The Expedition

Mary and Patti had two flat tires yesterday. They were fixed in a little place with a garage and a mechanic within an hour and a half. That was a stroke of luck. They are on the road between Sault St. Marie and Thunder Bay .The scenery is mind-blowing. Stompin' Tom Connors keeps coming to my mind for some reason.

Last night they had cake and water for dinner, they were too tired to care . A little further into the trip, meals will become high points of the day.

I think we all have the instincts of nomads inside us . I used to feel the urge every fall, before the winter set in, to go down to the sea somewhere. I needed to smell it and feel the wind on my face. It was always about driving thousands of miles . Bailey's Irish Cream figured largely at the end of each day.

Every time I went back to Scotland and got off the plane, the dampness in the air was like fingertips lightly touching all over my face. I found out in the island of Mull in the Kyles of Bute ,that the sea air is the reason why the scents of everything that grows are so strong

We were there for just a day and took a taxi to see the whole island....in an hour. The driver told us why the scent of blue bells was so strong. He wouldn't have known it either except he had lived in Winnipeg for years and realised the difference. He had been divorced from his wife and came back to the place he was born to find what he needed to be content.