Day 60 - Edmundston, NB to Burlington, ON

Days on the road: 60.
Miles today: 740.
Miles to date: 14,604.


Well, there it is. 60 days on the road and almost 15,000 miles. 23 states and 6 provinces. I crossed the Great Divide 4 times, the Mississippi River twice, and the Canada/US border 4 times. I went up, over, around, along and under mountains, hills, passes, gulches, canyons, deserts, rivers, lakes, creeks, streams, and oceans. My car was searched just once by authorities and I wasn't charged with any moving violations. I'm not saying I didn't commit any, I'm just saying "The Man" didn't catch me.

My last day on the road was an epic 740 mile run back to the GTA from Northern New Brunswick. It was the single longest day in both mileage and time terms, and it felt like it. The need to return to the GTA for 3 days of running around prior to my Kenyan departure necessitated the long run.

My good friend, LR will be happy to learn that I didn't even come close to the mileage allowance on my lease (but I've still got 3 days before I get on a plane - anybody want to drive to Northern Manitoba????).

And while the road trip is over, the adventure has just begun. I'll continue posting while in Kenya, but perhaps not with the frequency you've come to expect with this finest of web publications. So check back often and anticipate stories of a man in a white linen suit as he makes his way across the dark continent.

I shall return...

Maybe.

Day 59 - Annapolis Royal, NS to Edmundston, NB

Days on the road: 59.
Miles today: 543.
Miles to date: 13,864.

No pictures today. Too dang busy storming through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to try to get back to the GTA with time to do a bunch of running around before my Kenyan departure. Here's a map for all you budding cartographers out there:

Day 58 - Annapolis Royal to Victoria Beach, NS & Back.

Days on the road: 58.
Miles today: 32.
Miles to date: 13,321.


Bay of Fundy, natural wonder - even UNESCO might agree one day soon. And here's the photographic proof:

The same place (Annapolis Royal Wharf), on the same day, at 3 different times (9:30 AM, 3PM, and 8PM):



Remarkable.

Day 57 - Saint John, NB to Annapolis Royal, NS

Days on the road: 57.
Miles today: 41.
Miles to date: 13,289.



Day 57 was a Wednesday and the big adventure for the day involved a 3+ hour ride on the St. John-Digby ferry. A brief drive around the St. John waterfront led me to accidentally discover a ship being unloaded of its shipment of wind turbine blades and pylons. Very interesting to see and I tried to capture a few shots, but couldn't quite get the right perspective to best showcase this most "of our times" deliveries.





Following the photo stop, I headed off to the ferry terminal to sit in one of many line-ups of vacation goers, RVers, commercial truckers, and various State plated vehicles to board the Princess of Acadia. I was also fortunate enough to be beside some loud Americans who seemed to think discussing the details of a family member's rather ugly divorce with their windows down and speaking loudly on their cell phone was enjoyable to all those in a blue Audi TT.





Once aboard, I lounged in the, ah, lounge and we were soon sailing away from port. Not 15 minutes into our voyage, our captain came across the PA system to announce that we would be returning to the ferry dock to offload a passenger that was experiencing a family emergency. Ugh, could my life get any worse?!?!? About 20 minutes later, we departed St. John for the second time and steamed steadily across the Bay of Fundy and into Digby, NS. A short drive later and I found myself in the sprawling metropolis of Annapolis Royal, population 440. I checked into the Bailey House B&B and ended one of my easiest travel days with dinner with friends T&S who have been building a house across the way in Victoria Beach. Nicey nice.

Day - 56 - Quebec City, QC to Saint John, NB

Days on the road: 56.
Miles today: 446.
Miles to date: 13,248.


Fortunately, my brief stay of less than 24 hours in La Belle Province allowed me to stay focused and avoid falling under the spell of the following Quebequois temptations:

• Poutine
• Maple Fudge
• Cheese Curds
• Pepsi
• Mae West (Why isn't it called Mae Ouest???)
• Players No Filter Cigarettes

After decent coffee from a downtown cafe, I crossed the mighty St. Lawrence River and headed East along the Southern shore. Occasional glances North bound had my eyes landing on the patchwork of farmers' fields in various states of bloom, random shocks of bright yellow fields on dandelions growing wildly, the deep blue river and the dark blue outline of the mountains beyond. The day was cool yet sunny and the top was down. The miles melted away.




This must be the most hilarious town in the World:

Day 55 - Burlington, ON to Quebec CIty, QC

Talk about a baptism by fire. I decided to jump on the road again and my first day was spent tackling an 8 hour / 531 mile sprint East along the top side of Lake Ontario and the North shore of the St. Lawrence River. The last time I visited this most French of the French Canadian cities was 1987. I was on the St. Clements Catholic School grade 7/8 class trip to Quebec. I was violently ill and just wanted the tour group to leave me behind in bed. The teacher refused and dragged me to the Plains of Abraham and around the Old Town area. The story ends poorly with projectile vomit. That was the day I learned that most teachers really don't know squat and suck at problem solving. As I walked around the city this evening, sights seemed eerily familiar as distant, faded memories suddenly popped with the colour of reality.


The history books don't mention the fact that the battle for the Plains of Abraham was actually about oil:




As I walked the hills of downtown and Old Quebec, I felt almost as if I was in a mini San Francisco.


And as I perused the shop windows, I came across the pinnacle of Quebec culture and one of the strongest reasons for classifying our French Canadian friends as a truly distinct society:

Getting Back On The Road...Again.

Willie Nelson sang about it, famous blues men simply had to keep moving on and impregnating women along the way, rolling stones gather no moss, and an Audi (in blue) is happiest when covering miles at great speed. So, despite their generosity of accommodation, cuisine, television viewing and near-valet parking, I have decided to leave my fine friends in Burlington and get back on the road.

My brief stay in the GTA allowed me to visit many but not all friends and family. As I patiently wait for the fine folks at the passport office to execute their duties in the finest of ways with respect to the renewal of my travel document, I decided to go East. Here's a clue for my first stop:


Your demand for more blog posts feeds my already healthy ego and shall be supplied while I venture through Eastern Canada in search of more wildlife, scenery, architecture and visits with friends. So, keep checking this space for more of the Pulitzer-worthy commentary from the road for which this blog has become known and loved and sometimes even referred to.

Day 54 - Back To Where It Started

Days on the road: 54.
Miles today: 503.
Miles to date: 12,263.

And then, just like that, the journey was over. Back in Burlington, ON staying with friends who were good enough to make sure there was room at the inn for my return. No manger necessary.

Leaving Chicago was tough, as I was enjoying myself immensely. There's nothing like the energy of a city - I've said it before and I'll say it again. Unfortunately, the rains came as I tried to depart this fine city. The came in torrential downpours and were the precursors to the tornadoes that hit the mid-West and Leamington. Bizarro fact of the road trip - it seemed that my visit to many places preceded some sort of weather event. Shortly after leaving, my destinations were hit with tornadoes, epic rains and flooding, wildfire, rock slides, snow storms, and more rain and tornadoes. I take no responsibility in any of this.

It felt good to cross back into Canada and to know the way to my destination. No hassles from our fine border guards and smooth sailing to my destination. My eyes saw familiar sights, from London to the run down the 403 to Brantford to Hamilton and the last few turns to where it all began almost 8 weeks ago.

Next up: A few days with very few miles on me or the Audi, some organization, some visiting with friends and family, and then the next adventure.

Until then, some more random thoughts, life lessons and stray observations from life on the road:

• Dear Young Adult American Males, what's up with the jacked-up trucks? I'm sure they are fun on the weekends in the mud bogs, but in the city? In traffic? As part of society? Really?!?!?
• Colonel Sanders, you will not make a victim of me with your Double Down sandwich. Not this trip. Not ever.
• I may be the fittest man in the great state of Wisconsin. This is not a good thing for your state.
• Why do hotel minibars charge 8 times the street value of their contents? Is this really a good business model? How about maybe just 4 times the street value? Wouldn't this do something for the demand curve for this aspect of the hotel business. (Ace Hotel - this does not apply to the greatness that is your minibar).
• Deep fried cheese should not be celebrated as a regional delicacy. Wisconsin, I'm talking to you.

Day 53 - Chicago By Foot

As tomorrow will be spent driving back to the GTA, making my triumphant return to Canadiana, I spent Day 53 roaming Chicago's streets, taking in as much as possible. I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the 103rd floor/Skydeck of the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, the Art Institute of Chicago, walked along the river, and lounged in Millenium Park with a good book. Some more roaming of the city's streets, a late dinner, finishing off a couple of blog posts, and off to bed.

No pictures today. Back tomorrow.


MJF

Day 52 - Milwaukee, WI to Evanston, IL to Chicago, IL

Days on the road: 52.
Miles today: 101.
Miles to date: 11,760.

Day 52. The end is near. And to temper my sensibilities for a return to the Great White North I decided to pass through Evanston, IL on my way to Chicago for a couple of days.

Evanston is home to, among other things, Northwestern University. I spent a few hours strolling the area near the campus and in downtown Evanston. In an effort to dodge two Greenpeace people with clipboards, I turned down an alley and I was fortunate to find the most wonderful of book stores. Called, Bookman's Alley, it is a wonderful collection of second hand volumes spanning all genres and curated by a gentle old man that was rather involved in his newspaper of the day. The collection is housed in a rambling old carriage house behind the boutiques on the main drag. There were shelves and shelves of books, random models of sailing ships, the odd piece of military memorabilia, and additional bags, boxes and stacks of books randomly strewn about the floor. I shall return.



A short drive later and I found myself rather happily in Chicago. The day was sunny, clear, and warm. I parked the little blue Audi, dropped off my bags, and went walkabout. It was great to be back in a city. The honking of horns, the manic energy of the traffic, and the volume of people felt right. After a decent roam, I found myself on the river for an architectural boat tour of the city. As the sun sank, we steamed gently along the many branches of the Chicago river as our well informed (and least-annoying of the whole trip) tour guide presented the stories behind many of Chicago's skyscrapers.

Day 51 - Green Bay to Milwaukee, WI

Days on the road: 51.
Miles today: 136.
Miles to date: 11,659.


I started off the day by taking in all that is Green Bay and visiting the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. This is the football holy land. Steeped in history and lore, and the only team in professional sports that is publicly owned, the Green Bay Packers franchise and its green and gold colours represent all that is good and right in the state of Wisconsin. The waiting list is 83,000 people long and the turn over only about 600 seats per year.



The tour guides and fellow tour attendees were mid-Western nice, which is to say over-the-top nice. And all were die-hard Packer fans, to the point that they could have led the tour themselves. Also, I now know what it feels like to feel, um, petite.


After the intense baptism-by-football-and-cheese-curds, I made the quick 2-hour jump to Milwaukee to see what it was that Laverne and Shirley were onto. Turns out, not much. No photos of Milwaukee. I had hoped to take in a Brewers game, but they were unfortunately out of town during my brief stay.

Day 50 - Alber Lea, MN to Green Bay Wisconsin

Days on the road: 50.
Miles today: 400.
Miles to date: 11,523.


I had just about had my fill of Interstate miles, so I opted to got to Green Bay via the country roads of Wisconsin with a quick drive-through tour of Madison. All the cheese comments are legit, as Wisconsin's rolling fields are filled with farm after farm and so very many cows. I actually passed a town called Cheeseburg. Seriously.