Journey To The Center  

Just another short post as I’m writing this from atop the hoodoo field at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park as this is the only spot where the 3G connection will work. It does not work down on the river flats where the campground is located.

I’ve been enjoying the peacefulness here. It is one of the quietest places I have spent time as there is very little human-generated sound due to lack of other campers and the physical location of the park.

A couple of posts back, I mentioned that I was trying to make time to stop and look at things along my route. In particular, I have paused to photograph old barns which are in danger of collapse. The one in the above photo is just east of Brandon, Manitoba, next to the TransCanada highway. I drove back along a service road to photograph it in the morning after stopping the night at a nearby motel.

This barn is further west along the same highway. I had noticed it in both previous crossings of the prairies and decided to turn off and drive along the service road which I then had to back up along for about a half-mile. I love this one for the way in which the colour of the building eches those of the landscape. Also, the shape is so impossible and puts me in mind of Frank Gehry’s design for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

The last artifact in this post was found in the grass at a rest stop at the turn-off for the Qu’appelle Valley scenic route. Somehow, I thought that civilization had moved beyond the Age of Stink Bombs, but apparently not. *sigh*

Just a short post today. I’ve been camped at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park after crossing the prairies from Thunder Bay to Swift Current in 3 days of fairly steady driving. This year, I moteled it across that part of the journey as most campgrounds were closed. From this point on, I hope to camp most nights.

I thought these two photos were a nice pair to post together as, in many ways, they represent my thoughts these days. I seem to be divided between east and west, north and south, life and death, and a number of other planes or dimensions meaningful only to me.

I’m sometimes asked about traveling alone. Am I lonely? No, I just feel alone because that’s the way my life is now – through no choice of my own, but just because that’s how it is. Am I afraid to travel alone? No, because there are worse things to be afraid of, many of which will find you even in the perceived safety of your own home. Is it hard to travel? No, I think I have everything I need here in the van – a good bed, plenty of good food and a stove on which to cook, warm clothes, two dogs who keep me company, plenty to do each day just driving, making and breaking camp and cooking meals. It’s all okay. Life actually seems simple while I’m on the road, even though it is hard in other ways that only those who travel for many weeks or months will understand.

I have more posts and photos coming up soon and hope to put them up before too long. Stay tuned.