IT’S ALL GOOD,
EVERYTHING’S FINE.
HEADIN’ SOUTH…
GOIN’ DOWN 69 !!!
The highway, of course!
Okay, the first couple of lines of my ‘prose’ aren’t exactly true but…
After a couple of absolutely brutal, freezing cold nights in the van, it seems I’ve arrived in the tropics; day time temps in the mid to high teens. On top, I wore just a t-shirt for the first time in a month or more (instead of the usual 2, 3 or more layers)…and they actually mentioned something on the weather forecast about a UV Index!?!
Spent most of today (Wed, Oct 6) plotting my course for tomorrow. That suddenly got a little challenging in this neck of the woods (south of Parry Sound), as I start getting into ‘400 series’ highways, where pedestrian traffic is not allowed. The funny part is nobody seemed to be able to give me any real solid advice as to the most direct alternate routes to Toronto; the OPP sent me to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, which sent me to the Chamber of Commerce…which was closed today!!! So, with some advice from a few people and a reasonably detailed map, I plotted my course for tomorrow, which involves walking 5 km (in both directions, on 69), then driving about 18 km south on 400, walking 16 km (in both directions, on the ‘Old 69’), then driving 3 km further south, to my starting point for Friday.
If you haven’t done so yet, please check the freshly-updated schedule link, which gets me right through to Montreal…and the end of the Canadian leg of the JTFW.
The fact that I have ZERO corporate sponsorship/funding continues to frustrate and infuriate me. HELLO CORPORATE CANADA (and Corporate America): There’s no need to be afraid of so-called ‘Big Tobacco’! Other than all of the carnage it’s responsible for, it’s not really all that scary! Stop treating the tobacco industry like a hot potato! It is the leading — AND MOST EASILY AND CHEAPLY PREVENTABLE — cause of disease, disability and premature death, by far…and it can and must be shut down, period! Ultimately, all that’s required is a little bit of POLITICAL WILL…and that’s what I’m trying to generate, but I can’t do it alone and with no money!!!
That said, a huge “THANK YOU!” to Dave Bialkowski of TRYSPORT (www.ontariotrysport.com), here in Parry Sound. Dave did what Running Room, Mitch’s and others couldn’t/wouldn’t: He gave me a new pair of runners. The ones I’d been wearing since Medicine Hat, Alberta (about 2,500 km ago, bearing in mind that about 400 – 700 km is the ‘life expectancy’ of an average pair of runners) gave out…and caused a couple of severe blisters (one on the side of my heel) that required a visit to Parry Sound Hospital a couple of days ago. And many thanks to the awesome staff there, too…one of whom suggested TRYSPORT.
ATTENTION ALL POLITICIANS: Public support for the idea of shutting down the global tobacco industry — both the legal and illegal industries — is huge! I’ve talked to hundreds of people across the country (both non-smokers and smokers) and, with the exception of a CBC radio reporter in Regina, support is unanimous!!! So please, give it the attention it deserves.
47,000 PREMATURELY DEAD CANADIANS, ANNUALLY, IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! THE FACT THAT 47,000 CANADIAN TEENS AND/OR PRE-TEENS MUST START SMOKING EACH AND EVERY YEAR (that’s 123 per day!), JUST FOR THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY TO ‘BREAK EVEN’, IS EVEN LESS ACCEPTABLE. IN FACT, IT’S OBSCENE! THE TIME IS LONG PAST DUE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!