Sent on May 26 & 28, 2003 from Canada.

US$= Canadian$1.5 or Canadian$=74 US cents.  Gasoline is twice
as expensive here, 65-75 Canadian cents per liter for
low-grade lead-free.

Report: Miami + 1800 miles North = Niagara, Toronto + 2100
miles West = Regina & Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Edmonton &
Calgary, Alberta, on my way to Alaska, on my way to circling
North America--I did circle the USA twice already.


1. West Virginia. I left Miami a bit early on my way north,
only because my sis in Calif was visiting my other sis and
Mother in West Virginia and we wanted to be together.  The
weather was nothing like what one would expect in those
parts in late May, cold and steady drizzle.  So I left a
day after my Calif sis, heading north to Niagara Falls and
almost cloudless warm weather.

2. Niagara Falls.  As I had mentioned in an earlier report,
this is one of my most favorite sites in North America, the
spot where the (Great) Lakes Erie and Ontario meet in a
thunderous handshake.  Yet I had no photo of me there.  So
I came back just for a photo (Ah, vanity . . .), and to
visit an old family friend in Toronto--where I also made a
new friend.

3. Gorgeous weather along the route West.  From Toronto I
headed Southwest to Cleveland, Ohio (a very pretty mid-size
city, also on Lake Erie, passing thru parts of New York,
Pennsylvania and Ohio), then to the 3rd largest city in
USA, Chicago, Illinois (on Lake Michigan, where I enjoyed
the afternoon browsing the city, the Lakeshore Drive, also
spending the night there).  From there I took the northerly
route to Milwaukee, Wisconsin (also on Lake Michigan) and
enjoyed its very scenic shore drive, then turned west to
Saint Paul & Minneapolis, Minnesota.  St. Paul is a very
pretty small city, about 1/4th the size of its more unruly
twin Minneapolis.  (I would say it deserves a visit.)

4. A very unfortunate deer.  Just as I was about to depart
from my browsing of Minneapolis, I got a call on my cell. 
As I was replying to it, I missed a stop sign and hit a car
from its side.  My (plastic) front bumper got crooked but
otherwise the event was a minor mishap, at 8pm CST, my
first accident in several decades--despite all the speeding
tickets, etc.   The next event was not minor, in which I
was very fortunate but the beautiful doe.  At 5am, just as
I was passing an 18-wheel truck from the passing lane, the
truck hit the doe with the front left of its bumper.  It
was going about 70 miles per hour, I was going about 80. 
The next thing I saw was this deer in the air, heading for
me, all in split seconds but the surreal image in my mind's
eye as if in slow motion.  I immediately hit the brakes and
swerved towards the truck a bit hoping to avoid full impact
from the deer.  It landed on my already crooked front
bumper and made me lose control.  I jerked sideways in
front of the truck, also in the process of breaking, also
to avoid hitting me.  It did hit my car on right rear and
threw me into the ditch on the side of the road, but
without rolling the car.  I rode the car along the ditch
until I found a spot with less steep sides, got back on the
road (now with dangling front bumper), backed up to site of
the accident, called 911 on my cell . . .  But for the
bumper the car functioned.  I got off at the next exit,
found Walmart, got some wire to tie down the bumper and
continued on my way, this being a Saturday on Memorial
Weekend . . .

5. Some days . . .  The "mishap" cycle that began at 8pm
the night before continued to the next day.  I made it to
Fargo, North Dakota, headed north Grand Forks, to enter
Canada at Emerson and head for Winnipeg, Manitoba.  My idea
was to head west to Regina then Northwest to Saskatoon,
then more so to Edmonton, Alberta, the latter 2 the only
major cities I have NOT seen in Canada.  From there I would
head still more Northwest to Prince Rupert, British
Columbia, to get on the ferry to Juneau, Alaska.

Well, the Canadian border patrol at Emerson behaved like
the guards at the old Berlin Wall.  Seeing all the stamps
in my passport, apparently they got suspicious and began
searching everything in my car, including 2 large storage
bags, one travel bag,  everything under the seats, the
tent, attache cases . . . everything.  Then they said I had
5 cartons of cigarettes instead of the allowed 1 and fined
me C$40 per carton (for 3), took out the pepper-spray can
and fined me C$200 for that.  All the pills and medicines I
had with me were examined.  The worst was the bottle of
antibiotics my (pharmacist) sister had given me for
treating infections during travel.  Since there was no
label on the bottle, they said they would confiscate and
treat it as a "controlled substance," thus also
confiscating my car, they said.  Bemused, I said "surely
you guys have learned to differentiate between crack
cocaine and antibiotics? adding, well I am in your country
and enjoying your hospitality . . ."  (OK, my darts at them
may have contributed to the fines, but having been
confronted by a flying deer at 5 that morn, I was not about
to pushed around by 2-bit Keystone cops.)  Well, they were
annoyed enough to fine me a total of C$320, and to REFUSE
me entry to Canada.  Not only that, but also gave me a
sheet to give to the guards at the USA side, that I had
been refused entry.  This prompted the USA side to search
every inch of my car too.  I lost about 7 hours on this
ordeal, including 1.5 hours of drive each way to Great
Falls.

6. Reentry.  First I got pissed enough to say "never again,
Canada."  But, Canada only served as the gateway to my tour
of Alaska.  So I took Rt. 2 west--the most northerly
east-west route from central USA, just north of I.94--to
Minot, North Dakota, Rt.52 Northwest to the even more
desolate Portal to cross to Canada at 11 that night.  I
told the border girl.  I have been denied entry at
Emerson--True!--that afternoon for not declaring all my
cigarettes, that I am trying entry again, as, in my mind,
the rejection had no valid reason.  After checking me out
for an hour on the computer--huh, I had finger prints taken
in California?--this time really impressed with all the
stamps in my passport, after some more search in the car, 3
women guards accompanied me to the car, told me which way
to go, which towns (before Regina) I might stay at, etc.
and wished me a safe journey.  How nice.  I drove instead
all the way to Regina and arrived there at 2:30am, thus
completing 24 hours of continuous drive, that began with a
sad deer.  I am typing this at Cafe Ultimate at downtown
Regina.  Will site-see for a few hours and then head for
Saskatoon, about 4 hours West and North from here.

7. LANDSCAPE.  The entire Nordic area that I traversed
qualifies as prairie, in this case also called high plains,
or as in Scotland, highland.  Such landscape also includes
central Kansas comprised of endless cultivated fields.  It
does get monotonous after a while.  However, as you get
further north, there is much more water, in the form of
small rivers, wetlands, lakes, ponds, what have you. (So a
paradise to the mosquito populations here, as your
windshield will confirm if you drive around in this area in
the Spring.)  So mixed with rolling hills, these lands are
much more picturesque than central Kansas, or Iowa, or
Nebraska.  This said, unique landscape, like that of the
Grand Canyon, the Bosphorus (Istanbul), Cappadocia
(Turkey), Machu Picchu (Peru), Rio . . . are rare. 
Sometimes man-made architecture can substitute, like in the
case of the pyramids and Luxor, Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat, etc.
Even the spectacular Rockies or Andes, or Alps, etc. pale
in comparison to the Himalayas, though if you add the
beauty of the environment around them to them, the former
are at least as beautiful and awesome, each in its own way,
depending on the climate, and general environment.  As for
deserts, although they are not unique as such, the dunes
always get to me.  I love deserts.

As to the cities, the Canadian cities in these parts are
nothing to write home about. They are not ugly as such but
not nearly as neat or lively (i.e., by design, wrong
businesses at wrong places, etc.) say as, for example, the
Australian cities.  This is a general criticism I have of
the cities in USA too, though there are wonderful
exceptions--NY, DC, SF, Miami Beach among them. However
Banff village is really nice, as also Toronto, Montreal,
Quebec, and Vancouver.

8. A bit of Astrology.  Astrology maintains that as one
ages the characteristics of the Sun-sign become the more
dominant over those of the Rising Sign.  I am a very good
example of why this is NOT always so clear.  The interaction
between the Sun sign (individuality) and rising sign (personality,
the mask one wears to public, the way one projects) is
nebulous.  By Sun-Sign (Cancer), I am supposed to be a shy,
sensitive (I am, but more like intuitive and perceptive),
domesticated (well, in some ways, like I am impeccably
organized and decorate my place to be warm, hospitable, and
welcoming), and moody (not really, though this does
manifest as introverted--in my case, taking an inventory of
"what next on the to-do list" or extroverted--mostly this. 
I am all these, as also most other people are so in
degrees.  Yet, the most profound characteristic I
have--premium on freedom, travel, sense of and love for
adventure, directness, etc.--are Sagittarian
characteristics, my rising sign, which at 29Sag42 is almost
at Capricorn, thus with the complex characteristics of that
sign in the pot too (e.g., grand projects, like my web
sites).  This is why many non-Cancers may come across,
indeed behave, more Cancer than I do. Ultimately all this
manifest most convincingly in one's life-style.  So project
this onto yourself, and understand why most natal reports
ring a bell but can never really pick one's fingerprints.