Hello, everyone!
As some of you know but many of you probably don’t, I’m
about halfway through a roadtrip with my mum. As I write we’re in Wisconsin
(HELLO WISCONSIN keeps running through my head- though how I got a piece of the
theme from That 70’s Show stuck in my head without ever having TV is a
mystery), only a couple hours from our first destination: four days in Chicago,
for me to go to the Association of Psychological Science conference and for mom
to play, sort of. It is a mystery to us all (probably especially mom) what she
will do with this free time!
The trip has no afforded a lot of time to write, mostly
because it’s been hard to get to the computer, packed away as it is. Was. Along
with most of everything else I own! The
pack of my car is currently a highly impressive feat of packing engineering,
including 4 large suitcases, 2 pieces of artwork, the contents of my kitchen
and a table- all packed away neatly enough to afford a small peephole through
the rear window, which is probably more useful as a comfort than as an actual
visual reference. Also included in the back reaches is a tent, bedding, and
there was once enough food to get us through about 4 days- we’re down to slim
pickings now, but bought food for the first time yesterday. A special thanks to Sheri Ganguin and Heather
Patenaud, whose gracious food contributions of bread and dip respectively have
probably fed us much better and longer than you realised!
As for the adventure. We left at 8 am (later than
anticipated, but we anticipated that!) on the 19th of May, with a
full tank, stomach full of waffles, and an even fuller car. We drove as far as
the 150 Mile Center (approx 8 km, otherwise known as out of my driveway...)
before our first stop- checking the mail. We had to check because I’m taking
online classes over the summer, which means the University mailed me my
textbooks, and they hadn’t arrived yet. In the mail we picked up our travel
insurance, also something handy to have, and the slip saying a package had
indeed arrived. Thir brought up a new problem: packages are picked up at the
video store in the center, which opens, on Saturday, at 1 pm.
Well,
obviously I didn’t want to wait that
long, but I wasn’t very fond of the idea of leaving without, either. So we
decided to see if we could call the owner of the video store, Dan, as we knew
he lives nearby, and just see if he might be willing to open the door for us.
The
problem with this plan was that we couldn’t remember his last name. So we
decided to ask the ladies at the attached gas station- Everyone knew his name
was Dan, but no one could remember his last name. So they decided to ask the mail lady, who was out of sight in a
separate room behind the PO boxes sorting mail- and the lovely lady did indeed
know his last name, but declared she could not share it with us, such
information being much to personal.
Now
unable to call (and unable to indulge in any deeply personal contact like,
perhaps, facebook stalking, thanks to the brilliant service of the mail lady)
we decided to go the safely impersonal and unobtrusive route, and knock on his
door. Take that, personal information.
Having
lived in the 50 all my life, I knew that he and his family had moved in on the
same street as the Spurn’s and lived near to Jeremy Schmid’s old rented house.
So we drive to there, spotted the video truck, and knocked guiltily on his
door, feeling slightly bad as it was 8 am on a Saturday, and very hopeful that
he and not his wife would answer, as he seems by nature to be much more affable
than she.
He did
answer, and once we explained ourselves smiled gently and said “I’ll just meet
you down there, ok?” And so I got my textbooks, owe a great debt of gratitude
to the video man Dan (whose last name I still cannot remember!) and owe a nose
in the air snub to the mail lady. Never the less it was a good start to the
trip.
A less
auspicious sigh had been the death of my (freshly updated and sorted and well
loved and audio book filled) beloved i pod the very night before we were to
depart. This mild panic and major bout of depression led to the decision to
stop at futureshop in Kamloops, as we had to stop in Kamloops anyways. So off
we went, driving into the sunny day. In no time at all we were in Kamloops, and
pulled into futureshop, where we managed to replace the i pod with the gracious
help of a friend of mine who works there; and deposit a book for one friend and
the jacket of another with still a FOURTH friend who met us there to hold the
belongings for the two missing Kamloopsians, who were both in Vancouver at the
time and who’s things I did not much want to pack to Halifax. With this success
we moved on the TRU, where I dropped off my old lab key and blinked a little
bewilderedly at the thought that it might have been my very last time on that
campus, almost certainly my last time as a student. Sometime’s its alarming how
fast things change.
With Kamloops
under our belt, we headed on to Kelowna, where we stopped at Timmies for the
last time in the next several days- I’m positive we won’t see one until the 27th
when we head to Toronto- and met with a few more friends to say au revoir
until, at best, Christmas for me! When we left Kelowna, the trip began in
earnest.
Buy 9
pm we’d reached our first destination, Creston BC, right on the border and the
home of a dear friend. We dined like royalty, snuggled into a delightful
mattress, and showered for the last time in 3 days. We also got to say a final
goodbye to a four legged friend, Angie, who was one of my puppies and who spent
12 years as the most loyal of friends before passing away in her sleep.
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