelling and grammar have hit the scene. Worse yet, the latest phenomena are young writers who honed their craft typing text messages on smart phones. You may have read about college graduates who are functionally illiterate; well now they think they can write books.

I have written at least 75 book reviews for my own satisfaction in the last few years and recently began publishing them on Amazon. I have discovered the existence of a double-standard in that the behemoth will market books filled with expletives but will not accept reviews that contain those same profanities. Being a consenting adult I don’t usually pay attention to ratings and must confess I had not been aware that Amazon gave books ratings, certainly they place no blocks on anyone downloading any e-Book. I was taken aback when I discovered upon panning a poorly conceived book that authors read their own reviews and even respond. I had not to this point considered Amazon a discussion forum.

So to the concept of censorship. Does giving a book an “R” rating make it acceptable to write about teenage sex and swearing as if it is the norm? Do we want to legitimize such behaviour by making it seem acceptable? I would prefer not to find literary novels laced with expletives and find the idea of childhood profanity puerile and immature, an example of bad parenting. Violence and assault should not be made glamorous in novels, movies or games; it used to be called pornography but those standards seem to be changing rapidly in frightening ways especially on Pay TV and the Internet. This is not to say that there are topics that should not be confronted in writing books. It is not a matter of whether or if but how and why, of kind and degree. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin served as a catalyst for bringing down slavery in America; Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kamf promoted the Final Solution. Your opinion of these books will differ depending on your status as a card carrying member of the KKK, a Neo-Nazi Cult, a death camp survivor, or former slave. There’s a fine line between freedom of speech, censorship, and tyranny; liberty and the common good.

Bluenose Meander Homeward Bound

Saint John is an awkward place to negotiate. Needed gas before I left and the nearest Irving Station proved to be on the wrong side of the road near a major intersection. Not only was the gas pricey but resuming my journey in rush hour traffic proved impossible so I had to turn right and nearly return home to get on my way turning left just past that very Irving Station. Saint John was engulfed in fog which persisted until I’d climbed the hills north of the city. The drive was pleasant enough though the highway petered out as I passed major construction until I reached Oromocto and Highway 2. Stopped in Woodstock for a break and to find Subway, then later in St-Basile near Edmundston for a second fill-up before I hit more expensive gas in PQ.

After some exploration found IGA Extra in Rivière-Du-Loup and got a few essentials. So-called cream for cooking most approximates the table cream I’m accustomed to putting in my coffee but here it is 15% butterfat against the 18% I’m used to. I suspect another conspiracy to sell one less for more. The cream proved to be less than fresh as well. Went to the well once too often at St Hubert. My Gallic Waitress was polite but surly, my cruet of sauce half full, the portion of fries niggardly, and service slow. I didn’t feel like tipping.

Was glad to settle into my campsite after negotiating a rather bustling office where the gal told me to wait, quote, for someone to put me in my place. I was thankful to lie back and sip a glass of sangria and nurse my tired eyes which had just stayed alert for 300 miles. It was hot for this neck of the woods despite the clouds overhead and the fog off the Saint Lawrence. Remained in camp for the next day while showers blew through.

Saturday Morning set out reluctantly still not feeling rested in warm temperatures at 7:30 in the morning. With my air vents set I was able to endure the heat in shorts without the added expense of running A/C. A cross-wind called for constant vigilance all day as a gusting wind made driving erratic. Stopped once just after Quebec City for a pit stop and refreshments. Ignored my GPS to find Camping Aloutte and walked into a darkened office to learn they’d been without power since a raging storm with hurricane force winds had dropped hale and heavy rain knocking out power at 3 PM the previous day. After parking reported back paying my fee in cash. Turned on the generator thankful once more for its presence and ran the A/C to beat the heat. After getting something to eat and reading most of the comix I’d downloaded before leaving the Loup had a 2-hour nap despite the noise. When I got up and went outside discovered power had been restored.

Went for a walk and discovered two books in English in the ‘library’ I was interested in reading. Apparently Jo Nesbo is popular in Quebec. A musty mass-market paperback copy of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged running to nearly 1100 onion-skin thin pages with tiny print probably won’t be missed. A gusty wind that was rocking my RV has died down to dead calm but banks of cloud still mass in the sky to the south as the sun sets early over the hill to the north-west. Had to close up my windows and turn on the A/C again as one of my neighbours is burning ancient much-painted boards and producing very noxious fumes. Learned later that the same storm system that killed a woman in Boucherville where I was camped spawned another tornado in Grand Lake near Fredericton past which I drove 2 days earlier.

At 7:00 AM Sunday morning drove over to the next interchange and stopped to buy enough $1.47.4 gasoline to get me out of Québec. Early morning traffic on a Sunday was light as the locals were all recovering from the storm and their hangovers as I crossed the island of Montréal. Stopped at the En Route Welcome Centre and was welcomed by two young lads who came out from behind their counters to greet me. Stopped at the Canadian Tire outlet there to fill up at $1.37.4/L. A few miles later drove into Lancaster to have breakfast at Dennys and discovered Flying J was selling for 4¢ less. This Dennys was the first in 5 years on both sides of the border to serve decent coffee but their three-egg omelet must have been made with small eggs and the remaining portion-size was niggardly. Service was slow and coffee refills had to be requested and were slow to arrive. No tips for that kind of service.

With breaks the trip home took 8 hours under the watchful eyes of La Sûreté De Québec and the OPP. Both were busy writing tickets and at least one officer was out with a laser unit monitoring oncoming traffic. Stopped for a pit stop before crossing Toronto around 11:00; two RV parked under an overpass causing the only slow-down in that transit. Was thankful to find my parking space unoccupied when I got home, grabbed my laptop and tablet and a few other essentials and made it home by 3:00. Turned down the A/C, got sommit to eat, climbed into a full tub of water, dried off, and went to bed.

The ground here is too dirty to warrant kissing but I did feel thankful for a safe return.

Saint John, New Brunswick

Was sorry to have to leave Pictou and will never repeat the sojourn my GPS led me on when I asked it to take me to Amherst avoiding the toll highway. Some of the roads weren’t paved and some of the paved ones were even poorer. To make matters worse it started raining torrentially. It paused long enough to allow me to walk into the Nova Scotia Welcome Centre and meet Jacob, the new piper in his kilt and sporran. Alas, I didn’t get to hear him play. The drive down to Saint John past Moncton was uneventful until I hit heavy fog just short of the city. Managed to find Rockwood Campground despite the limited visibility.

Got on well with the gentleman at the gate and signed in for a week finding $22/day much cheaper than $35 even should I choose to leave early. Settled in and with nothing much to be seen in the fog and rain settled in to catch up online.

Walked down to the gate Friday Morning and bought the local Saint John Paper and was disappointed to find no What’s On Section. The movie reviews didn’t interest me. After updating online got out my map, got myself ready and set off over to Downtown. The city is not pedestrian friendly and at one point I had to cross an expressway entrance without benefit of crosswalk. Traffic did stop for me though. The neighbourhood I walked through climbing steep grades was not the best but people were friendly. Hard by this slum was the Cathedral Church of the Immaculate Conception which I toured. The exterior is not much to look at but the interior is beautiful.

Finally found my way to Market Square where I stopped to tour Barbour’s Historic General Store which featured King Cole Tea but not my old standard Old English Blende. I got my loose Orange Pekoe in Antigonish. Wandered the Market Square Complex and got a 20 minute free look at the New Brunswick Museum. It has complete whale skeletons and various mockups. Looked quickly at the art exhibit on the third floor and came down to talk with the staff. Went to Grannans Pub for Clams and Chips plus a Kieths IPA. The beer was cold, fresh, and bubbly draft and the clams the best I’ve had, sorry John’s Lunch Dartmouth. Thus refreshed I started the long climb back to Rockwood Park choosing a alternate route that took me past City Hall and various upscale businesses. Stopped to admire a few churches along the way and finding myself close by the Lutheran Church dropped in to have tea with my friend Tom.

Once I finally got home after noting the number of people swimming in Lily Lake whose water gets tested only once a month I promptly drank two large glasses of water.

On Saturday went for at least a ten-mile hike with my friend Tom around Rockwood Park after a trip for groceries. Put my feet up Saturday evening though I was rather startled by some illegal fireworks.

Sunday morning before the crowds got up enjoyed a shower and later watched people line up to use the sewage dumping station opposite my windows. Around 10:15 wandered the 1.43 miles over to Hope Lutheran Church for service. Were it not that Tom is pastor there I’d probably wander down to the Anglican Cathedral instead. Three days of sunshine is rather unusual for my visits to Saint John. Took a look at my picnic table this morning where I plan to entertain this evening and noted that someone pooped on it. Either a crow or a squirrel I suspect. Must give it a scrub. Washed dishes in hopes they’d dry on their own given enough time. Eighty-two degrees in Saint John. My Goodness!

Got dinner made despite a power outage that was my own fault. Tried to do too many things at once and disturbed my electrical connection. Monday morning the sun came out again amid a heat warning for all of New Brunswick save the Bay of Fundy Shore Area. Already at noon it’s 86º F. Just discovered there’s a leak in my 10 litre water tank, guess it wasn’t made for more than one use. Just one more of those things. Made an appointment with my barber, me, and clipped my locks, they were getting long enough to get in my eyes when I drove with the windows open. Temp has reached 90!

Suddenly my refrigerator decided to become overactive. I’d turned it up after putting ice cream in it that was a bit soft but now suddenly it froze half my cucumber and I now have a frozen carrot. When I went to use my Ziggy’s Coleslaw I discovered it was put through a blender not a shredder making a product more like relish than slaw. Life’s little surprises. After the water leak got my bathroom floor scrubbed, a job long overdue; the kitchen floor today. Here I am sitting in Saint John reading a walking tour of Lunenburg while I wait for web pages to load in my browser.

Finished reading my walking tour and must now embark on the reading of Historic Saint John Streets to learn about the city in which I now reside for two more days. Aside from some cleaning I haven’t done much today as it’s too hot to be outside for long. Dinner out with my friend Monday Night and a short walk after it cooled off a bit.

On Tuesday spent a quiet day close to my A/C unit. Walked over to dinner at the parsonage then to Trinity Anglican Church for Compline. The rite was chanted a capella by candle light.

Attended a noon-time recital on Wednesday, lunched at Subway, went walking in the Marsh at the Irving Nature Centre, toured an art gallery, got a mini-tour of Saint John, and had Souvlaki at a local Pizzeria.

Was reluctant to get up this morning after going back to sleep following my early morning online browse but was on the road by 7:00. Sleeping in is all relative. My second fill-up of the day in New Brunswick was at a full-service ESSO. Stopped for my second Subway Sub in one week and paused to put on shorts when it got too hot. Aside from that heat and the strain of staying alert for 300 miles the day was routine. Expect I’ll be glad to make it home Sunday after 400 miles.

Mid-July Rant 2013

Anywhere in North America a person of colour who gets behind the wheel of a car runs the risk of committing an offense euphemistically called ‘Driving While Black’. In Halifax a Black man has taken a bar to court because he was refused entrance and service, a practice that has gone on since former slaves were brought to Halifax over 200 years ago in the wake of the American War of Independence. In Florida an unarmed black teenager out walking at night in his own gated community was chased by an armed white vigilante who was told not to do so by his own people and shot dead in the back. It took 44 days for that individual to be charged with a crime and 16 hours for a jury to acquit him. Clearly it is not safe to be a person of colour in America.

Once more the Hollywood glamour machine has claimed the life of yet another young actor as it has been announced that Cory Monteith of Glee fame was found dead in a Vancouver Hotel room. You may remember that it was five years after the fact before the young actor who played Wheels in Degrassi High was even properly identified after being found dead in Hamilton, Ontario. Makes one wonder just how much longer the self-destructive young Justin Bieber will survive his own brush with fame.

Apple found guilty of price-fixing e-Books. As traditional bookstores struggle to keep the doors open Canadians pay a ridiculous surcharge vis-á-vis American prices for the same book even when it is published in Canada despite the fact that the Canadian Dollar hovers within pennies of the American Dollar most of the time. e-Book prices are a capricious market in which titles can be deeply discounted or even offered for free one day and be sold for anything from $9.99 to $15.99 the next. Online prices can vary wildly depending on which marketer you poll, which country they and you are in, your area code, and even the fact that you looked at a book online or placed it on a future wish list can get you an e-Mailed discount offer. I find it particularly perplexing that it is possible for an e-Book to be more expensive than a remaindered Hardcover or even a Trade or mass-market paperback edition of the same text.

The closure of Imperoil in Dartmouth leaves Irving Oil with a monopoly on the production of fuel oil in the Maritimes.

Sable Island has finally been granted limited protected status as a National Park placing Green Party Leader Elizabeth May in the uncomfortable position of voting against the enabling legislation because it provided insufficient protections from oil and gas exploration among others.

The fibre in smoked cigarette filters used to line bird’s nests serves to protect the young birds in them from parasitic mites that tend to inhabit those nests. In particular this aids the mother bird who spends a great deal of time sitting multiple clutches of eggs in the same nest. Using the great outdoors as an ash tray is still a disgusting habit.

Bluenose Meander Post Stanfest

Left Canso around 7:00 Monday Morning and drove up toward Antigonish. Whereas the highway to Eastern Shore was in good shape things got interesting after that. As usual there was nowhere to stop when the scenery was at its best. Was just a few miles from town when I finally reached the 104. Made Antigonish in a couple hours and found Whiddens Campground Downtown opposite Saint Francis Xavier University. This was one of those places where Campers are an inconvenience. It was not intended that one use the ‘free’ Wi-Fi. The two young lads ‘guarding’ the gate were not the preferred exponents of their hometown. Girls were cleaning the cabins and another group of high schoolers mowing the lawns and maintaining the grounds. Next door someone was roofing a house. I went for a walk around an unexpectedly vibrant downtown. The 5500 university students added to a resident population of 4500 keep things hopping it would seem. Two barber shoppes? The $3.50 cone of Grapenut Ice Cream I was assured was fresh tasted like saw dust. All in all Antigonish in the rain did not impress though I enjoyed talking with some of the locals and enjoyed my visit to the large library complete with an aquarium of Lake and Brook Trout.

Again left early Tuesday Morning shaking myself free of the dust, mud, of the place. Found Sobeys near the highway disappointing and after gassing up at Ultramar where I had to run the pump the second time when it stopped at $100 and an over-weight attendant came out to tell me needlessly that I’d have to come in to pay for the second run went across the road to the Irving Station to find out that no, they didn’t fill motorhomes. It wasn’t that far to New Glasgow where I did find propane and the Sobeys up the street was a welcome find. When they put your photo on the hording for the county as they have 40-year-old Dave Gunning you must be famous!

Drove across the canal to Pictou after noting that I was in Westray Mine Country missing the Pictou Welcome Centre located it transpires on the wrong side of the road. If you’re in a hurry for anything in Nova Scotia you’ve come to the wrong place. Eventually found Harbour Light Trailer Park’s owner and was shown a shaded campsite. After setting up waited some more to actually pay for same. High Speed Wi-Fi and two days for the same price I paid at last place. After I’d caught up with the world walked down to smell salt air and watched the waves on Pictou Harbour. A verdant growth of poison ivy served to keep one close to the centre of the trail. Next day fully enjoyed a ‘free’ shower and settled in to catch up and do some writing.

Stan Rogers Festival Day Three

Woke around 6:00 and finished my Orange Juice. Managed to nap until 9:15 when I turned on the generator to make coffee.

Walked up to the arena to download my comix. Then down to Fogarty's Cover for My Influences with Barney Bentall and Dave Gunning. Back to Fox Island for Standing Proud where a rock group didn't belong. Jonathan Byrd inspired me to buy one of his CD's. Came home for lunch and back for some fantastic picking by the string kings. What some of those guys did on a guitar. And no, I don’t believe there’s a guitar JP Cormier can’t play. The Main Stage Stan Show was too hot. The Cape Breton Kitchen Party was crowded so I went back to Fox Island to sit in the shade and saw a Didgeridoo played while an Aussie played guitar as well. Came home to have supper and relax. Left because the CO Alarm came on.

Sunday evening began early with a group that didn't make it on Friday. The Sultans of String played a mix of flamenco, Arabian, Cuban too loud. John McCutcheon played hammered dulcima. Mary-Jane Lamond sang her Gaelic originals while Wendy MacIsaac played fiddle and tap danced. The Makem and Spain Brothers played Irish inflected folk songs of haunting beauty. Robert Lopez and group were an eclectic Afro-Cuban Jazz ensemble with more than 8 musicians including trumpet, trombone, guitar, clarinet, drum kit, hand drums.... Tom Paxton was given an hour to perform numbers I've heard but didn't know whom to associate with. Dustin Bentall and group rocked the bowl followed by the blues howler Charlie A'Court. The event ended with an onstage sing-along. With no light and the words not placed on the screen the audience was ignored. Carl Bond led the first number joined by about 40 onstage.

Stan Robers Festival Day Two

Made my own breakfast at 8 once I was able to run my generator. Around 11 walked over to the nearest tent called Fox Island where Valdy was hosting a session called Alumni which included JP Cormier and two others. Don't remember hearing Valdy before certainly not live.

Went on to the Arena dubbed the Pourhouse Stage stopping on the way to pick up three David Gunning CD's. There David Gunning did a solo hour-long session. It was so hot and humid the water was running off him and he forgot the words to his own songs. While I was there updated my tablet. Walked down to the Queensport Stage where Mary Jane Lamond was a no-show. Jonathan Byrd from North Carolina, a Southern Baptist with a Jewish wife was paired with a trio playing modified Sufi from Iran. As the former declared, a different kind of country. Left early and came home to make a ham and tomato sandwich and drink some more water. Switched to my regular collapsing chair, dumped a few things and walked back to catch Dylan Guthro at Little Dover Stage. Seems only yesterday his father Bruce burst on the scene. Left after his half-hour gigue and walked over catch the Garnet Rogers hosted Troubadours session. Rogers was rather laid back and needed reminding he was host. Even forgot to turn on his guitar giving the sound man the willies. The grouping I caught the end of was just plain weird.

Trudged over to Fogarty's Cove Stage where David Gunning was again hosting something dubbed Singalongs. They played nothing I'd heard before so it was more like audience participation. Did not stay for the 5 PM session. People are already in place for the 7:00 PM Main Stage, and many seats are already in place. I'm opting to cool off, rest, have supper, and read my comix which are still live on the Tablet and sitting in front of the heat pump outflow to cool off. Thank goodness for my generator or I wouldn't be eating here.

Walked over to the site and ended up beside a couple form Austin Texas. Didn't get their names. The opening set didn't make an impression and the second group were the Iranian group I'd seen that afternoon who spent most of their set messing with their computer. Dave Gunning in his set reprised most of the numbers I'd already heard in the afternoon. The story of his dispute with the mint over the pennies pictured on his last CD is getting tiresome. JP Cormier played originals and did a fantastic instrumental set. I walked over and for the first time got an album autographed, by Dave Gunning. We were treated to an hour of Bobby Bare, at least 45 too much for me but....

We were told that several people ended up in hospital with heat sickness, I certainly saw one very burned and over-heated looking individual. I gave up and came home around 11:00.

Stan Rogers Festival Day One

How does one sum up 4 days or 35 hours of concerts? Whereas I watched an Aussie play a guitar while he worked a didgeridoo I did not see a single kilted Scot play the bagpipes. It was a privilege to see and actually meet Dave Gunning in person but I do wish he hadn’t felt it necessary to play the same few hits from the latest CD he’s schilling every time I saw him. It was great to see Garnet Rogers Friday Night but by his own admission he got up on the wrong side of the bed the remainder of the weekend. Did someone give him a bad brew Friday Night? As the temperature climbed toward one hundred twas a pity the Pool beside the Arena wasn’t open. It’s a Festival built on Nostalgia for an artist who died too young and its music reflects nostalgia for a way of life that died with the fisheries, for friends and relations lost, and for family members who had to leave to find work. A few happy songs every now and then would be welcome.

The two-storey inflated screen to stage left was an interesting concept. Watching Sharon Epic stage right work on her painting each night helped relieve some tedium especially when the MC’s ran out of things to say during stage changes. Not knowing the local characters I found a lot of their humour just plain corny. Stanfest may ban profanity from the site but they have less control over those on stage. Sunday night was my first unpleasant experience of sitting beside someone who felt it necessary to text during a performance. I do wish people would shut up during a concert and I’ve wished more than once I could tell the people blocking my view to park their butts so I didn’t have to look at them. I realize this isn’t Roy Thomson Hall but.... Did I get up on the wrong side?

After spending $113 for the weekend I balked at spending nearly half that in addition to see Ricky Skaggs and would think twice about the Kick-off Party @ $10 which proved to be more party than live music event. Many of my 'neighbours' had preset their chairs and didn't show up until later in the evening. The opening Discovery Set saw 5 artists do one number each with mixed results. Number two's high gain guitar caused the speakers to 'clip'. The sound system at the main stage was far superior to that in the arena and the bank of speakers projected sound without being deafening or distorting. Corin Raymond from Toronto who was unintelligible last night sounded much better but he's nothing to look at. We heard again about how he financed his first CD with $7000 in Canadian Tire Money. Garnet Rogers was the only person to come on stage without an ID. He lives in Canso part time and listening to him talk provided as much pleasure as hearing his singing voice so close in timbre to his brother's. He talked about his large extended family and the deck that appeared at the back of his house built by his neighbours while he was away on tour and the lady at the CO-OP who opined in front of many others that he had a small 'dick'. His taxes went up. And of a hut graffitied by soldiers, airmen and sailors who went off to war from Canso and there at the bottom in pencil his mother's name--as someone opined, your mother under a pile of sailors. And of touring with his brother. He was followed by Barney Bentall a name I'd heard but never followed, he brought his son Dusty out and they sang together backed by both groups.

Jowi Taylor appeared in an extended entre-act with his guitar built of bits of wood historic and special in many ways from across Canada--Paul Henderson’s Goal Winning Stick, Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s Paddle, wood from a residential school. Projected were pictures of the various artists who have played it and those who posed with it across the nation. An artist named David Baxter came out to play a number on the Six String Nation as the guitar is called. The Backyard Devils were a rock style band heavy on the slap style bass and followed by a Zydeco inspired group with accordian and clarinet fronted by a 5-string violinist in radioactive painted pants mentored we heard by Oliver Schroer. I just wish he'd have played straight up Zydeco. Many departed long before his set finished but I stayed until they turned out the stage lights picking my way across the dew-drenched grass and dodging the beer cans that managed to get onto the field despite security's best efforts.

Bluenose Meander: Stanfest

Just getting there is half the adventure. I have a word of advice for people operating attractions along winding hilly roads. If the sign marking your establishment is out front, the speed limit is 60 or higher, and I have forty foot motorhome or transport truck behind me I ain’t stopping. I may have liked to but it just isn’t safe. Unless you place your sign 1000 ft down the road I’ll not be visiting. And just because the locals know where you are doesn’t mean that I’m going to find you unless you make your signs large, bright, and clear. I’m watching the road for hazards, your sign has to be prominent or I just won’t catch it. I know that somewhere near Port Bickerton there is a Lighthouse Interpretive Centre and I passed the Goldsboro Mining Centre just as I rounded a corner with a large RV on my tail.

Naysayers to the contrary the Country Harbour Ferry had just arrived and was unloading as I approached and I drove almost straight on as the first vehicle on board, fare $5.50. The route along the Eastern Shore Coastline was winding, hilly, betimes rough but filled with thrilling views of the coastline. Pity there was little opportunity to pull over and admire the view. The Nova Scotia Government Highways Website describes the route as a good summer road. Not sure what that euphemism means but I’m working on it. The road down to Canso was in excellent shape and rated at 90 KM/Hr. The signs for Stanfest though not prominent got me to the acoustic campground where I was met by two fine local gentlemen who led me to my site. The main stage is a short walk distant. I had not expected to be needing to run my generator to operate the A/C unit because of heat. Who knew?

Walked up to register, and get my armband for the weekend. Made a tour of ‘downtown’ Canso. The public wharf on Water Street and the CO-OP Food and Hardware Store whose A/C was very welcome. Not a lot to see in Canso after you admire the views of the harbour. When I walked back and saw the line-up of vehicles trying to get in was thankful I came early. After getting an early supper settled in for an afternoon nap, it was rather warm.

Wandering around Canso I gleaned the following. The manager of the CO-OP which was heavily air conditioned was busily stocking 25 pallets of groceries that had just come in. The frozen goods first. Fishing here involves a limited lobster and crab season, Fall Shrimp and Tuna catch. Since the fish plant closed, employing 600, things have gone down hill, the Town went broke and was subsumed into the Municipality of Guysborough. The high school closed permanently this year and will be demolished. The gal at the Whitman House Museum graduated in a class of 12 and is planning to escape the Stanfest Crowd by camping in Cape Breton this weekend. She just started and learned more about the items in the house from me than I from her. The dozen flat irons on the stove in the kitchen were donations but looked a bit extreme. The three storey Post Office stands empty and for sale signs abound around town. When I got back to camp and saw the lineup to get in I was glad I came when I did.

Ricky Skaggs gave his audience a 3-hour show for their $51.00, I heard as much as I needed to from the sidelines. Spent my $10 in aid of the Canso Arena for the kick-off party sponsored in part by Molson’s with two bars in place. The crowd did not attend to listen to music and the stage set up in the middle of the space provided horrible acoustics. It was worthwhile seeing David Gunning up close. He’s as good looking and personable in person as he appears in pictures.

Walked up to be first in line for breakfast Friday Morning at the arena where the only other patrons were the early shift security staff from Black Belt Security, Sydney, NS one so young his face was still full of acne. Must ask how much training they get? [Precious little I was told, their only black belts hold up their black pants.] The coffee at $1.00 was forgettable but hot, the homefries could have been left in the deep-frier a little longer, powdered eggs, and brunt curled up bacon, total $8.00 tax included. I did get to update my tablet using their free Wi-Fi. Around 8:30 made my own coffee. I’m grateful for my generator and A/C. Went for a walk around 10:30 and found little open.

Things started happening around six when I walked over and picked up a ‘low chair’ for eight bucks so I could sit up front. Watching the huge screen get inflated and the stage crew get set up helped pass the time while I read Life of Pi.

Bluenose Meander in Nova Scotia

My welcome to Nova Scotia has been hot, wet, and humid. It's the hot part that's hard to take, temperature's above 80 would once have been considered extreme especially for June. Heat like that combined with high humidity.... ?

I'm getting to know my youngest niece as an adult. We've gone to Sobeys to shop, mowed her lawn, toured her new home, gone swimming at a local fresh water dam, had local pizza, and strawberries. Was served waffles made on the new Cuisinart Griddler I gifted the newlyweds.

Highway 14 from Windsor to Chester is newly paved save for the last 5 rough miles. The rain followed me as I drove the 103 to Lunenburg/Bridgewater. Visited the Cemetery in Midville Branch and the barely recognizable home I grew up in along with the new owners and a few neighbours who moved in since I left home in 1967.

The early-season staff at the Lunenburg Board of Trade Campground didn't seem to know what they were doing, couldn't find anything, and had to be reminded I'd asked for 4 not 3 days camping. The water is soft, the internet works and so does the electrical hookup so all is not lost. After the heat-wave that greeted my arrival in Nova Scotia we saw some sun on Tuesday the eighteenth but matters cooled off significantly on Wednesday as the rain returned. Thursday night a sou'wester blew in overnight raising the temperature by 15º F and bringing gusting winds and bands of heavy showers that will stay with us into Monday July First, Canada Day. Pity the people in a tent on the lower campground here. As I write this a tattoo of rain drums on my roof vent and upper windows and sluices down my windshield. The fog that came in yesterday afternoon has the harbour entrance fog horn going off every 90 seconds. Welcome to Lunenburg. All my windows are fogged over and nothing dries.

Spent yesterday, Friday, visiting with my 94-year-old Aunt catching up and being pumped for gossip. Tough when everyone you once knew has passed on and you have no one to talk to from your generation or even those younger. She got out to the beauty parlour on Thursday in preparation for an event at St Paul's Bridgewater Sunday honouring their 20 members over 90. Entertainment is watching the hummingbirds at her feeder and 20-odd American Goldfinches in her backyard, reading the Chronicle Herald--the Halifax Paper and the weekly Bridgewater Bulletin. The obituary section is of great importance. I hope I can still cook and do my own washing at a similar age.

Walked uptown early this morning for the $7.50 breakfast on offer at the local Royal Canadian Legion Hall. Discovered after walking a mile round trip that the sign I've been looking at for the last two days was facing the wrong way. Guess they didn't want out-of-towners to find the place. Everything else was closed at that hour.

Zion Lutheran, Lunenburg is between pastors so I plan to attend the historic St John's Anglican rebuilt exactly after the fire of Halloween 2001. Expect I'll take the tour after service. My cousin showed me the family pew complete with gate back in the 60ies. And so I walked out to St John's Anglican Sunday Morning in the rain stopping to look at the Legion I'd missed the day before, taking a look at Central United Church, and picking up a bulletin at the Lutheran Church. The Church was a beautiful as I'd remembered and the organ well-played. The hymn-tune Down Ampney gave me opportunity to sing with gusto. The rector, Micheal Mitchell walked down to greet visitors before service. The congregation still uses the common cup for communion. Lemonade, cakes and sweets on the parade after service, then a tour of the building complete with a look at the burial ground under the church home to 20 deceased.

On the advice of a local walked down to the Savvy Sailor on Montague and ordered Eggs Benedict with home-smoked bacon, coffee and peach crumble dessert. Walked over to Central United for a concert by the Mahone Bay girls choir, Tea and Biscuits accompanied by guitar, piano, double bass, flute, violin, and drum kit played by an adorable urchin with thick black eyebrows. Amid passing showers walked down to the railway wharf which hasn't seen tracks in many decades and took in the harbour sights. Stopped to sample the wares at the Ironworks Distillery--rum, vodka and eau de vie with a pear grown inside the bottle. Had a pleasant chat with the young man doing the sampling.

The last time I visited Foodland in Lunenburg a crew was outside painting the exterior. I paused to admire the pastel mural that now graces its front. Inside I looked for fish cakes unsuccessfully and found nothing else I needed. Settled in once I got back home for the evening.

Monday Morning I struck out for Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore around 7:30. First up was a heavily wooded route past the road to Second Peninsula after passing the Lunenburg Academy. Eventually one comes out on Mahone Bay with what, on a clear day, would be an ideal view of the town's famous three churches in a row today partially hidden in fog. One passes those churches and drives a few miles past town before accessing the 103 to Halifax. Around Tantallon the world disappeared completely in dense fog. At that hour traffic in Halifax on a Holiday Monday was non-existent and I found my way to A Murray MacKay Bridge dropping my looney in the fare basket on the Dartmouth Side. From there joined Hwy 107 through Cole Harbour headed North East. Stopped for gas at Canadian Tire blessing the pump for stopping at $100.00, then for not stopping the second time when the tank was full. Early on a Holiday Monday nothing was open so I drove up the foggy coast to Murphy's Cove, turned onto Murphy Rd, and drove to the end of the line at Murphy's Campground where Mrs. Murphy signed me in. 

Nothing special about the sites here among the rocks, trees and hills on a winding road betimes rocky and muddy. Managed to get a site facing the bay which has been shrouded in fog since my arrival. I have had some fun talking to the neighbours. This campground is truly a family-run operation. Coffee is on every morning and campfire with boiled mussels every night. Canada Day fireworks and flags for July First.

Drove on to Sherbrooke Tuesday Morning stopping at Ships Harbour for Groceries and a bottle of wine later near Sherbrooke. Was amused to pass Mailman's Point just east of Town. Calling Riverside Camping along the St Mary's River a campground is a stretch and the owner demanded cash. It does have electrical hook-ups and water taps, a

bathroom and laundry sharing space with 2 'cabins', but that's about it. Walked into town and had an over-priced grapenut ice cream. Wandered through the Coffee shop, the cafe, the library, Foodland/Pro Hardware, the Royal Bank, Shoppers Drug/Sears, the Post Office and that was it. Stopped to look at the Mill and Lumber Camp on my way back. Got home just before it started raining again.

Woke early Wednesday Morning and saw dawn break over a mirror-smooth bay, was about to go out and greet it when it started raining so I went back to bed. Spent the day catching up online and writing until late afternoon when I made a trip up to Foodland to go shopping as they don't open until 9 in the morning. Got cash on my interact purchase. Suddenly I've gotten a whole pile of neighbours including a couple from Chester. The sun finally made an appearance and shown in my windows as it was going down.

Thursday morning the adventure begins. Located my paperwork for Stanfest and will soon be off. After I've finished up online though I may have another nap first. Just getting to Canso this morning will be an adventure.

Bluenose Meander: Days Six to Eight

Had a quiet drive down to Fredericton early Friday Morning and found a campsite at Hartt Isle RV Resort. The rain continues to follow me otherwise had I brought my bike I'd have ridden into downtown 4 miles distant. One of these years. Spent another quiet day in camp. By next year I'd hope they've finished reconstructing their 'resort'.

This Sunday Morning, Day Eight, set out for Nova Scotia after reading the comix over coffee. The highways were relatively quiet with little trucking to bother me. Two days earlier I played continual hop scotch with a heavy truck that passed me on the downhills and then had to be passed again as it labored up the next grade. Not fun that. The day began sunny for the most part. Stopped in Sackville New Brunswick just short of the NS Border to get cheaper NB gasoline after waiting for the line-up at the pump noting all the NS license plates. Found the NB Welcome Centre there open. Felt sadly nostalgic as I passed the four Radio Canada International Transmission Towers in Tantramar Marsh now standing idle as Canada's answer to Voice of America begun during WW#2 has been stilled. The internet is spelling the end of Short Wave Radio.

A few miles later stopped at the Nova Scotia Welcome Centre to pick up tourist bumph. A young highschool laddie will don kilt and sporran to pipe visitors into New Scotland starting Canada Day after several year's hiatus since the lassie retired. I must stop to see him on my return journey. Stopped at Masstown after driving the old (non-toll) road

through the Wentworth Valley and there purchased Nova Scotia Maple Syrup, Solomon Gundy, Apple Blossom Honey, Green Tomato Chow, and Mustard Beans. Twould be a sin not to.

My reputation as a water witcher remains intact as a black cloud appeared out of a clear sky and dumped torrential rain just 20 miles short of my niece's home in Falmouth in the Annapolis Valley. Ignored the GPS' advice to take the Superhighway to Halfiax and then back for the old hill and dale winding HWY 14 route through Nine Mile Woods. For the most part the road was in better shape than the highway.

All's right with the world, my pop corn popper still manages to set off  the smoke alarm.

Bluenose Meanders: Days Four & Five

Checked online early this morning Wednesday June 19th, then went back to bed again. Something I'll not be doing the next two days as I have no web access. Woke again at 8:30, packed up and headed out to IGA Extra. I wasn't in the mood for shopping today. Highway 185/85 is still under construction but the route is largely completed at long last, a limited access highway with divided lanes for the most part. The motorcycle trail crossings serve to give one pause at 90 KM/Hr. As I got nearer Edmundston and out of the 'mountains' was able to pick up CBC One in English once more.

Once again the New Brunswick Tourist Bureau disappointed me by being closed. At least I didn't have the challenge turning around people in larger RV's would have. This marks the third year in a row they've stood me up. I was welcomed by an RCMP Roadblock and putting the best possible face on the situation told the officer, is this my welcome to New Brunswick. He quipped that it was necessary now that Quebec is a separate country, I shook his hand and he sent me on my way. Seems they are looking for people buying cheaper beer in Quebec.

Shortly after found De Republic Park. A young couple were manning the camping booth. They failed to tell me the park supplies only 20 AMP power. When I tried to use the pay phone to make a 1-800 call it failed to work. I'm not impressed. The washroom has an open stall with a toilet? Aside from no privacy someone in a wheelchair would have to mount a 2 by 4 to get to the facility and do without toilet paper. The washroom was begun well but it appears they ran out of money and completed the job with two by fours and plywood. Walked over to check out the botanical gardens and learned that not much is in season. Perhaps I should have waited for my return trip.

The calendar may say we're but a few days short of summer but weather conditions dictate that spring has just fully sprung here. The fiddleheads have just finished opening, and the wood anemones, and other spring ephemerals are still in full blossom. My tour of the NB Gardens Thursday Morning was thorough and exhaustive and lasted less than an hour. I did enjoy talking to the Gentleman at the desk who moonlights giving tours from his full-time job as a professor at the NB Forestry School. We both knew our botany. Spent the rest of the day tidying up inside my RV and writing 8 letters. It rained again that night.

Bluenose Meander: Day Three

Oh the luxury of a day in camp. No need to secure everything and prepare for travel. Daylight comes very early in Eastern Quebec since south of us New Brunswick is an hour earlier in the Eastern Time Zone. This means  lose an hour tomorrow when I cross over. Went back to bed after my morning browse online and slept in until 9:30.

When I finally got active climbed the heights and walked over to check out the Saint Lawrence Exploration Centre. With a display area that would fit in the average Motorhome and presented en Français it appears designed for the use it was serving this morning: Introducing Quebec School Children to the marine environment. I decided it wasn't worth the $7.50 entry fee.

Walked back up with my camera and tablet to get pictures of the campground:

I would not say I'm organized but I've managed to find a few items and put a few more away. For the first time ever I found the appropriate able to connect my camera directly to my laptop, found the appropriate port on the camera, and discovered that they all work. My FastStone Image Viewer Software detected the card and successfully downloaded the images as before. You can teach an old dog new tricks!

As the returning tide came in it brought rain and cloud with it. [The St. Lawrence is tidal for another 100 miles all the way to Quebec City; it dramatically backs up the Wolf River.] Seems unless I don rain gear I won't be walking out to the point and once more I will not see a sunset. After finishing the tea I just brewed I'll see to dinner and then settle in to read and watch TV on i-Tunes.

Today I walked by the Motel Loupi. Do you suppose they allow Cougars in the Wolf Motel?

Bluenose Meander: Day Two

Slept in after early morning web browse. Fell asleep Sunday Night after watching Teen Wolf on i-Tunes. Wasn't up to much so I drifted off to the rain pattering on my roof and windows. At least Aloutte Campground was quiet; evening Wi-Fi sucks, especially at $5/day extra.

Sleeping in for me meant 8:30 AM. Given Montreal and Quebec City Rush Hour Traffic this was not a day for an early start. Rivière-Du-Loup is at the junction of HWY 20 and 185 which heads South to Edmundston, New Brunswick. Getting there meant a drive up the Eastern Townships of Quebec on moderately rough pavement in light traffic. I was fortunate that the fog didn't drift in off the Saint Lawrence until 10 miles from my destination. I was also fortunate in encountering relatively little highway construction or detours, only light rain, and even snatches of

sun. Made it all the way without incident though the QPP were out in force stopping speeders.

Headed first to St. Hubert just off the highway for a feed of chicken, then went next door to the Shell Station where a fill-up cost me $135.70 at $1.33/L. Heading north across the highway bridge construction on HWY 132 seems permanently stalled. Arriving at Camping Du Quai is like coming home:

1. Friendly Family Run Campground that's quiet
2. Great tasting water
3. The best Wi-Fi I've seen in my travels
4. Hiking trail across the road
5. One of my favourite Grocery Stores in town
6. St Hubert's Chicken nearby

The heavens opened just after I'd settled in. Good thing I wasn't planning on a campfire. :-(

I wanted to catch up online in any case. It was with some interest I read that this place is famous for its sunsets. I wouldn't know; anytime I've been here it's either been cloudy and raining or fogbound. If it weren't for the CBC the Simard Farmily would have all the media outlets locked up: everything is in French in any case.

Bluenose Meander: Day One

Got underway around 7:00 AM Sunday Morning in the rain which continued ll day at time heavy. The East-Bound 401 past Kingston is in terrible shape. The new Service Centres replaced after the half century anniversary of their creation may be shiny and new but they lack the graciousness of their predecessors. At least I managed to get across the top of Toronto without incident. Stopped for gas in Mallorytown too soon it appears, it was 6¢ cheaper in Cornwall. Thought of the Movie Bon Cop/Bad Cop when I passed the Quebec/Ontario Boarder. Found my way through the middle of downtown Montreal blessings Montreal drivers and ignored my GPS to find Camping Aloutte north of HWY 20. For those not bilingual in French the word means Lark.

Most items I need made it into the RV, getting them organized will take a little longer. Once more I pulled out my coffeemaker basket to discover a spiderweb of mossy fungus growing on the last grounds I used. Must remember to dump that in future. When I got in camp filled my water tank run dry in Erie Pennsylvania against freezing temperatures last April in Oakville. The black water tank empty for 3 months still reads full. The kitchen tap was clogged with plastic from the lines and tank. All those little annoyances. Slowly I'll get back in the swing of living in my home on wheels. Must remember to inquire about Wi-Fi when signing in at campground offices. Locking the toilet door, important when using a unisex washroom!

I'm about to unplug and head down the Saint Lawrence River past Quebec and out through the Eastern Townships along Highway 20. Hopefully it won't be too foggy. The sun has peeked out among the clouds here but I'm driving back into the rain.

June Belly Aching

I know how to access ripping software for DVD's and am aware that virtually anything is available for download, even before its release for screen somewhere in South-East Asia but I chose to buy legitimate copies of DVD's. What I find insulting is the fact that I am forced to waste my time looking at copy warnings before I can enjoy the videos I chose to pay too much for in the first place. Those who choose to pirate these things will not be deterred, those of us who are honest are being penalized for that honesty.

I have 'friends' on Facebook who bare their souls online and through instant messaging with the use of impossible spelling, bad grammar, and indecipherable syntax, some even bidding the online world good night; but are either unable or unwilling to take the time to collect their thoughts in a logical consistent manner and write me an E-mail. If the trend continues future biographers will be denied the collected correspondence of individuals which inform so many great books of the past. Are we becoming a post-literate society?

The trouble with buying bulk herbs and spices is dealing with the extras you scouped out of the bins that won't fit in your original containers.

Attila the Hen beats the rap. Word just in that Mayor Hazel McCallion 92, of Mississauga was found not guilty on a technicality. Meanwhile another disgruntled voter is working on a petition to have the GG oust Harper as Prime Minister of Canada:

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-right-honourable-david-johnston-governor-general-of-canada-stop-harper-now

At the rate he's collecting signatures the people of Canada will be voting on his re-election before the possibility of such a constitutional crisis could rear its ugly head. Canada lacks recall legislation but recent events prove we may need it.

June Spleen

It's only June First but the pollen load is making me cantankerous.

I set out a bird feeding station on my balcony and for the last month an American Goldfinch has been attacking its reflection in my floor to ceiling windows. Nothing I do deters him, aggressive creatures those Americans.

The smoked chicken luncheon meat I bought in early May has a best before date of July 29, just what do they do to it?

I have decided to wait for the complete Hobbit series on DVD to watch the Lord of the Rings Prequel by Jackson. What year is that likely to be? Comes word that Tolkien did not coin the word Hobbit. In Wales a hobbit was a former measure of approximately two bushels and a half. Unless Hobbits have strength equivalent to that of an ant it's doubtful a Hobbit could budge a hobbit of anything unless they were feathers.

Proving that people are heroes everywhere but in their own hometowns consider the four young Hobbits in Lord of the Rings. At Aragon's Coronation Ceremony on the heights of Minas Tirith, Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry are honoured when the High King and the assembled men, dwarfs, and elves bow low to them. When they arrive home the townsfolk of the Shire ignore them as if they were just now stumbling home after a night at Green Dragon.

In 1995's How to Make an American Quilt Finn displays an impossible level of self-centredness and lack of commitment. She has changed the subject of her thesis so often her Grandmother has lost track of it. When Sam arrives with architectural drawings for the renovations he is making to their home it becomes quite plain that Sam wants children but the idea is furthest from Finn's mind. When presented with the finished quilt which is not likely to be colourfast she shows so much regard for object her Grandmother, Great-Aunt and their friends have laboured on all summer that she promptly drags it through bright red California mud. Were I Sam I'd run not walk in the opposite direction.

One of Garrison Keillor's better lines:

A teacher told his school board that there was no need to teach evolution in his classroom because it hadn't happened there yet. Then he realized no one had any idea what he was talking about.

I used to be somewhat miffed when a book I had not yet gotten around to reading in a $20 Trade Paperback edition went on sale in a remaindered Hard Cover Edition for $5.00. How is it that E-books can now be more expensive than a mass-market paperback edition of the same book?

The anniversary of their coronation is not a day of unbridled celebration for a hereditary monarch as it also marks the date of the death of their parent.

During the recent citywide lockdown in Boston occasioned by the search for the perpetrators of the bombings Police specifically requested that key Dunkin Donuts locations remain open for the sustenance of the officers. Did they really think this through?

Recently learned how the American Tea Party got its name:
Taxed Enough Already

Fast and Furious 6

Is Hollywood really that devoid of new ideas? They lost me at II.

If a woman became president would her husband become the First Man?

DWEEB

Dick with eyebrows

Fortunately I have to keep mine trimmed.

May Rantings

Hey kiddies, someone's handing out money and no one is checking to see how it's spent. And now we're expressing surprise and indignation that there was some cheating going on. Didn't we already know that governments are the biggest thieves around. Just who is responsible for leaving the hen house door open? Recent pictures of Mike Duffy really do make him look like a pig at the public trough. However everyone who would cast a stone should first submit to an audit of their own accounts first. Let he who is perfect.... Woe betide he who would think that Stephen Harper has his back. Somehow I'd rather hear less about retribution and more about the policies being put in place to ensure this doesn't happen all over again in a few years. Our Auditor General yearly reports on Billions of Dollars of spending unaccounted for and unmonitored.

How did the electorate of Toronto allow themselves to be tricked into electing a buffoon like Rob Ford. The same electorate who made "Bad Boy" Mel Lastman mayor of Toronto now have a real clown on their hands.

Another bridge collapses in America. This isn't the first and it won't be the last.

Hurricane numbers are up for 2013 and the season start is still a week away. Coastal communities be ware. There's already been one in the Pacific.

Canada Post already suffering from last year's $200,000,000+ loss is now trying to persuade customers not to refuse junk mail, a right that has been spread by word of mouth, not by Canada Post. Seems they want to squeeze every possible penny out of their most profitable line.

Last week's unprecedented spring blizzard in Central Newfoundland is followed by a new one in Alberta this weekend. Earthquakes, blizzards, tornadoes, floods.... The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Why on earth would I go to a bookstore, an electronic one at that, to buy BBQ Sauce?

Period of Adjustment

Or call it self-indulgence. It's the last day of April, 18 since I returned to Canada and if April Showers do indeed bring Mayflowers then we should have a prodigious display. In the month of April I've managed to read 6 books, cart upteen loads up from my RV, fight dust, oil woodwork, and various clean. Watch a few DVD's, listen to CD's, organize a few corners. I even found and cleaned my kitchen counter-space. On Monday I got back in my home gym for the first time in five month and today I'm beginning to feel the onset of Delayed Onset Soreness. When it isn't pouring out I've been attempting to get out and walk.

Today I walked down to Trafalgar and Iroquois Shore Rd then along the Creek Diversion to enter the Morrison Creek Ravine from the south end. Ten days ago when I helped in a clean-up of this ravine the trilliums were in bud and the trout lilies showing. As of today the trilliums are still trying ot open. The ducks are back:



The trout lilies are struggling to be seen amid the dross and cross piles of ash that have fallen prey to the emerald ash borer.



In the warmer glades the trilliums are out.



Without any leaves out as yet the streams look barren and exposed.

Settling in Back Home

So I'm back in Oakville after an absence of 5 months. Calls for a certain period of adjustment. From 150 sq. ft of living space to nearly 1500. Sorting through 5 month's worth of mail. Fighting dust and dirt. Turning things back on. Remembering where items are stored. Carting items up from my RV.

Vacuuming my apartment after 5 months is a remarkably unproductive process. So long as the apartment was cleaned reasonably close to my departure with the forced air heating turned off very little dust has settled. Our bodies are the source of the majority of household dust--dandruff, dead skin, finger nail clippings; the rest is contributed by worn fibres from clothing, bedding, carpets, and upholstery--think the lint you pull out of your clothes dryer; and environmental dust, minimal if the windows aren’t opened. Hopefully the dust mites all died over the winter due to starvation and cold.

If you haven’t seen my pictures from Marquette they’re viewable here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/116056081906880155927/album/5863664819164633265?authkey=CNKrs8Ok8dSCyQE

Finally a few notes:

One  advantage  print  books  will always have over e-Books, they never need recharging.

Is  it  just me or does NPR On-Air Fund Raising follow other people as they travel?

What  did  the  first  vending  machine  dispense? The first vending  machines  in  the US dispensed chewing gum and were installed in New York City train platforms in 1888.

And staff have been pulling it off seats ever since!

The following information paints a remarkable picture of alcohol sales in various parts of Canada. Most interesting are the provinces with a sophisticated taste for wine. Particularly disturbing when you consider that so much of Canada’s North is supposedly dry:

http://www.cbc.ca/edmonton/interactive/alcohol-sales/

Rita MacNeal's Funeral

The funeral for Rita MacNeil was held Monday April 22, 2013 in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Big Pond, Cape Breton with 200 in the sanctuary and 450 next door at the Community Firehall. It was as unique as the person it honoured. The singing was led by a female Kantor without accompaniment, the congregation was the choir. It began with her daughter reading a note from Rita herself asking that her remains be cremated and placed in a tea pot, 2 if necessary, and that a reception with 'cash bar' be held at the firehall after the service. A picture of Rita hands clasped in front of her chin sat in front of the altar beside the teapot and a vase of red roses, on a stand beside them one of Rita's favourite red hats. Save for the priest's eulogy the entire service seemed scripted by Rita including the playing of a selection from her last CD. This was not a high requiem mass and could have been celebrated in any church, no mention was made of Rita's membership or attendance at mass. As the service ended the tea pot was carried out of the church by a family member one would suppose to officiate at her wake, the ashes to be spread around her tearoom at her request. After the crucifer led the officiants and family out of the church the congregation took the opportunity to exchange greetings and chatter, they had after all just been exhorted to take every opportunity to greet and hug one another.

For the present raw footage of the service is available here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/04/22/ns-macneil-funeral.html

If Winter be come, can Spring be far behind?

So wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley. He obviously didn't live in Canada where its reputation as the Great White North is being richly earned this year. It was TS Elliot who wrote, "April is the cruelest month." Today is Earth Day, Saturday, April 20th. Accordingly I joined councillor Tom Adams this morning for a clean-up of the Morrison Creek Ravine. We are supposed to be one month into Spring but looking out at a snow squall at 6:30 this morning one could be forgiven for doubting it. Appropriately attired I set out for Algrove Park where Tom was late, I suppose he can be forgiven given that he brought his children along. There was no lack of litter and plenty of evidence of neighbours dumping yard waste in the park. When the group got hit by the second wind-driven snow squall we gave up and packed it in for the day but not before collecting 10 bags of garbage.

End of the Road This Trip

Driving in rain and a gusting crosswind is no fun. Nor is passing through major urban centres during rush hour. In this final leg of my journey home I passed through the middle of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Saint Catherines, Hamilton, Burlington, and Oakville. I had no desire to get caught in Toronto-bound rush hour traffic. With this in mind and listening to the rain hitting my roof I went back to bed Friday morning. When I did get up the wind and rain was still present but I was better rested.

Driving a high-profile vehicle in gusting crosswinds requires one to be constantly ultra-alert which is tiring and makes slowing down advisable. It may save on fuel but ads to the length of time one is one the road. My informants in Erie gave me bad advice, whereas the price of gas there was $3.54 when I reached the border in New York State the price was $3.89, ouch. In addition, welcome to another toll highway. This one cleared my wallet of American change and my last dollars. When I reached the toll booth for the Peace Bridge I had to resort to my container of Canadian Coins. The gal at Canadian Customs was both polite and expeditious and had me on my way in seconds. Big sigh of relief.

The last 90 minutes of driving was on reasonably familiar territory. I stopped at the Tourist Bureau in Wine Country and picked up some travel brochures and a 2010-2011 map of Ontario--New York State has run out of maps. The tensest moments in this stretch was the interchange of the QEW with Highways 403 and 407. Not only is one surrounded by traffic traveling faster than advisable but I find it difficult to remember from one trip to another just where one has to be to get where one wants to go and in traffic other motorists are not always obliging in letting one into the lane one has to enter. A miss-step can land one on a toll highway or face one with a long detour. I made it.

And another thing, crossing the border means switching from miles to kilometers. My odometer and GPS were not in sync with the highway signs and exits which can be disconcerting. At least I wasn't about to run out of gas. Made it to my home parking lot to find that my super and a board member had just seen to towing the car illegally parked in my spot. I managed to back in with no great difficulty. Grabbed my laptop and went home thankful that my access code still worked.

Day Fourteen and Onward Home

The first thing I learned when I arrived in Rock Island, Illinois was that I should have filled up in Iowa; gas this side of the Mississippi is 30¢/gal more. Too late for this day. Burned once already I signed in for one day and settled in for the night. When everything appeared to be as promised signed up for 3 days more. With moderately good online access decided to play catch-up. Even managed to upload my pictures from Marquette early one morning here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/116056081906880155927/albums/5863664819164633265?authkey=CNKrs8Ok8dSCyQE

Went for a walk around the pond/lake around which the seasonal campsites are ranged along with some tenting sites and put out my bird feeders. The swampy areas were teaming with Redwing Blackbirds and the fields with Killdeer. Woodpeckers called from high in the treetops. A Nuthatch appeared at my bird treat in his favourite upside down stance. I also attracted Purple Finch and American Goldfinch. I was thrilled to see a male Downie who seemed to be collecting food for a nearby nesting mate.

Got my act in gear on Saturday and drove the 8 miles back across the Mississippi to get gas in Iowa, then drove to another bridge and crossed back to visit the Quad City Botanical Gardens. Not the most favorable time to visit any garden but with my RBG Card the visit was free. On my way home dropped into the Hy-Vee grocery store a mile from my campground and was pleasantly surprised to find pleasant helpful staff, a bakery, meat market, cheese deli, fresh produce and an excellent selection of general groceries. The wine and beer section had a selection of ciders that I couldn't resist. Elberblossom Flavoured Cider!

Traveling anywhere from this park meant a bridge and expressway so I gave up on Sunday Morning Church and spent a quiet day at home getting in a further walk between showers. Wouldn't you know the internet failed just after everyone left the office for the day. I was the only person in my section of the campground so it was quiet. The barking dogs and partiers had all left. Took my time getting started next day but the internet it seemed was not to be.

Lots of truck traffic again on I-80 and some rough patches. The toll section cost me $1.10 near Chicago; traffic roared along at 70+ in a 55 zone until we passed two trucks pulled over by the Sheriff's Department. Made Michigan City by mid-afternoon and found someone in the office ready to serve me, Sadie the dog pattered downstairs to greet me. Satisfied I was acceptable she walked back behind the counter and laid down.

Settled into the same campsite I've stayed at on two prior occasions. Michigan City Campground is not a 5-Star location but it has never failed me and the owners are polite and friendly. It's good to feel welcomed and cared for. On the ground spring is still waiting for a few warm nights before things start happening but the frogs are busy mating each night in the local ponds and one Canada Goose had a clutch of 5 eggs when I visited her pond. Two pair of Hooded Mergansers were cruising the far end of the pond. Wednesday Morning amid rain and thundershowers I finally got off. I decided to wait for full daylight to drive in the rain. It never did brighten by much.

Interstate 80 in Indiana and Ohio is a toll road. Between the two sections it cost me $23.30. If there was evidence that the revenue had been spent on maintaining the road it wouldn't suck quite as bad. The sections under construction were a definite pain. One stretch was ponded under a foot of water. During one particularly heavy thunderstorm the windshield wipers couldn't keep up, the hale was hitting too hard for the thunder to make an impression but the ground strike in the field across the road caught my attention. In several rather narrow construction zones the trucks beside me got perilously close. With a captive audience Mobil Oil was charging what they thought the traffic would bear at the service centres. The signs at one such read $3.89. I filled up for $3.54 but saw an off highway station shortly afterward reading $3.34. All in all it was a tough 400 miles. And having crossed the meridian I lost an hour so I arrived at my campground just 15 minutes before closing at 6:45.

I'm writing in Erie, Pennsylvania at Presque Isle Passage Campground, alas, a glorified mudhole. Sank in to my hub caps the first time I tried to back into my campsite. Found another route in. Nothing else looked much better in the waning light. The internet did work as promised.

Thursday morning woke early and went back to bed after breakfast. When I did get going drove up to see the visitor's centre at Presque Isle State Park. Someone designed an observation tower to afford a view of the peninsula but the project ran out of funds and the tower provides its best view of the roller coasters at the amusement park across the road. A four-lane highway led out onto the peninsula sporting a speed limit of 25. Everything appears well planned and cared for. In the wind and the rain walking the park seemed out of the question, a bike path paralleled the road in. Caught a turnaround and drove back to the Interpretive Centre. Watched the 15-minute intro movie and paid to see an hour-long IMAX show on Tornadoes. Narrated by none other than Mister Twister himself, Bill Paxton. There was even a nut-job in a homemade tank-like structure who anchored himself in the path of a tornado to film its 30-second passage over his turret. Can't imagine what people thought seeing this tank-like vehicle approaching them in a storm on the highway.

Dumped all my tanks against my RV sitting in freezing temps. Friday morning decided to wait so I wouldn't hit rush hour traffic in Buffalo, Hamilton, Toronto Bound. Or was I just being lazy? In any case I went back to bed. I'm sending this just before I leave for home.