West End Girl

I would like to start this post by saying I have been a little frustrated over the past few days.  I have allowed the negativity of others to take over my entire thought process and in turn I have spent the last couple of postings shedding these experiences and passing the negativity onto those of you actually reading them.  I would like to let you all know that I had several hours today to think about what I share and what I don’t and I have decided to focus on only the positive but not shy away from letting people know about the hardships I do face on this tour. 

Today was a day of realizations!  I realized that a small town girl from the west side of Canada is no match for the big city Interstates of east coast USA.  I am sure if I could have found a place to pull over between Boston Massachusetts and Hartford Connecticut I would have done just that. Once pulled over I would have probably taken the opportunity to rock back n forth in my car and cried like a little girl till I had nothing left to cry about!!!  It was a little chaotic from start to finish.  Hard rain for eight hours, two wrong turns which added two extra hours to my drive, interstates that have special lanes for people who are not me and of course once you manage to get yourself into those lanes it is prohibited to get yourself out. lol  To top off the craziness of a drive gone horribly wrong... I found myself smack dab in the middle of downtown New York City; lost, nervous, upset and using words and phrases I didn’t even know existed.  Actually to be quite honest, I don’t think they do.  They did however work for the situation and I will be apologizing profusely to Betty Lou tomorrow for my treatment of her throughout the day J  Trust me when I say, if you ever plan on driving alone through these big cities in the pouring rain during rush hour....Please for the love of socks, purchase for yourself a Betty Lou!  Feel free to give her another name but I highly recommend having the technology.  Without it I am pretty sure I would have parked my car somewhere in the Bronx; after turning the right direction down the one way street of course.  Got out, walked to the air port, put pepper in my bag and flown home.  I was never so happy to see a building on the side of the road as I was today.  It was a strange experience to not have a view of anything but trees to the sides and semi trucks everywhere else.  It was almost a claustrophobic feeling after a while.  You know it’s bad when you start longing for the TransCanada highway between Saskatchewan and Manitoba lol

I am now in Hagerstown Maryland and I was quite surprised to find that the outskirts of Pennsylvania look a little like lush green Alberta farmland.  Such as welcome site after the morning and the drive I had today. 

To finish up this post I need to send out a great big Hello and Thank You to the Gilfoy Family in Nova Scotia.  Contrary to how I looked in my video blog, I was thoroughly enjoying myself there.  Joan, Tim (Timmy) and Kirin (sp) made me feel so comfortable.  I was still not feeling all that well and ended up hanging out for a few days and just writing in my journal.  I had no idea I could write that much and still want to write more.  Joan gave me a tour of a little scenic loop they have near Antigonish.  The weather was cold to start but the sun eventually came out and made the tour even that much more special.  She treated me to lunch and it was so great to just sit and talk about anything and everything and just learn how someone else views the world.  I managed to wiggle my way in to staying there for an entire week and I think it is safe to say that Joan and I kind of fell into an instant routine.  Once she stopped calling Mona that is lol After dinner we would sit on the couch and just talk.  The topics would vary but I can honestly say that I enjoyed the conversations so much, that I find myself missing them already.  The Gilfoy’s are an incredible family and they come from a town of incredible people.  The stereotype is not misleading at all.  Maritimers, or true easterners as they say are in fact some of the kindest people you will ever meet.  It really is a beautiful place and my last day there I was treated to some of the most spectacular rainbows I have ever seen.  I do hope to get back there one day.  There really is so much to see out there but so little time to see it.  Of course I will probably make sure I return in the summer ;-) for longer longer days lol nothing to do with the warmth and sunshine.

As for the remainder of this week, I am off to North Carolina tomorrow and from there I am heading into Atlanta Georgia.  I will be taking some travel time off and spending a few days there.  I hope to get caught up on some videos that you have all told me you love so much.  And maybe catch up on some rest and relaxation.  Ok, maybe just some relaxation lol I am sure Pepper will be ready for another few days off after the last couple travel days.

Please take care and I will have another video for you ASAP J

M