Days 9-12, 9/25-9/28, Brent camp, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario.
Many of my postings will be brief, as they may also be days apart because of time, internet, and recharging power constraints. When i stay in a camp for two more more days, i will write longer postings, like this one. These postings will usually contain a collection of random thoughts.
I am writing this the evening before i leave Brent camp after four days here that can only be described as glorious. When i worked as a lifeguard in my teens, i recall that some underprivileged kids from Brooklyn visited Lake Tiorati, where i worked. When one of the kids jumped in the lake, which was surrounded by trees, more trees, and still more trees, he shouted to the priest who treated them to the outing, "Father, this is what heaven is like." Sorry to tell you this, kid, but that was purgatory. THIS is heaven. What a wonderful stop on our journey this was. I am thrilled that i made the decision to return here this year for several days, instead of the overnight stop we made last year. It is in the north of this huge park, isolated down a rough 25 mile dirt road, with only 13 sites in this side of the camp, all of which are empty except mine and one other. Fortunately, i got the best site in the whole place, a picture of which i will include with this posting. (other photos will follow separately.) There is no electricity here and so the amenities are purely nature itself, and nature there is. The latreens, however, are the best i have seen....solar heat, carpeted, and elevated at that. Because there is no electricity, there are no showers or laundry (or internet, thank god). I consider that an amenety because look at the time i save. Besides, there's no one here to notice the dirt. And if there were, they would be in the same condition,
The site i have is at the end of the camp, across a large field from the rest of the camp of 13 sites, right next to a burial site for nine hapless loggers who died while floating logs down the river a century ago. It has a hidden driveway entrance that slopes down to a rock entrance to a private beach on the lake. As with dogs, i don't like to rank campsites as i have yet to find one that did not appeal to me. But if i did rank them, this one would surely rank near or at the top of the 150 or so sites i have pitched a tent in on my 4+ road trips so far.
To memorialize Leben and Erde's second visit here, i carved their names in the picnic table. a photo of my handiwork will follow. I was so proud of that. This qis the first time i did that.
There are no bold racoons here as there were at Charleston, but fox, chipmunks and squirrels often drop in for a visit, until they spot Leben and Erde. The weather here is perfect. Fall set in weeks ago and the hills are aleady covered with their autumn wardrobe. In the morning it is about 34 degrees and the high gets to 64. Blue skies every day, a sky full of stars at night. The plaitiff cry of a loon on the lake, the howl of a lone wolf at night. Woodpeckers seem to like the place, too. All of this too was my good fortunate, because the entire week before i got here the weather was just foul, i learned.
I am getting much better at making the nightly campfire. Two nights ago, i gave up when i had no kindling. Tonight, it took one match to yield the roaring fire i am sitting in front of now. A fire in camp is quite different than a fire in a fireplace in the city, which is only for effect. Here it provides light, warmth, a way to prepare my freshly caught tofu, a means to dispose of burnable refuse and remove the food smells from cans (e.g, tofu), a means of warding off intruders (i.e., wildlife on the prowl) and something to stare at as one contemplates the larger questions, thinks about life amidst nature, and wonders what the weather will be at night and in the morning.
During the day, i am the sole occupant of the campground. At night, two other guys across a field make their camp. They're from that air force base just down the road that was made infamuous by its very strange commanding officer. Oh, there is one other occupant, a lone chipmunk who seems to think site #2 is his or hers. Erde seems to disputes that and seems to want to eliminate the competition or play. Leben is just as curious, but is smart enough to know the chipmunk can outrun the two of them. Why waste limited energy, he figures. The fearless chipmunk spends most of the day trying to tease or confuse the two of them by popping out from numerous unpredictable locations, pausing just long enough to whet the dogs' appetites, and then scooting away into the forest, only to repeat the sequence later. The fox who wandered into our camp this morning was smart enough to pop in once and then got the hell out once he saw the three of us, or perhaps my two tent mates. Even though the dogs are off leash all the time, I have to be especially vigilant about Erde. She not only goes into hyper-overdrive when she senses an animal in the area, she is a chaser and a wanderer in general. I am blessed, however, with a wanderer who also has keen tracking skills. She could find her way home from anywhere, and if not home, to the nearest source of treats.
The ipad is not getting in the way as it did last year, perhaps because i was new to it then. In sddition to my occasional blog posting, each morning i sound reveille at 0730 and taps at 2100, play Rachmaninoff's piano concerto #2 as i write and read in the tent sipping a cold glass of Sutter Home wine from its 187 ml plastic bottle (tonight, Merlot California 2009). It also is useful in finding places when i get to the larger towns, which around here is rare. In DC, where one town ends, another begins. Here, where one town ends, another begins in an hour. You don't pass a gas station on the road without going through a complicated arithmetic calculation in your head that may mean the difference between a night in a cozy tent or in a cold vehicle. Fortunately, my gas can on my roof rack holds 5 gallons.
the way i am making this trip this year - staying more than one night in most camps - seems like an entiely different kind of trip. There is time to do the required chores more carefully, time to write in my journal, time to write an occasional posting for my blog, time to do things like carve my dogs' names on a picnic table (one hour) and even time to read.
Speaking of reading, after carting around a dozen books in my library during my first three journeys, last year i took one, an e-book, War and Peace, which i finished, but the audio version. This year, since i knew i would not have enough battery power in my campsites and would be spending several days at each site, i brought along another dozen books. My hope was not to leave a camp until i finished a book. Well, it seems that i need to change that hope or else I'll be stuck in each camp for a month. Now my hope is to not leave a site until i finish one page. So far, so good. The books i brought are those i have had around for a while and have wanted to read...e.g, atlas shrugged, the decline and fall of the roman empire, the death of an illusion, Money on the Move (go ahead, laugh Margie), and Undaunted Courage, the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition. I am readng the last now, and it might even cause me to follow their path back home. Probelm is that it might take me longer to read the book than their journey took.
I thought that the way i am making the trip ths year would give me more to to ponder profound thoughts, e.g., the meaning of life, etc. Well, the only meaning i seem to have time to contemplate is the meaning of the instructions for some of the electronic stuff i brought along. And as for the question of the fate of the human race, well, the only fate i have time to think about is the fate of my new tent in a storm. But it occurred to me that that profound thinking is not needed on these trips. The discipline gained by the daily routine of continuous motion and problem solving actually stays with me for long after these trips, perhaps permanently, and that is more than enough to enhance or encourage that profound thinking when i return. I noticed a significant improvement in this regard last year, my first on-the-road trip in 8 years. I have no idea how this trip will do one better, all i know is that it will. I have made just about every kind of journey one can make, except guided tours, and none produced the kinds of benefits that a road camping trip produces. There is somethng about a road camping trip, especially when it is with my dogs. Time, space, and motion take on entirely different definitions, as does the meaning of relationships, and i mean much more than among people.
Speaking on my new tent, my 7th over 20 years, it is just great, the best i have had. It has front and rear entrances, vestibules at each, and i can stand up straight in just about all of it. But i have yet to see how it holds up in a storm. And now it has its own doormat proclaiming WELCOME in front of faux pebble steps. The other day, as i was riding here, i suddenly thought of buying a doormat. Not ten minutes later, i passed through a small town and lo and behold there was a Walmart. I swung the Defender around, ran inside, and in ten minutes was on my way with my new purchase.
Erde and leben love the tent too. Both of them are the first to enter the tent at night because they figured out that i do not have the heart to evict them from my air mattress, which they race each other to occupy first. I have no regrets jettisoning my cot for Lebn's CATV (canine all-terrain vehicle) as the cold ground is just fine for me now, and Leben loves his new means of transportation. (Karen, again, many thanks for finding this for Leben and for causing me reconsider my earlier decision not to take it. It is one of the highlights of the trip for Leben, which means it is for me too. When i get back, i want to get a "DEFENDER 110" license plate for it, 110 being the larger Defender and Leben's weight. And thanks for introducing me to plastic zip-lock bags. They make life in a camp more enjoyable. Poor Lewis and Clark had to use oilcloth to do what plastic does for me. Maybe when i get beyomd page 30 I'll discover that they invented ziplock oilcloth bags.) Erde shows no sign of jealousy as she gets to run free next to us, stopping at every tree, bush, or scrub to read her p-mail. And she gets just as many treats as Leben gets, which i dispense freely to make him like the vehicle, making him think of the CATV as a giant PEZ dispenser, but one that dispenses treats. Erde Is in heaven here and is taking advantage of it, all at my expense.
Leben seems to genuinely enjoy the trip, too, despite his handicap. He gets to ride every day in his CATV, and goes for about 5 brief walks each day, more than at home, and with a greater variety of smells He is also the benificiary of my munificence, gettng more treats in a day than he does in a month back home. He has not improved much with his walking since we left, but there has been some progress towards his gettng back to where he was just before his operation. I even noticed some improvement beyond that in some small respects. Each day i have to clean and groom him (and Erde too), treat his stubborn, moving-target skin infection, do physical therapy on him, train him in his stroller, and do all i need to do to make sure he is enoying himself, mostly just letting him sleep most of the day (Erde too). At night, the two of the sleep like logs, ignoring the sounds and smells of wildlife just outside our tent door. They seem to prefer sleeping snuggled up against me somehow, but that's fine with me since i could use some of their warmth. And erde makes for a wonderful fur pillow for me. It is a reciprocal relationship. Occasionally, when erde goes into one oh her running in her sleep routines, my head is her ground.
So far, the trip is going better then planned, although i do not expect that to continue. i can never predict where the problems will rear their ugly heads. The defender is working admirably. The dogs are generally behaving, My back is no longer killing me, i am getting stronger each day now that the shakedown period is long over with (i have lost about 7 pounds i figure), and the problems that arise daily have all been resolvable with what i have with me and my ever present ingenuity. The only thing i have bought that i did not take with me is that door mat for the entrance to the tent. I wipe my boots on it each time before entering and the tent is amazingly cleaner. Here all along i thought that Leben and Erde were tracking in all the dirt. It was I.
Many of the provincial parks in canada are closing up for the winter so i have to plan my trip more carefully. From brent, we travel north 600 miles to pukaskwa national park on lake superior for three days, with overnight stops en route at Champlain provincial park and Kettle Lakes provincial park, where we stayed one night last year. From pukaskwa, we head farther north to Thunder Bay and Sleeping Giant provincial park, my fourth visit there, for several days. While there, i will plan the next leg of this journey. The options are: return home by some new, interesting route or head out to Banff in the Canadian Rockies. That may be the end of the line north for this trip, but before returning home we may take a detour of a thousand miles or so to Portland, Oregon, and then follow Lewis and Clark's path home. It took the two years or so for them to make that journey. I hope it does not take us that l long, but if it does, so be it.
I hope to make a few more brief postings over the next few days as i journey to Thunder Bay, and will certainly post a longer one there. I will have to stay there for at least several days as i will have run out of food and will need to restock and get the Defender serviced. I may even make another side trip to world famous Lake bukemiga.
By the way, the jibberish numbers postings you may see here from time to time are the GPS coordinates sent from my satellite phone. If you see one of those and no postings from me after that for several days, please send in the RCMP to come save the dogs. Tell them to leave me where they find me as i do not want to burden my estate with the added cost of shipping me home. It is my hope, however, that it will not come to that. Do not try to reply to those emailed postings as you will pay dearly for them and i do not read the email on my satelllite phone.
It is 1600. Time to prepare the fire for the evening, make the dogs dinner, and then my own. The dogs are eating twice as much on this journey as they eat at home; i am eating half as much.
Ed from Brent Camp.
P.S. i hope to send a few additional photos after i send this one as long as i can get onto someone's wifi. AT&T charges on arm and a leg for 250 mb of date, which just a few photos take up.
P.S. i have no idea what is going on in the world or my affairs back home. The iPad and cellphone got in the way of the trip last year so this year i am not surfing the web when i get a connection, checking my e-mail, retrieving my voice-mail messages, or even reading my own blog. All of that will have to wait until late October.
P.S....as i entered the tent tonight at 1930 hours, the air was crisp, the sky clear except for the many stars and a rising full moonq. How wonderful this all is. Of course, leben and erde beat me into the tent, so i get to sleep on the cold ground again. Maybe if i pass another walmart i will buy one of those large air mattresses. I have an air compressor in my Defender to do the work of blowing it up.
P.S. it is cold in the tent tonight, at least until the dogs and i warm it up. I sit here reading and writing in a winter coat with a pair of gloves on. I can see my breath. The dogs are sleeping soundly beside me. How much better can life get?
Ed Mulrenin
202-747-4704 (mobile)
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