Posted on March 14, 2015 under Storytelling with no comments yet

Carefree Highway

( Peter MacDonald photo )

 

 

Tip # 11: Try to keep your gas tank topped up at all times

This seems like a no brainer but it is especially important when crossing the desert.  Most people who take long excursions will gas up every couple of hours or so when they stop for coffee or a bite to eat.

We pulled out of Austin and headed west for El Paso.  Passing through the small town of Stonewall, Texas, we noticed a lot of signage with the names of former President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson prominently featured.  A quick “Wiki check” and we discovered that Stonewall is famous for two things: peaches and the home of the late President.  I remarked to Pete that I can still vividly recall the swearing in ceremony for President Johnson aboard Air Force One shortly after the assassination of JFK in Dallas in 1963.

The price of gas was all over the map in the southern U.S.  In most places, gas was competitive and cheap.  We had stopped for a bite in Ozona and, seeing that gas prices there were on the high side, we decided to soldier on knowing that gas stations can be found every 50 kilometers or so.  Except in Texas … in the desert.

You’ll have to check out the full story about how we ran perilously low on gas and nearly found ourselves stranded in a two person town in the middle of nowhere (“ No Fuelling Around “).

After averting this misadventure we made our way to El Paso which borders New Mexico and Mexico.  Our last gas stop of the day was in a small town that had been at the epicentre of an ice storm a few days earlier.  The I-10 had to be closed for two full days and they recorded close to 175 accidents (many of them serious) in the span of a few kilometers.

Tip # 12:  Don’t touch the cactus plants

Duh.  We didn’t actually knowingly place our hands on any cactus plants but if you’re not very careful, you can walk by one of them and later find sharp, spiky objects lodged in your jeans.

The first thing you notice after the majestic mountains when you enter New Mexico is a very distinct smell.  Cows.  Lots and lots of cows.  Thousands and thousands of bovines.  It looked and smelled like a major feedlot and rendering plant.  I’m not a member of PETA but it certainly made me think about where my hamburger meat comes from.

We stopped and spent several hours in Saguaro National Park in Arizona, admiring the dizzying array of cactus plants.  To get back on the Interstate we had to drive right through downtown Tucson.  A lot of Canadian snowbirds (the human variety) winter in Tucson and I can see why.  The city appears immaculate and the climate is perfect, according to the locals.  But where do they get the water to keep everything looking lush and green in such an arid climate?  It won’t surprise me if someday soon water becomes a bigger cross-border export than oil for Canada.  Move over Keystone XL pipeline.

We reached a fork in the road and chose the I-8 instead of continuing on to Phoenix.  “I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost

Tip # 13: Accept Randomness

The world has become smaller.  You never know who you are going to bump into … electronically or in person.  Sometimes it’s downright bizarre and unsettling when a set of coincidences coalesce and you find yourself talking with someone in the most unlikely of places.  It’s difficult to explain randomness.  I’m not even going to try.  I accept it.

I have never been to Yuma, Arizona.  And I don’t know anyone who lives there … or so I thought.  Our trip across the desert found us spending the night in Yuma, which is right on the border of California and Mexico.  It was our most expensive hotel stay to date but well worth it.

Early the next morning I opened my e-mail as was my routine.  I was surprised to find a note from someone who had been following our travels.  I had never met this person before but oddly enough, had written a story about her and her husband last year.  (See page 85 in my second book for the story “Taken For a Ride”).  She mentioned that she lived in Yuma, Arizona and if we happened to be passing through; maybe we could look her up.  An hour later, I was sitting at a McDonald’s having coffee with Eleanor and Richard.

Not only did we have a great chat and several laughs but they also gave us several great tourist tips.

Tip # 14: Safest border crossing to Mexico – Los Algodones (near Yuma, Arizona)

Before our trip began we had agreed on several things.  One of those was that we would not travel to Mexico.  Several of the crossings are downright dangerous and, quite frankly, neither of us had the urge to go anyway.  The chance meeting at McDonald’s changed all that as our friends recommended this border crossing, only 8 miles away.

We left our vehicle in a large parking lot with high fences and higher security.  We clutched our passports like winning lottery tickets and walked across the border.  No checking going in to Mexico.   Need some dental work done?  Laser eye surgery?  Heart repair?  Apparently in this small Mexican town you can get all of these procedures done 80% cheaper than in the U.S.  Needless to say this is a very popular spot.  Virtually every business in town, other than street vendors and restaurants, was health care related and you couldn’t walk ten feet without someone trying to hustle you in for a quick fix.

We had lunch, purchased a few gifts (including a bottle of tequila) and made our way back to our car, all in the space of two hours.

( To be continued )

Posted on March 10, 2015 under Storytelling with one comment

Slip slidin’ away

 

 

“When I get older losing my hair

Many years from now”

When I’m 64 – Paul McCartney

When I was young, I had hair in abundance.  I was a reasonably good athlete and an average student.  I wasn’t what one would consider young and brash, but most of us in our 20s figured that we had it all, and more importantly; we knew it all.  Our parents told us lots of things that we dismissed as sheer folly.  After all, what did old geezers with gray hair know about the ways of the world?

A lot, as it turns out.

Paul McCartney wrote “When I’m 64” when he was 16 years old … a pretty prescient piece of writing, if you ask me.  This song rattles through my head from time to time but these days, it is bordering on an earworm, as I stare down the barrel of 64 this summer.  And (gasp!), a year later, if all goes well, I will be receiving my first Old Age Security cheque.

How did this happen?

Our parents told us that life would fly by.  Put a check mark by that one for sure.  A very large check mark.  When we were kids, summers were endless.  After getting our report cards (and often a scapular medal or a small bible from one of the nuns, for good behaviour), we wandered out into everlasting summer.  We hiked up Sugarloaf, we spent countless hours at the beach; we climbed trees and didn’t have a care in the world.

Many of us went to trade school or university and came out with a piece of paper that set us on life’s journey.  We were a confident lot with good health and good vision.  We were sure of step and, other than an athletic injury here or there, our bodies and minds were strong.

So, exactly how does it feel to be a senior citizen?  As Andy Rooney once said, “I’ve learned that life is like a roll of toilet paper.  The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.”   In many ways, we are far more self-assured now than when we were young scruffs.  We have learned many lessons along the way and have graduated, on many occasions, from the “school of hard knocks”.   We are, by and large, very comfortable in our own skins.  We are smart enough to let go of the small things and save our energy for things that really matter.

But in other ways, we are less confident in stuff that we once took for granted.  Our vision is not quite up to snuff and many of us deplore driving after dark.  Our hearing is suspect, especially when we are in earshot of our spouses.  And we are certainly not nearly as sure footed as we once were, especially in winter as we shuffle along icy sidewalks exactly like those old people we knew forty years ago.

And pain is a constant, unwanted companion.  Getting out of bed has become an epic battle most mornings.  Mercifully, the coffee producers around the world haven’t gone on strike.  The promise of hot java is what gets most of us moving each day.

And did I mention memory lapses?  I almost forgot to add this to the list of things that seem to be running low on warranty.  With more regularity than I’d like to admit, faces and names that I’ve known my entire life don’t spring to mind and lip as quickly now. Luckily, most of these people are of my vintage and I am comfortable in the knowledge that they are experiencing the same thing.  Misery loves company, as they say.

“Will you still need me, will you still feed me

When I’m 64?”

I’m about to find out.

Posted on March 9, 2015 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Near the Chinese Cemetery – Victoria, B.C.

( Peter MacDonald photo )

We’re just about through “storm chip season.” And thank goodness for that. I’m not concerned about another couple of storms but the thought of trotting back to the grocery store to get the “2 bags for $ 5.00 special,” is troubling. My potato chip intake index ( pcii ) has reached record levels, just like the Nasdaq did 15 years.  I am equally troubled by something else. Do you remember the days when a bag of chips was a bag of chips? I’m talking about a full bag. We have been duped into believing that we are getting a deal on chips when , in fact, we are paying more for less. After all, half of the bag is now filled with air. Yeah, yeah, it probably has something to do with giving the chips a longer shelf life but I ain’t buying that line of argument.

And why am I on this particular little rant? The short answer is toilet paper. Apologies to some of you who have recently signed up for Week45 but on Mondays and Thursdays , I just drone on about life’s little quirks.

So , a buddy of mine was telling me about a recent trip to the grocery store where he discovered that a posted sale on toilet paper was erroneous. What was being touted as a bargain was no bargain when he did some quick mental arithmetic. He brought this to the attention of the store manager and walked out with two additional rolls. Well, then I got to thinking, which is always a perilous road to go down. Some of the advertising in grocery stores is often downright weird. The sign above the tomatoes clearly says “ product of Canada” and each of the beautifully ripened tomatoes has a small sticker that says “product of Mexico.” Duh?

I’m not accusing stores of false advertising. I have enough trouble with shopping ( another common theme in my stories ) without adding this layer of confusion. So rather than being charged for libel, I decided to write a light hearted story. It’s called “ More or Less” and will be appearing right here in a few day’s time.

I wrote two new stories on the weekend. One was about a trip I took to Montreal in 1971 to see a Montreal Canadiens hockey game. We encountered the “storm of the century” en route. Luckily, we were travelling by train. Some of you will remember that golden era when you could get on the train in Antigonish and be deposited underneath the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in downtown Montreal. The city was paralyzed when we got there and we ended up staying at the Q.E…. on the very day that Pierre Elliott Trudeau got married. The story is called “The Habs and the Hab Nots.” Coming soon.

Tomorrow my long awaited story (!) on aging will be published. It’s called “When I’m 64.”

And finally, two brief announcements.  If any of you love the People’s Place Library in Antigonish ( recently voted as the “best public space in Canada” ), you can show that love by making a tax deductible contribution to a fundraising campaign being launched this week by Friends of Antigonish Library ( FOAL ). I am on the Board of FOAL and we raise money for the library for new acquisitions, furnishings etc. If you feel compelled to donate, see me or go to the website for the Pictou Antigonish regional Library and hit the “donate” button. http://www.parl.ns.ca/.

“Spring into Spring.” Grab a friend and join me at Days Gone By Restaurant in Guysborough on Friday, March 20^th. between 5-7 P.M. It’s the first day of Spring and I will be doing a show of music and story telling.

Have a great week.