Hi,
Perhaps you’ve noticed that my missives from the DR have been quite infrequent over the past year or so? Even if you have noticed, I imagine that you’re coping nicely. Life for others does seem to go on as before, even if the center of my own little universe has shifted some.
At present, Denise and I are traveling in the woods north of Toronto.
We returned from seven months in Las Galeras in mid-May, took a few weeks to touch base with senior family of the East Coast persuasion and attend to such business as had piled up during our absence, an astonishing bit of which proved to be self-resolving. It’s impressive, what a few months of benign neglect can accomplish.
Our trip in Canada began in Chautauqua, NY, where we delivered my step-mother for a few weeks of relaxation and culture. For the first time in 30 years she made this journey alone this year: Dad died last autumn—on Election Day, actually. I like to think that he held on only long enough to ensure that our man prevailed in the run to the Presidency.
The senior Anderson was a pretty symbolic guy in many ways. I suppose that I inherited an interest in symbolic logic and communication from him, and a bit of his humor as well. Too bad his wicked drop-shot got held back in an eddy in the gene pool.
This trip to Canada is sort of a dry run for a 6 or 8 week road trip across the US late this summer. It’s my intention to re-invigorate the Blog I established at elotrowa.com and continue posting there more regularly for several months. The road to success (or anywhere else, I suppose) begins with a good intention.
Bill
Tags: Denise Hanna, Retire, Retirement, Road Trip
Hi,
When I asked for your thoughts and ideas about our road trip plans it hadn’t occurred to me that you would focus on the camping, rather than the scenic part of our plan–but you did send some pretty nifty ideas and share a wry observation or two. Several follow.
1. The father of a couple of active short people commended an ample supply of toilet paper in our travel kit. This theme was also addressed by a mountaineering pal who suggested paper coffee filters as an alternative. Not to fret, either one: ample TP has been part of the trunk kit for 25+ years (and haven’t needed it yet.)
2. One friend confessed that she’s always wondered exactly who actually purchased those tents and propane stoves she passed by in the sporting goods aisles. Now she realizes it must have been us. (Interestingly, her doppelganger just wandered by our campsite outside of Corning, NY looking as if she wondered who in the hell was that eating sushi at the picnic table in the campsite.)
3. From several sources we got helpful suggestions about keeping dry, preparing coffee, and building a fire. One pal suggested that we get motorcycles, which we could always sleep under if it gets cold. Thank-you, one and all.
But what I’d really welcome is any idea that you may care to share about places to go, things to do or see, with bonus points awarded for off-beat or particularly interesting suggestions. In return we’ll proffer a few opinions of our own.
This “shake-down” cruise is drawing to an end and we’ve confirmed that it’s affordable, practical, and thoroughly enjoyable way to see the country. Still don’t have any particular plan to our travels, beyond seeing the chimney swifts return to Chapman Elementary School in Portland sometime in mid-September, and doing the Western Washington State Fair in Puyallup later that month.
Suggestions?
Bill
Tags: Retirement, Road Trip
Hi,
We’ve been in Ontario for a week or so. It appears as though the Province is a likely candidate to replace the American mid-west as the bread basket to the world in this era of global climate change. The Canadian prairie is wonderful soil that gently undulates from the border north at least as far as we traveled. The Canadian farmers have covered a significant bit of the land with greenhouses given over to the propagation of tomatoes, lettuce, flowers and God only knows what other sort of green growing stuff. The land not covered with seasonal growing houses has been given over to golf courses. I have never, ever, seen anything like the sheer quantity of links as are in evidence in Ontario.
I do wonder if this is purely a provincial phenomenon or if it is some deeper reflexion of the Canadian character, as in “well, the ten months of excessive snow and bitter wind have passed for the moment, what do you say we feed the asparagus and then pop out for a round or two of golf before the breeze kicks up, eh?”
The golf courses don’t appear to be overly busy on any day of the week. This is further evidence of the Canadian propensity towards good judgment. Perhaps Ontario could market itself as a tourist destination for fanatical Japanese golfers while waiting for the inevitable socialist mandate to convert the links to grain fields when the American mid-west finally dries up.
I suppose that’s not very funny is it? Precisely.
On a tangential note, it took me awhile to realize the obvious circumstance behind the number of local restaurants specializing in French fries; Ontario grows a very tasty spud. Bear in mind, it ain’t no Idaho baker but it does make a mean French fry. It seems that selling French fries is quite the attractive proposition in Ontario, right up there with peddling ersatz fudge to suspiciously gullible tourists, a perennial favourite in many nations.
Some of you may recall the 3 days I spent years ago on an expedition to British Columbia in the company of Washington State legislators and business leaders and a fellow traveler in the labour movement. We were looking into the delivery of medical services in Canada as the “real” Washington (Washington State) was preparing to implement state-wide access to health care. Apart from the purpose of the trip and the astonishing realizations that we all had, I was struck by the uncommon courtesy and consideration that Canadians usually have for each other and, by extension, for me. (Don’t you find that it is generally “all about me?” I do, too.)
Ever after, when I remark on the details of that experience to my Canadian friends they uniformly and consistently attribute their own genuine concern for the welfare of their fellow citizens to the shared experience of a common system providing medical attention to every Canadian.
Of course I’m not qualified to summarize the Canadian national psyche–certainly not on the basis of my relatively limited exposure, but it does seem that for Canadians it is generally less “all about me” than proves to be the case with my American cohort.
This is reflected in a myriad of large and small ways all of the time, every day that we’ve been in Canada. The evidence can by systemic as when every village of any size has a public training facility tied to the needs of the local labour market, or it is reflected in the countless little personal courtesies that make life pleasant: the orderly merge at lane’s end on the highway, the cordial nod and actual greeting walking along the park path, or an invitation to step through the gate and enjoy the blooms and fruit in a backyard garden, and the enthusiastic recommendation for things to do and see “right here in our little town!”
These social, and now cultural aspects of life in Canada are attractive but do nothing to dispel the raw weather much of the year. Perhaps the Canadian climate will improve in your lifetime, if not quite in mine.
I’m hoping that we find more of the same camaraderie and interest in the commonweal as we visit in smaller towns and villages in the U.S. next month, but for now, Canada: I salute you!
Bill
Tags: Retire, Retirement, Road Trip
Hi,
Did I mention that we’re sleeping in a tent?
It’s not really the first time in a tent for either of us, but it’s hardly old hat. I did a fair amount of backpacking and rafting in the desert country and in the Cascades when I lived in Oregon. Seems in a way as if the memories belong to a different person. Denise’s starter husband was a mountaineer of the first water, and she naturally absorbed some of the overspray. But it’s been thirty years or more since either of us spent much time sleeping on the ground. We’ve had a few instances of snow camping or otherwise in the intervening time but mostly have been indoors.
Neither of us has ever really spent any time “car camping,” if you discount my week or so of “commutin” to Portland from a campground at the base of Mt. Hood when looking for a place to live in the early 70’s. If you didn’t know, Car Camping is entirely different from backpacking in many important ways.
First, you can take a whole lot of stuff with you when you car camp. This is can be quite convenient. Camping with a car you can enjoy banana-shaped ripe bananas, you can drink cold fuzzy water, you can carry a propane stove and brew coffee with the greatest of ease. You can toss all of your accumulated sleeping, cooking, camping stuff into the vehicle without the thoughtful arranging that is necessary in a backpack. This last can be a considerable disadvantage as well. I imagine that you know how quickly and easily one can trash the trunk and backseat of a car if not attentive.
That’s part of the reason for our current expedition to Canada. It’s sort of a shake-out cruise, to see if we can really sleep on the ground all the way across country. (It appears that we can) and to learn how to organize gear, food, and ourselves before setting off for 6 or 8 weeks traveling across country. It’s not rocket science, but some of it isn’t perfectly obvious either.
So, we’re learning what to leave at home and what to add. We’re also figuring out that there are considerable differences in car campgrounds, and that some owner-operated small motels in smaller towns are nice and cheap and that others are just cheap.
Some of the things I’ve figured out so far:
1. If the car camp site is miles from the road traveled it can be as quiet as the most remote wilderness site, and the stars are likewise in evidence.
2. If you’re going to choose owner-operated motels, always ask to see the room in advance. (I’m pretty sure that this will bear repeating before we’re finished.)
3. Do take the time to listen to the locals. In the past few days we’ve found half-price theater tickets, an improbable olive oil store in a little town in the middle of nowhere, a wonderful campsite on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, a magnificent flower walk along the shore of Lake Huron, and several pretty swell places to picnic. That’s just for starters. We also shared some wonderful conversation, not all of which was about Obama.
4. I am still looking for that honest person who will tell the truth about the homemade fudge. None of it is as I remember. At this rate I’ll soon stop looking. Maybe I’ll just save up the sugar jones for when we return home and make fudge myself.
When was the last time you made fudge at home? Yeah, me too.
We’ll stop for a bed and shower and a good look at Niagara Falls tomorrow before lazing home through central NY and the middle of PA which will end this trial run.
Let me know if there’s anything in particular we should peer at this time, or that we should take a look at next month when we launch the real road trip.
I’ll keep you posted.
Bill
Tags: Denise Hanna, Retire, Retirement, Road Trip
Hi,
Perhaps you’ve noticed that my missives from the Dominican have been quite infrequent over the past year or so? Even if you have noticed, I imagine that you’re coping nicely. Life for others does seem to go on as before, even if the center of my own little universe has shifted some.
At present, Denise and I are traveling in the woods north of Toronto.
We returned from seven months in Las Galeras in mid-May, took a few weeks to touch base with senior family of the East Coast persuasion and attend to such business as had piled up during our absence, an astonishing bit of which proved to be self-resolving. It’s impressive, what a few months of benign neglect can accomplish.
Our trip in Canada began in Chautauqua, NY, where we delivered my step-mother for a few weeks of relaxation and culture. For the first time in 30 years she made this journey alone this year: Dad died last autumn–on Election Day, actually. I like to think that he held on only long enough to ensure that our man prevailed in the run to the Presidency.
The senior Anderson was a pretty symbolic guy in many ways. I suppose that I inherited an interest in symbolic logic and communication from him, and a bit of his humor as well. Too bad his wicked drop-shot got held back in an eddy in the gene pool.
This trip to Canada is sort of a dry run for a 6 or 8 week road trip across the US late this summer. It’s my intention to re-invigorate the Blog I established at elotrowa.com and continue posting there more regularly for several months. The road to success (or anywhere else, I suppose) begins with a good intention.
Bill
Tags: Denise Hanna, Retire, Retirement, Road Trip