So in my preparations to be out of my current apartment, amongst the selling of my furniture to the craigslist monsters, while sorting, cleaning and donating I found one more creature I had to contend with. For as long as I can remember I’ve had a metal box that I’ve been throwing pennies into. I roll and spend my other loose change on a regular basis but pennies always just got tossed into this thin metal box. Well, the penny box has gotten to the point that it weighed about 50 pounds. I’m not kidding.
Since I’m stressed for time and not about to sit and roll 50 pounds worth of copper I decided to look for a machine I once saw at the local Safeway that counted the coins, took 10% and gave you a receipt that you could then collect your “real” money from the checkout person. What a great idea I thought. Soon after seeing those machines all those machines were suddenly gone. I’m not sure why.
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Category: Praise and Rants, Preparation, Resources, Side Notes
Tags: British, Canada, change, coins, Columbia, Commercial Drive, counter, counting, dimes, loose, machine, nickles, pennies, resources, SuperValue, Vancouver One Comment
So about three years ago when I was actually making decent money I bought a 30 GB Ipod with Video. Great little music player, lots of room, love it. Then as I wanted to use my nifty music player on my road trips I bought a Griffin FM transmitter. Grand total of over $450.
While on my last road trip, Ipod was nestled securely in the Griffin holder that’s plugged into the lighter outlet of my truck. Songs playing,…then…crackle, crackle…nothing. Seems I could see the songs, scroll through my playlists, see the album artwork etc, just no sound would come out of the music player that I’ve grown to love. When I got home I started looking into why. Internet says there’s a known issue with the solder job on the logic board. A known Apple problem.
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Category: Praise and Rants, Preparation, Side Notes
Tags: 4G, apple, bc, Canada, iphone, ipod, irepair, irepair.ca, mac, north vancouver, service, simply computing, simply.ca, Vancouver, west broadway Leave a Comment
I was late getting out of Calgary as I was working on some edits because I hadn’t done many in a while. In addition it was grey and gloomy in the city. Once I hit the road I traveled South down the 22. It felt good to be back on the road, especially knowing that I’m closing in on home. I love this form of travel, I could do a lot more of this. Right now though I’m getting excited to get home and reconnect with my friends and family and experience some of the Olympic energy in the city I call home. I’m sure by summer I’ll be jones-ing for another trip though.
As I drove today I was watching the sun fall behind the Rockies with just a hint of open space between the clouds and the mountains. I saw a few old cars but they all seemed to be on private land on working homesteads at the end of long driveways so I simply moved forward. No matter what happens at this point my creative well is full. More shots would be awesome but if the weather simply isn’t there or the opportunities don’t present themselves I’ll just keep heading West.
There’s a lot in BC that I still want to see, but since I live here, some weekend trips will definitely be taken later on this year.
In Sparwood BC tonight. It’s trying to rain. Funny, I can’t remember the last time it rained on me, kind of missed it.
No Continental Breakfast For You
Category: Cross Canadian Road Trip 2009-2010
Tags: Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, Canada, energy, Olympics, Photography, photos, rain, Rockies, Sparwood, travel Leave a Comment
I’ve been here in Springhill Nova Scotia at my sister’s place. It’s been a nice change from the truck, perfect timing for a rejuvenation and some “people” time as I’m sure I was beginning to talk to myself.
Today I made a quick trip into Amherst to get Sunni and the kid’s computer looked at as they’ve been down for awhile. Was able to get them up and running again.
Tonight the four of us put up the Christmas tree. Tomorrow I’m going to do some more editing and with any luck upload a bunch of shots.
Faded Knight
Things are great. Life is good. A nice break with family before I take on the “wintery” part of my journey as I’m now convinced that January and February will contain a lot more snow. I look forward to it. This is after all, Canada.
To really show how impromptu this whole trip was here’s something I didn’t consider until recently.
Newfoundland is an island, (really I did already know this). What I didn’t even think to consider when leaving home is that there would be costs for ferries. I’ve taken two so far. One was a free short 10 minute trip in Quebec and another was $46.00 from Baie-Comeau, Quebec to Matane Quebec as I was anxious to get to the Gaspe Peninsula and Perce Rock.
Now after that one I started looking into the ferry to Newfoundland as it won’t be a cross Canada trip if I can’t get there. The problem is the combined vehicle and driver price for a one way trip is $110.25. Whoa, that’s $220.50 there and back. I know it’s dumb on my part but I didn’t think it would be this much. What I also didn’t know is that it can take from 4.5 to 6 hours. Not a big deal as I’m not in a hurry but the price is a bit of an issue.
I’ll be seeing what I can do as I really was looking forward to standing as East as one can get in North America and to be able to say that I DID completely cross Canada. Not to mention that people have been telling me about the photo opportunities there. I may just have to bite the bullet and fore go Tim Hortons for awhile.
Meandering back and forth across the “lots” that make up the rural areas of P.E.I the sky was threatening most of the day. The radio said it was coming. I didn’t find a whole lot for shots. Plus with my recent photographic disappointment looming in the recesses of my psyche I was a little less than enthused about the gray clouds overhead.
After a disappointing visit to “historic” Orwell Village I eventually found myself at Point Prim and the lighthouse. The wind was cutting through everything and there was traces of small hail being blown through. As I took a few shots of the tall beacon and then some of the sea the sun tried desperately to peak through the scattered clouds. This was just enough to make the shots and the day worthwhile. As I collapsed the legs on my tripod and started back to the truck it came. Full on, sideways incoming, big flakes of wind fed snow.
For the first real snow to hit me on December 1st while on a cross Canada road trip is pretty impressive. I really can’t complain and so I won’t. Live is good. I’m in Mantaque, P.E.I borrowing a low signal stream of wireless parked in a quiet church parking lot while the last sprinklings of the days snow subside. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and clear here, Thursday rainy but with the balmy temperature of plus 13. …and so I continue.
Implosion of the Heart
Category: Cross Canadian Road Trip 2009-2010
Tags: Canada, cloudy, Lighthouse, Mantaque, New Brunswick, Orwell Village, P.E.I, Point, Prim, rain, Road Trip, snow, wind, winter 3 Comments
I decided today that I wanted to continue on my way in finding a few things that I’ve found in this Canadian road trip book I have. After reading about the islands and tall wind eroded rock towers close to Mingan Quebec I was off and running. What I didn’t realize is the distance away from Roberval they really were.
Upon arriving here in Mingan, my gas light is on and this little town (village) is rolled up dark. I drove through into the night as the roads were good and since I have to backtrack West again I’ll see anything I missed due to the darkness anyway.
So here I wait for morning, alarm set to get a jump on the sunrise, as soon as I fill up.
I’m here in Ottawa, just got in and decided to bite the financial bullet and get a room. I looked for something cheaper until I simply ran out of energy and settled for a mid level Value Inn with internet to work on this site.
I’ve been zig-zagging all around the area between Carleton Place and here today. I found old barns, a cool little spot by the Packeham Bridge along the Mississippi River (yes we have one too). Upon coming into Ottawa I found an old car body shop with three old cars out front and took some night shots of them with the modern day traffic going by.
The last two days have produced some great shots. The weather since Toronto has been awesome for the most part. The temperature is starting to drop again but I’m ready. It’s funny, I actually look forward to getting out of the cities and onto the back roads, not sure why but rush hour traffic ANYWHERE simply sucks. Drivers, fast food joints, everyone gearing up for Christmas, all the same in each city. I simply don’t have the money to chill and find the cool vibes in each city as they get expensive, so the open road is more appealing. Walmart parking lots have become my friends at night. I’m gearing up for the next few days in the truck. I may bypass Montreal this time and hit it on the way back, we’ll see. I tend to break my own plans on this trip, because I can.
Some Breaking Sun in Saskatchewan
Until next time,
W
