FEAR, LOATHING, ENDLESS TREES

The missus wanted to see Algonquin Park, so thither we duly went. To reprise what I said about northern Lake Superior; trees, rocks, lakes, repeat.

That could be a little unfair. They have a terrific visitor center in the park, and some good hiking trails, and lots of tourist type stuff to do and buy. But if it’s great scenery you’re looking for, I’m telling you, trees, rocks, lakes…a moose and mosquito place .But I’m glad we saw it. There’s a place just outside the park called Whitney which is home to a couples retreat. Not an event but an establishment. Some folks we met told us about it so we checked it out and it is pretty fine. The idea is that only couples can register, and they advertise it as Valentine’s Day every day. Ya. All inclusive, with power boats, canoes, swimming pool, and so on. Nine hundred and fifty bucks for two nights. Which goes to show, once again, that love hurts. Not our cuppa.

Tomorrow it’s off towards Ottawa, where we are going to wrestle with two bogeymen; one, our reticence about boondocking, and two, my resentment toward the bastard who stole my bike.

I think the majority of people would have at least some nerves about sleeping on vacant parking lots at night. I looked up fear of the dark, called Nyctophobia, and apparently 50% of adults have it in some degree. Me too, I gotta say. Hard to get a good sleep when only one eye is closed. That said, we have a car we can detach and do some reconnoitering, which we did to good effect the other night in a place called Bancroft. Took the car off downtown under the watchful eye of the town crawlers, bopped around until we found the right situation, and then got the moho and set up there. It was right across the lot from the local cop shop, sanctioned by a friendly cop who said we’d be fine there. That was ok.

In Ottawa, we’re going to attempt a proactive approach. Roll in, detach the car, search and establish. Wish us luck.

As for my thief hatred, I don’t know what to do about that. Get over it, I guess. That’s the most obvious, in fact the only, solution. Today I calculated how many days I worked to get that bike (4), the moral qualifications of the thief (low), and other thoughts, all of them totally dead end.

So I’m gonna try some proactive, forward looking stuff. Look up some bike shops in Ottawa. Peruse Craigslist and used Ottawa for bikes. Phone around. Get another one. Bad enough that loser took my bike, but now I’m giving him free rent in my head. That’s gotta go.

Down with fear. Out with resentment. Onward and upward.

PS

We have friends in Peterborough whose kids were raised with our kids. The oldest of their kids shared a stage with Hizzoner Justin T. the other day. I’ve never done that. You neither I bet.