Ottawa, Ontario
Boy did I get wet last night. Lars was perfectly dry along with the rest of his side of the tent. My tarp structure worked perfectly over his side, but the tent slid a little my way and out of under the tarp. So the water dripping off the tarp came to visit me in a puddle form all around me. We ate Wheaties for breakfast and took down the wet things as best we could. By this time it was 10:15 AM. We had decided not to get up early for moose because of the rain. We went to the showers, but they were closed until 11:15 AM. Why? We went on Two Rivers Trail with the hope of seeing a moose or two. It was a good trail, but no moose. And with the rain, the experience was not great.
Then we went to camp, waited in a long line for showers, and got going again. We are now on our way to Ottawa. It is half past noon. And raining. It is supposed to rain until Tuesday, with no sunshine. Pretty bleak weekend. But we'll be in Ottawa and Montreal the whole time, we should find indoor things.
Even in this sight
consuming forest I feel
control
I feel that I am in
command
because I have a car
and a road to all
the ends of the earth.
But here I say is not
the end of this world
but the beginning.
The end is in the cities
and roadside towns
that only serve the machines.
They fill the tanks
with liquid fire
and fill their stomachs with the same.
Only to point a body
in a direction
that is rarely forward.
So much before me
nothing left behind but
litter and memories:
the litter of the mind
both decompose
at the same rate
and for the same purpose:
to purify.
The memories that leave first
from the mind-dump into the atmosphere
are the quickest to
disappear from the earth.
They are those that don't
damage the earth, they hurt
no one and no one is touched.
the ones that stay are recyclable
they are reused throughout your
life popping up, but hurting
no one else.
The ones you can't get rid of
go into landfills.
They will not disappear, but they are gone
from sight.
They will be in your soul as long
as the earth will hold its refuse.
Driving toward Ottawa, we are seeing the first fields used by farmers. They are just hayfields here, with bales sitting out in the rain. These fields are huge, with a single house sitting in the middle of some of the fields. Others have regular farm buildings though. Very few are by the roadside. They have long driveways and are in the middle of the fields. I like this better than roadside farm houses. Only the newer ones are set near the road. There are pasture with cattle here too. The rain is still strong and annoying.
We have 100 KM to drive to Ottawa. I am very hungry, as it is PM, but I think we will go there because it is raining too much to cook our food outside on the roadside. This land has no forests at all, except in the hills. It has really changed since we left Algonquin, that must have been the end of the forests of Canada. I miss forests already.
1992
2008
Eitzen and Caldedonia, MN
We wore our new URINETOWN t-shirts for the parade in Eitzen. It was 100 degrees, so we stayed out of the sun whenever we could. We went to Jay and Alison's house later to swim in their pool, drink PIMM's cup and play games. It was a lovely late night. Happy 4th of July. I set up a second air conditioner upstairs to cool down the upper floor, worked well.
2012