Tag Archives: Canada

local news

Happy Trails, Part 169: ‘Half-bucket list’ journey completed

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — We’re settled overnight in a place that looks nothing like the scene pictured with this blog post.

What you see in this photo is a glimpse of Canada’s Rocky Mountain range. My wife and I saw it the other day while driving east from Banff National Park in Alberta. It rained for three days while we were parked in an RV park in Golden, British Columbia.

Still, this view presented itself as we trekked toward Medicine Hat, Alberta. So I snapped a few pictures of the mountains we would leave behind.

We completed what I have called our “half-bucket list” journey across Canada. The Trans-Canada Highway traverses the country across the southern regions of its provinces. We had intended to see the entire length of the highway, but decided to cut it short by roughly half; we plan to see the eastern half of the highway at another time.

Our retirement journey has enabled us to visit much of the United States already. We’ve hauled our fifth wheel to both coasts, to the Great Lakes, over much of Texas. We’ve seen national parks, national landmarks, scenic splendor … just name it, we’ve likely seen it.

Canada presented another trekking opportunity for us.

The Canadian Cascades are as gorgeous as I had known them to be. As for the Rockies, well, the picture I’ve provided with this blog post tell you that they, too, are breathtaking.

The rolling plains on the eastern slope opened up under a huge sky. We journeyed through range and farm land.

My wife spotted a grizzly looking down from a hillside in Alberta as we zipped past at 60 mph.

This has been a wonderful journey, one that we pledged long ago to take. So what if we didn’t do the whole thing in one sojourn? We’ll get to the rest of it in due course.

The journey will continue. For now, though, we’re content to head for the house.

International news

Hunt for Trump supporter comes up empty

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Manitoba — I am waving the white flag, throwing in the towel, calling a halt.

My search for a Donald Trump supporter appears to have come up short, as in I cannot find anyone.

We’re spending our final night in this beautiful country full of beautiful people. We head back to the United States of America in the morning, where I am quite sure I could find a Trump supporter as we make our way toward The House.

My search has revealed zero fruit. Damn!

We have made no secret of our place of residence. We have told countless Canadians that we live near Dallas, Texas. No one has come forward with a statement of support of our president.

I will be candid in admitting I haven’t spent a lot of time searching for those folks.

Our journey through Canada, which began as we crossed the border at Bellingham, Wash., and will end when we cross just south of Winnipeg has been magnificent. We’ve crossed the Canadian Cascades and the Rockies. We have traveled across rolling plains and vast expanses of flat prairie. We have met some wonderful fellow travelers, most of whom call Canada home.

I have heard a smattering of complaints and jokes about Donald Trump. Nothing in support has been forthcoming.

Well, that’s to be expected. Canadians have their hands full with their prime minister, Justin Trudeau, fending off questions about the blackface scandal that threatens to derail his re-election chances. I might have more to say on that later.

For now, I am anxious to be back home. We’ll head for The House and get back to our domesticated lives.

This country’s Trump supporters will have to remain undiscovered.

local news

Happy Trails, Part 164: The open road awaits

Is there such a thing as “half a bucket list”?

I’ll ponder that one for a time. Whatever the case, we’re now in preparation mode for a lengthy trip aboard our pickup, which will be hauling our recreational vehicle behind it.

We had billed this as a “bucket list” trip, you know, one of those things you want to do before you, um … well, you know. We had planned originally to take our RV from home all the way to far western Canada and then we would follow the trans-Canada highway to the Maritime Provinces.

Then we got cold feet … sorta. We decided we didn’t want to stay away from our new home all that time. What’s more, we would miss our granddaughter too much. She’ll be in school by the time we hit the road, so she’ll be busy meeting new friends while getting reacquainted with existing friends. (I refuse to call them “old” friends, because 6 year olds do not have “old” friends.)

So, here’s the plan we’ve mapped out. We head northwest to the Pacific Northwest. We’ll see family members along the way. We’ll stop in Portland for a few nights. We’ll attend a party for my brother-in-law, who celebrates one of those “landmark” birthdays.

The first few days of our sojourn will be fairly tight. We have to be there in time for the party. After that? Well, then we turn into serious vagabonds.

We will have no deadlines. No plans to be anywhere at a certain. The open road awaits and we’ll see how far we want to travel before we park it for the night.

Once we leave Portland, we’ll end up in Vancouver, British Columbia. Then we head into the Cascade Range and then the Rocky Mountains. We’ll come down from the peaks and head onto the prairie. We’ll drive to Winnipeg, Manitoba before we turn south and return to the U.S. of A.

My intention along the way is to visit with Canadians to seek their perspective on matters that are convulsing on our side of the border. You know about what — and whom — to which I refer. Yes?

One day, perhaps in a year or so, we’ll see the eastern half of Canada, thus finishing off that particular item on our bucket list.

This journey we’re planning explains precisely why we chose to live like this in our retirement years.

As I told a neighbor just the other day: We’ll return when we decide we’ve driven enough.

I surely intend to keep you apprised of our journey as we trek along.

local news

Open road awaits

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This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

I happen to be a good place right now. At this moment.

One week from today, my wife and I will become fully retired.

What lies ahead? Well, we don’t know — precisely. We have lined out a general blueprint that involves travel in our pickup nicknamed Big Jake, our fifth wheel recreational vehicle, spending more time with our precious granddaughter and eventually — let me emphasize, eventually — moving from the High Plains of Texas to the Metroplex region.

I am having a wonderful time telling colleagues at the auto dealership where I work part-time about our upcoming plans. Invariably, they ask: What are you going to do? Where are you going?

My answer: I don’t know. That’s the answer to both ends of that question. We do not know.

It’s the adventure of it all that excites us at this moment.

I’ve been telling friends all over Amarillo that my wife and I believe we have one big challenge left to meet. This appears to be it.

We have decided to pick up and move everything we own down the road a good bit. Do we have a detailed, finalized plan lined out? Not yet. It’s coming.

Our plan at this moment is to simply “go on down the road.” We don’t yet know the location of our final destination. Our immediate plan is merely to travel, to see the sights and hear the sounds of this wonderful continent of ours.

We’ve set foot in 47 of the 50 states; we will make it a clean sweep — possibly very soon. We have visited four Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. We’ll get to the rest of them, too … at least we hope.

The open road awaits us.

We will embark on it with joy in our hearts.