DAY 11 MON. MAR. 28 BATTLE CREEK, MI - NEWMARKET,ON

No Tony today. We reminded ourselves that the guy who did the voice is long dead anyway. We left Battle Creek in brilliant sunshine and drove east. It was cold. A brief stop at the duty free in Detroit's urban hell, across the rickety Ambassador Bridge and we were back in Canada. Clean highways and no billboards. Snow, our first since Missouri, gathered along the highway, but the road was good, dry and open. And then, Toronto. Our first and only grid lock traffic jam on the trip. Toronto is just too big for its britches and the tie-up was frustrating. Then, north on the 400 and home! Happy Birthday to me!

REFLECTION THURS. MAR. 31 NEWMARKET, ON

We've had a few days at home to digest out trip, and we've come to several conclusions.

First, as always, the excitement of travel is all-consuming for us. Road trips are now especially appealing, and we plan to do more. A roadtrip for us means picking a destination, such as Austin, preparing our car as though it was an Apollo space capsule, drive like hell to get there, explore and then get the hell back home before we run out of air.

Second, we learned more about our fascinating neighbour, the USA. It is such a colossal country, huge in every way. It is full of contradictions: absolute wonder and beauty, and insane and sleazy absurdity. Its successes are many and magnificent: its failures are sad and pathetic. Its people are completely friendly and pleasant, but have little or no idea about the wider world, and this always dumbfounds me. How can a world power, the greatest world power, be, at times, so ignorant and parochial? How can the home of so much innovation, creativity, and progress be so bigotted and closed-minded? How can there be so much hate and fear in a land that claims earnestly to love Jesus? The truth, of course, is that you can never truly know the US because there is no single, true, one-size-fits-all USA. It is a country more fractured and disjointed than Canada ( and that is saying quite a lot! ) and yet, as John Ralston Saul asserts, it is completely united by a common mythology that everyone buys into: the flag, personal rights ( guns, free speech ), and America's God-given right to dominate the world. Such a fascinating country deserves more study and examination, and we plan to do just that.

Finally, a word must be said about traveling together. Lou and I have known each other since grade 11, and have been married for 20 years now. We are moving too rapidly through middle age now, and aches, pains, bad temper, and frustration are part of the journey. All this, we experienced on the trip. But, there's something wonderful about traveling together. We become a team when we journey, and we work well: if you need proof of this, well, we made it there and back again, and we're still speaking to each other. And, we want to do this again and again, as long as we are able, until we finally understand what this huge world is all about. And, when we learn what that is, we'll be sure to tell you !!

Soundtrack:

On a long road trip, there were many hours of good conversation and companionable silence. But we also listened to great music to help set the mood:

The Goo-Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up The Girl

Cold Play - Viva La Vida

Deep Purple - Machine Head

The Black Crowes- Greatest Hits

O Brother Where Art Thou? - Soundtack

Golden Earring - Moontan

Bruce Springsteen - The Rising

The Tragically Hip - Up To Here

Colin James - Traveler

- Fuse