20110821 Kamloops to Seattle
It’s time to go home. We get up early. The thought of a long wait in a Sunday summer border crossing line spurs us to get up early and get moving. The other issue is produce. We eat all the fruit we can at breakfast. There’s still more to go through.
I delight in the girl’s long hair. The hair is clean and easy to brush since we showered last night. It’s the first time it’s been free from braids.
We’re back in the Coq. We stop at Merritt info for a bathroom break post breakfast at 1000. The snack shop advertises Samosas next to samdwiches and hotdogs. The landscape is sage in Kamloops. It’s greener with pine trees and hills past Merritt.
Driving days are long. The Hunger Games is our motivation. It adds a soundtrack to the landscape. This has been a driving vacation with the long distances. The girls have their movies. It’s good for them not to listen to this. It is a compelling story. It is also disturbing. Children die and the threat of death is thick within the stories. It makes a good story to listen to while in wilderness and camping. Wayne and I bring ear plugs to bed and listen into the night. It probably contributes to my insomnia along with the cold nights.
It’s been a good, compelling story. I care about the characters a lot. The book I’m reading is not much better. The Feast of Crows, the title, gives you a hint of it’s tone. People die and are in pain.
My cough also makes me sound like death warmed over. My throat has healed. I don’t cough at night. When, I do cough I sound like I’m going to cough up a lung. Cough medicine helps a little.
Speaking of sickness, Sara is having a local inflammatory reaction to an insect bite. Her ankle was tense and red yesterday. Thankfully, it’s looking better after an evening and morning of icing and cortisone cream.
Travel engenders flexibility. I think it has good effect on our children. It’s good for them to know that there are unexpected things and they can practice their response to the unexpected.
Why write? I ask this question of myself. I have a couple of answers. I want to remember these halcyon days. They have their bumps and grunts. My memories often run together, lacking exactness. My Dad always kept a log of when when stopped at places. I’ve incorporated that. I think of these as travelogues that I could look back on for info. We often return to places. These are also rough drafts. Written in the field, thrown on our blog quickly with brief windows of web access.
My writings are tweets, small thoughts, nuggets generated in the newness of travel. I might or might not flesh out the words later. They are there to be formed in the future. Mostly, they wait for photos to light up my words. It’s easy to say “I’ve been here and I’ve been there.”. That can be boring. But words and photos together have power to excite and transport fellow readers along on my travels.
Canadian ending. It started with the poutine last night. It ended with our lunch at Tim Hortons off exit 92 on Highway 11 before the Sumas xsing. Tim Horton’s expands the options of fast food with nice bread, bagels, and doughnuts. There are soups and nice sandwiches. We feast on fruit before we arrive. We finish our 3 apples, 2 bananas, and 4 carrots. Our meal was good. Bagels, chili, egg and chicken sandwiches, a doughnut split, hot chocolate, and milk. It was almost vaguely healthy.
1300 we wait at the border with our media going. 40 min; a quick efficient crossing.
Back in the USA!