Archives for posts with tag: healing from grief

A very dear friend of my daughter’s, Beauregard, sent me a PM on FB about this event and encouraged me to come have some fun. I’d met the owners of Hatch Camp & Art Farm a couple of years ago when they hosted other musical events where Beau (of Beauregard & The Downright) was performing when Mama & Daddy Hatch were awaiting their blessed event. The timing was perfect as I’d been on the computer in my office for days doing research and working way too hard for a retired woman. So, armed with water, camera and excitement, I jumped in my truck and headed  East toward what promised to be a fun day at Hatch Camp & Art Farm!

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Yes, I cheated. I took a screen shot of their FB page to post what they are doing, who was there and was quite surprised at many things. Firstly, they plan to have one of these monthly! Secondly, they have spaces for booths available for people to share their art! Thirdly, they have a lovely place for exploring on a good sized stream, which I hear is good for fly fishing, where people can camp for the weekend and do the kumbaya thang all weekend long if they want or just hit and run like I did.

As an aside, Mama Hatch was busy with orchestrating the whole event while looking after Baby Hatch who was exploring everything! Turns out that Daddy Hatch is a master fly fisherman who loves creating flies so much so that he explores his creek regularly to see what larvae are in the water so he can mimic just the right fly de jour! He has turned his garage into a shop and fun place for you fly-fisher-persons to explore!

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Another interesting aspect of venturing out in this area is that you never know who you will run into! I saw one of the waiters who always took care of Mom and I when we went for our traditional Sunday Brunch at the Lake Rabun Hotel! But this time, Tolvin Stiles wasn’t waiting on tables, he was sitting at one making the most delicious copper wire jewelry!

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Tolvin’s works of art!

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Tolvin creating new ones!

I meandered around the pathways and byways of this lovely retreat meeting a variety of local artists along the way whilst musicians played folk music. It reminded me of the many times my daughter, Ava of avascorner.org, and I went to events similar to this. Those, however, were much larger. I like the more intimate variety where you actually have a chance to connect with people instead of getting lost in the crowd. This was lovely and I will go back again!

Now, for what I really came for. I could hear Beau getting ready on stage. It was time for me to have some Beauregard! Not only do I love seeing him but also having the chance to  listen to one of my favorite singer, songwriter, musicians who really puts his heart and soul into his music like few do these days of cheating with canned music, tricks and screaming. Bearegard & The Downright are Down Right! Personally, I love his most personal touch to all his ukulele songs. Something very beautiful in his soul is revealed each time he plays it. Don’t get me wrong, when you hear his band, you will be moved…but to the dance floor! I’ve been known to dance the night away the first time I went to see them play a few years back. If he is in your neighborhood, go see him! Follow him on FB! It’s a funky Jamaican Mountain Country City boy sound unique just to Beauregard!

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As he makes his living doing what he loves, he always has hats and albums for sale a his events!

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Beauregard singing solo and so good!

If you are up this way for their next event, maybe I’ll see you there! Y’all come on up, ya’ hear!

HAPPY TRAILS…until we meet again!

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There’s so much to do and see in the Historic Districts of Savannah especially if you walk it all like we have done. Knowing parking can be challenging here, I told Ava’s friend/mentor, Mirjana, we weren’t cranking it again until we were leaving! She’s such a great sport and travel buddy that we both jumped in on our first day and walked the whole River District meandering in and out of all the wonderful shops.

As we spent yesterday getting caught up on our Savannah history and planning our walking tours with the best driver/docent ever (Hey, Rubin at TrolleyTours.com), we tackled our wildest walking tour dreams today! Although it was predicted to be 91 degrees, walking in the morning was quite pleasant. We headed off right away for a place a friend of hers recommended called The Collins Quarter for a highly recommended Lavender Mocha. I got mine served cold and hers hot.

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Just ordered our Lavender Mochas!

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Yum!

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Outside seating

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The Collins Quarter is a must!

On our list was walking the entire length of Bull Street to view all the beautiful parks which were craftily and cleverly created by Savannah’s founder, Oglethorpe in 1733 before he even left England! And so our adventure began! Enjoy!

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Statue of Savannah’s designer/founder, Oglethorpe.

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Many movies have been made here over the years and this restaurant was in one with Julia Roberts.

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Sorrel-Weed House known for its haunting experiences.

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Details of the Sorrel-Weed House.

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Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

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Wonderfully inventive walls, wrought iron and private gardens are found only in walking tours.

Our day was topped off with lunch with a local artist friend of mine, John Mitchell, at Belford’s restaurant in Savannah’s exciting City Market! So many wonderful shops to visit! I visit with John every time I get back to Savannah as I admire him and his works so much that I own many. My collection is a range of his mid-1990 multimedia works consisting of ceramics, wood, collage and paintings. He’s now exploring more mixed three-dimensional art a few of which can be found in the A. T. Hun Gallery in the City Market. Support local artists!

But, back to the food at Belford’s!

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Inside Belford’s

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BEST Friend Green Tomatoes ever!

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Lunch special – Seafood Frittata. Yum!

I’ve not enjoyed Savannah this much not only because I have a kindred spirit enjoying it with me but I’m in a better place to embrace and absorb more of it. It’s been outstanding having Mirjana to explore its art, history and the wonderfulness of all the various heritages still present in this magical area they call Historic Districts of Savannah!

Tomorrow, we’ll have the pleasure of meeting a local historian who will guide us through the Bonaventure Cemetery before we leave for the cabin! Can’t wait to hear all the history he’s going to share with us!

Happy Trials…til we meet again!

Anyone who “knows” me knows I love to “spank” an area with color. It’s the art training and my DNA that creates this process which I find myself in at this writing. I’m in the process of “spanking” my Wolf Pup Travel Trailer into being Gypsy ready! All the browns and tans in it are depressing to me so I’m taking everything marigold and red I have in my home and spanking the heck outta my new soon-to-be home away from home.
 
This is the “before” part. It’s okay but horribly boring to this artist, writer, traveler, wanderer, gypsy spirit!
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First, I added memory foam to both the queen bed and the lower bunk and topped them  off with marigold and red as well as hiding some of the offending colors with Ava’s belly dancing scarves, a gauze drape from yesteryear and some favorite prints.
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I framed my favorite red and yellow Toulouse Lautrec, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’keeffe and Matisse prints and hung them all over the cabin. After all, this next journey is all about writing “the book” and I must keep the energy flowing inside and out!
 
I’m still pondering where to hang the last picture taken of Carl (my son), Ava (my daughter) and me taken in 1984 right before Carl disappeared. Gotta have the three of us together to get this book written properly. They both have already come to me in this past month tutoring me on how, what, where and when.
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The last picture taken of the three of us in March, 1984. Twenty-eight years later, Ava was gone too in that same month.

 
Not to be left out would be a picture of my dad’s mom who joined Jenni and me on a part of our trip through Utah. She’s the one who insisted I go West to write this book. She said to head for the desert to write. Well, that was her thang. Mine is more prairie or canyon lands.
Grandma Irene was quite the renaissance woman who continuously re-invented herself as an actor, Deputy Clerk of Fulton County Superior Court, nurse, health magazine writer and writer of books of tales of the Old West from interviews of actual cowboys, outlaws, gold and silver miners and a free spirit outliving seven husbands! Reckon I know who Ava and I took after! 
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Still need to find a place to put a picture of Montana as no trip is possible without her. I’m thinking of printing the one I took from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls soon after Ava died with the three rainbows behind her (although you can only see two in the photo below). Seems right now that she’s crossed that “rainbow” bridge and all.
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Montana had to have her picture taken with the double rainbow too!

As I don’t know how long I’ll actually keep this travel trailer, I am only making temporary modifications even though the desire to eradicate ALL the tans and browns slaps me in the face every time I walk inside. I will, however, refrain…maybe!

 

Happy Trails and Tales…until we meet again!

While driving to Glacier National Park, Montana, I kept telling my “daughter,” Jenni, about a great steakhouse I’d visited in that area in 2003. We talked about having a great ribeye steak as we hiked all over the western half of the Park because it was closer to where we were staying and had more areas to hike for the day. The drive to the eastern half was quite a jaunt of 2-3 hours each way so we’d need to plan for a whole day and part of the night to get everything packed in before leaving.

On our last full day, we got up early and hit the road for the eastern part of Glacier where I was sure the restaurant had to be. Everything we planned got dumped (boat ride on that water? NO WAY!) but what we got was even better! I’d found St. Mary’s Lake and the hike I’d loved so much before with waterfalls (can’t get better than that) AND “THE” steakhouse! It was right there all along!

I’ve been pondering on my trip and that steakhouse these last weeks and I gotta say, if you ever find yourself even near there, go for it! It’s called Cattle Baron’s Supper Club at the turnoff to go into the upper region of the Park.

However, instead boring you with more details, I figured I’d share the pictures from that night of the insides of this gloriously decorated place and our experience. Dang! I wanna go back now!

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Cattle Barons Supper Club

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OMGosh! What a Ribeye! How are we going to eat all of it?

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Huckleberry pie? Well, we split it. It’s the delicacy of the area!

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Uhhhh…we both did!

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Not sure if you can see the the “story board” above the tables of the Blackfeet tribe and their pictographs of before and after white people came to their lands, but it’s so beautifully done with varying “western” motif colors for each period. I thought I’d caught those but, even though it appears I didn’t, I’ll have them imbedded in my brain forever.

I LOVE the West! I always felt I was born in the wrong state. And I was. I was born in a state of confusion about the state in which I was born. I’m no longer tied to one state. I can roam all the western ones I want and still love my cabin home. I know I said this year’s trip would be the last. I think I’m slowly taking that back!

HAPPY TALES & TRAILS…UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

I’ve had a few days now to ponder the wonderment of the overall trip and it’s hard to process it all in such a short period of time because each section, shared with each unique and very important person in my life magnified the journey for us collectively and independently to such a level, that, for me, it feels archaic to try to put it all into words.

Each night, sometime between 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM, I’d post the highlights of each day and some of you who have followed me for years wondered why I didn’t tell more as I’d done in the past. Well, it’s very complexly simple…I wasn’t alone…which engorged my brain with so many visions, insights, lessons, spiritualness and Godliness that all I could do is a summary of the overall picture. After I’ve recovered some more, I’m going to re-read my posts and fill in the blanks because I want to remember all those nuances I left out. Each one was that important to my overall purpose of the journey…spiritual healing.

I adore the women who shared this journey with me…Shirley, Jenni, Stacey…and my special LA Angel and JD. You have blessed me with unconditional love, acceptance, joy, understanding and friendship few are capable of giving in such small quarters…two front seats of a pickup going 80 MPH over 13,500 miles! Yeehaw!

As for the last leg of the trip, it was complete with double rainbows under a blue sky, mountains, valleys, deep-tissue sharing and healing as well as a special treat for my girl. Stacey, She got to see the brick-and-morter school which she attends on-line while working 50 hours a week. I’m so proud of her!

Here are some of those pictures.

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This Moose warning sign is HUGE!

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Stacey just heard someone on the other end of the line! Really? It works? LOL

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Island Falls, Maine

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Found another one for Stacey to get into!

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Hovering clouds on the mountains with Blue sky one minute…

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Rainbows the next!

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Double Rainbows!

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Then back to Hovering clouds!

I am truly blessed to have the fantastic friends who joined me on this trip both in the physical sense or the voyeuristic one…yes I know who you are…that I can never feel alone as I am full by your blessings and prayers.

HAPPY TALES & TRAILS…UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

Having Stacey with me is totally awesome! We work well together as a team and always have since the first day I met her over fifteen years ago at my last job. I adopted her then on the spot and have brought her into the closest folds of my family because that’s who she is! She’s quite a remarkable woman who I love dearly as one of my Chirrens! I’m so blessed.

I waited until she and I could figure out the order of our adventure even though I’d already booked our rooms out of concern for the upcoming July 4th celebrations. It all worked out fine because when we left Lewiston, Maine today, we drove for about 45 minutes to Portland to explore the wharf area. And explore it we did! I don’t think we really walked all that far as it was over 85 degrees and we were both feeling the heat/humidity combo such that we walked only on the shadiest side of the street and stopped frequently to feel the breeze under the trees.

Beautiful area of Portland!

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Stacey in front of a piece of the Berlin Wall torn down in 1989. She was born in Germany!

Boone’s Fish House and Oyster Room was down toward the water on a side street. They had a four star rating with ten star pricing! Three scallops and two crab cakes were $45.00! Yup, folks. Not for these po’ folks! Tasty but I think we hit the jackpot at dinner for same price!

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Half of the $45 appitizers!

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The other half! Really?

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Wall art

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They were healthy!

We struck it rich when we asked the young man (aptly named Montana) at the front desk where he would recommend us eating. Hi Tides was one of his favorites. We jumped in with both feet and loved every minute of it.

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View of the Penobscot River from our table!

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Salmon Oscar with garlic green beans & grilled asparagus for both of us for $45.00! The view reminded us both of the place I used to go with Mom to celebrate her birthday called Ray’s on the River in Sandy Springs. She always ordered Salmon Oscar! Of course, we had to do the same as she would have wanted it that way!

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View from the River

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Beautiful Bridge over the River

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And a nice stroll along the River Walkway below restaurant after great food! Now that’s what I call ambiance!

Tomorrow? We’re going to get up really early to drive over to New Brunswick to get to Nova Scotia! Nothing excited me about NB except that it was on my way to Nova Scotia. We’ll explore the eastern half of Nova Scotia tomorrow and the western half on the next day when we’ll be staying on the island in Halifax.

HAPPY TALES AND TRAILS UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

Well, that R&R in Lake Placid, NY wasn’t all that when you consider that the fire alarms kept going off and on from the first afternoon and into the evening, and AGAIN in the second afternoon  until the early morning hours of my second night. I was already ragged and they knew it at the front desk…I’d told them…from the hectic drive from Thunder Bay to North Bay.

I kept thinking that it must have been a short in the electrical system for the fire alarms because it started each time we had a downpour each afternoon and night. By the time I checked out, I wanted some money back. The facilities were overrated and chair cushions were embarrassingly in need of cleaning. The worst part was that the Manager said she knew what they looked like! Heck! I would have NEVER have admitted that to a customer paying $116, $134 & $164 for each respective night! I got one good nights sleep…the last one. She gave me a whopping $50 credit.

I’ll say this about that…I’ll drive up the road a little farther up the road to find a Mom & Pop place if there isn’t a decent Motel 6! Enough of this “privileges” points crap! Ain’t no privileges when Motel 6 can give me more bang for my buck than their cheapest chain and it’ll be cleaner too!

Can you tell I was under impressed with Lake Placid? Ugh! Too much of everything with too little quality.

Getting out of town was a good thing for me because I’d be seeing old new territory of Vermont. I’ve loved driving the backroads of Vermont several times in the past of the north/south variety but this time, I was headed east. Burlington, Vermont airport was programed in Tom and we were picking up my next travel buddy, Stacey.

How incredible, I thought, as I headed toward the ferry, that I’d have three different loved ones join me this year for three different parts of my journey! I’ve never had company before and this feels great!

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Upper New York Backroads!

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Love ’em!

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UHH! What’s that?

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This house on the NY side of Lake Champlain definitely has a story to tell!

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Lake Whoabegone? LOL Nah! Lake Champlain!

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Waiting for the Ferry on the NY side!

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Peaceful, huh?

Then, like magic, I’m across this body of water (Lake Champlain) and in Vermont headed for the airport…on the backroads, of course!

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Love this sculpture in the Burlington, VT airport!

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Here she comes!

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YAY! Passenger #3!

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Somewhere in Vermont!

Tomorrow? Bangor, Maine to explore the Maine Coastline and whatever else we want to do until we get over to Nova Scotia! Oh, there’s so much to see and so little time!

HAPPY TAILS, TALES OR TRAILS…YOUR PICK!

I cancelled Canada and headed straight for the US Border. Frankly, mah deah, I’d had enough of paying $46.00 for a half of a tank, way too much for a good meal which wasn’t, driving the Trans Canada Hwy. 17 and more than ready to be home even if it meant the closest I could get to my cabin was 1200+ miles from it and in the Adirondacks! I’d visited there years ago and I am familiar with how beautiful the area is with mountains, lakes, rivers and forests.

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Lakes

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Fields

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BARNS! Yay!

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Rivers!

The Canadian people were lovely all across the country, so don’t think I didn’t or don’t enjoy their company or friendship because I do. Every one of them that I shared my story with of that last 200 miles before Sault Ste. Marie, laughed hard in recognition of the insanity of the drive. One woman said she experienced it when she was seven months pregnant! That my my story pale miserably in comparison, for sure!

And when I asked why Canadians feel the need to blow their car horns at anything, they also laughed and said they had no clue! I still say them horn blowers need to drive on any of the expressways with ten foot merge lanes into 200 MPH traffic! Blow at that, would you! Please!

This drive was to take me to a new level of healing and how else can I do that but be challenged more than ever before but in different ways from last year when Tom took me on the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee at the beginning of my trip and all the other switchbacks as well?

This year, it was harder for me to embrace by the 40th hour Trans Canada challenge. I was reminded of my own tsunami surfboard analogy and, admittedly, had difficulty finding the wax for my  board. In reflection, I believe it was mainly because of the never changing views, constant construction and slow progression because of the exasperating but necessary speed limits. However, today’s drive reminded me of the joy of being a US citizen, how convenient and organized we are at the gas pumps and on our expressways…and way too many other ways to list, but here’s a few.

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The BRIDGE to the other side!

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The view from the bridge

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The BORDER!

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Old Barns & fields

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Ahhh…looks like home!

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Cute little houses

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Lake Placid, NY

I’m recuperating at Lake Placid, NY for a few days so I can be ready to pick up my next travel buddy in Burlington, VT airport. It’s going to be an interesting week visiting Maine’s coastal areas, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia before heading for the cabin.

Tomorrow? Rest and relaxation and maybe some Lake Placid explorations…on foot! LOL

HAPPY TAILS, TALES OR TRAILS…YOUR PICK!

To recap how the color of the rivers have changed from Alberta in western Canada to North Bay in the eastern part has gone from very clear green to red and now to brackish (they call it black) rivers. I remember seeing that brackish color in the mountains near Montreal and wondered what was wrong with the water! Apparently, it just is what it is!

Seeing the Great Lakes from the Canadian side is quite impressive much like the difference between seeing Niagara Falls from the US side versus the Canadian side. No contest! Canadians got the better view of both, for sure! So why in the heck are they so aggressive in their driving techniques? They blow the horn for anything and everything and I’ve decided those horn blowing Canadians need to drive in Los Angeles for a week and get this crap outta their systems in the middle of some real aggressive driving traffic! Blow your horn there, suckers!

Today, hopefully my last Canadian driver rant, a young woman blew her horn at me as I slowed down for a red light. I threw my hands up in the air as if to say, “What?” She drove dangerously around me on a sharp curve on the wrong side of the road and tried to get between me and the car in front of me, almost ramming my truck…just to turn right a block away. I think her passenger saw me taking pictures of her tag. Take this!

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Thank goodness that the five hour drive today wasn’t anywhere as bad as yesterdays drive. Yesterday was the “lick that hit Uncle Dick,” as my BFF would say. I was more than ready to get back to the US and I’ve been in so many different driving conditions, circumstances and insanity but nothing like this Canada Trans Highway 17! Done!

I have driven straight through from the cabin to Flagstaff, Arizona in twenty-four hours…about 1800 miles. This cross-Canada 1700 mile trip from Medicine Hat, Alberta to North Bay, Ontario has taken me (driving time only) took twice as long! No joke! So, if you’re interested in driving across Canada on Highway 17, buy Depends, food, gas every single time you see a station as you won’t see many (learned this in my childhood riding the backroads…only roads de jour…with Dad), get some great rock and roll music to push you past those moments when you don’t have radio or cell service (like those last 200 miles yesterday), maybe a good audio book and lots of whatever your non-alcholic stress fix is like dark chocolate, and, finally maybe something to block out the honkers and obnoxious drivers like good meds.

Other than that, lay back and embrace the tsunami of the drive. Lord knows I kept making myself embrace the journey and those of you who know me well know I did because there aren’t any dead bodies along Canada Trans 17…including mine. I’m still trying to recover from yesterday. Thank goodness, my hotel room was ready early and I’m in for the night.

The good news about todays drive is that the farms were back. Second to trains, I love old barns, which like everything else on this drive, appears way to fast to catch much on film. I did get one or two good views of the lakes.

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Old barns! Love ’em!

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River?

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Marshlands?

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Those bright yellow flowers again.

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Farmhouse

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North Bay, Ontario older building

Tomorrow? Kanata, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Last stop before I got to Lake Placid, NY for my R&R before picking up my next co-pilot, Stacey! She and I will explore the northeastern states on the Atlantic coast and Nova Scotia, so keep watching! It’s bound to get real with the two of us in the same car! Talk about “Squirrel!”

HAPPY TAILS, TAIL OR TRAILS…YOUR PICK!

WOW! Lord knows I love a travel challenge! After all, I’ve driven over 130,000 miles alone on US Interstates, backroads and dirt roads to explore my country. I have been to eastern Canada before and had a rough time with the aggressive behavior of the drivers in and around Montreal as well as the poor directional signage. The signage from Montana to Canada wasn’t bad but confusing…even at the border…and staying on the only main east/west Canadian Highway 17 wasn’t even an issue as there were few or no options to get off!

That last two hundred miles to Sault Ste. Marie was a bugger of a drive because of the restricted 20 to 55 MPH speed limit (70 KmPH) depending on numerous (too many to count) stops and slowdowns due to construction of all kinds, dangerous curves, rough pavement, and so much more!

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Canada Hwy. 17 East

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More lakes!

Add to that way too many “squirrels” of the Donna variety also way too many to count: lakes, rock outcroppings, rivers, wildflowers, trees, disappearing roads, lake beaches, mountains and road signs!

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Disappearing roads

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Beach at the Lake?

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More lakes?

There are NO places to stop in that last 200 miles that are quickly discernible (you see them only when you pass them), no pull-off friendly shoulders (all down-sloped and graveled), vehicles on my bumper pushing me to exceed speeds I was already exceeding and way too much company to cop-a-squat (a friend just taught me this saying)!

By the 130th mile since my last stop, not only was my head swirling but my bladder was bursting. I had to find a place to stop or figure out how I was going to clean up my truck in time for my trip tomorrow to North Bay! So I pulled a “Dukes of Hazard” style brake and 90 degree swerve in an emergency action to a graveled cut off. It wasn’t until I could spell “relief” that I noticed huge cloven hoof prints all around my truck! I hope it wasn’t watching! That’s a lie. At that point, I didn’t care! LOL I tore that gravel up getting away from that moose/Sasquatch/Nessie whatever!

I was so road weary, I drove through KFC! By the way, all the KFC’s have moved from US and are now in Canada! They don’t have the same menu or great chicken, but it was protein, easy and no other real choices on the right side of the road before I collapsed into the entrance way of the hotel de jour!

Tomorrow? UGH! I sure hope the road to North Bay is better that the last 16 hours I’ve driven!

HAPPY TAILS, TALES OR TRAILS…YOUR PICK!