Thursday, October 27, 2011

Home Sweet Home

No pictures today. You have all seen it anyway.

Just a post of random reflections on our trip also known as useless trivia and facts. Things to keep my mind occupied while travelling.

We live in a really, really big country.

I am glad this trip was not in my truck.

It is almost time for another oil change and it was only done 3 days ago.

I could never be a long haul trucker. But I already knew that.

On the west coast the cars were small and energy efficient with many hybrids and electric cars. As we travelled east the number of larger vehicles and trucks grew.

Vancouver must have the most coffee shops in the world. Every block seemed to have a Starbucks, a Tim Hortons, another chain I don't remember and then there was the odd private store.

In the States we saw lots and lots of trains. Only one after returning to Canada. However, at any given point of our drive today we could see 3 or 4 semis. It would appear that Americans transport much more by train than we do.

Everyone in the US wears camouflage (at least at this time of year). Men, women, children, old and young everything from coats to pyjamas in camo. The odd person we saw not wearing camo was wearing red (presumably so they don't get shot by those who are).

Caitlin managed to drive every time it rained, except once. I got to drive through all the construction zones (and half of the continent is undergoing roadwork).

Caitlin prefers driving 70 mph, not 70 kph. I am content in the middle.

We travelled 4 days and thousands of kilometres through the States. We saw a total of 7 police cars - 3 at accident scenes in Seattle, 3 cruising around Ritzville, Washington and one that startled me just outside Duluth (he came out of nowhere and stopped the guy who had just passed me going 20 mph over the speed limit). We spent 7 hours driving in Canada. We saw dozens of police cars.

When we were in the States we saw an average of 3 dead deer a day and a multitude of dead skunks and raccoons. Today we saw a grand total of 1 dead coon. Are Canadians better drivers? Do we venture out less at night when the animals are out? Maybe our road crews are faster at removing the dead animals? None of the dead deer were anywhere near the deer crossing zones. Maybe Canadian deer are smarter and cross where they are supposed to? Maybe we don't have as many deer to start? Has anyone else noticed this? Help me or I won't be able to sleep for trying to solve this dilemma.

The price of the hotel does not reflect the amenities and enjoyability of your stay. Our favourite hotels were not the most expensive. Location sets the rate.

In the average year, I might travel away from my home 3 or 4 times. Mostly Christmas shopping or trips to visit relatives. Lately I have only had a vacation every 3 years and we have stayed in Ontario. This year has definitely been a record. Last September we drove Tori back to University and went through Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and a day trip to Nova Scotia. We spent Christmas at my sister's in New York. We vacationed in Bar Harbor, Maine in July and travelled through Vermont and New Hampshire. I flew over Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta last week and landed in Vancouver. (So I covered all but 4 of the provinces in 13 months) Then we drove through Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan (thereby visiting 11 of the 13 states that border us to the south) Anybody for a road trip to Pennsylvania and Ohio?


5 comments:

Cherylinn said...

How did you remember all this? My head is spinning in circles now...Been to Pennsylvania and Ohio. They did nothing for me. Now Vermont. YAH!

Gryper said...

We followd your trip all the way from Vancouver to home and enjoyed the photos. Road trips are sooooo much fun and we relived our summer trip while reading about yours. Glad you're back home safe.

SusanE said...

I laughed out loud about those wearing red.

I loved your stats… it reminds me of one trip with HIlary where we kept track of road kill… okay, so we were REALLY bored.

SusanE said...

how come sometime it shows the "follow-up comments" box and other times it doesn't.

Country Girl said...

Tori and I counted road kill, live animals, truck drivers, truck drivers that waved to us, cars that honked at us...