Unscheduled Road Trip

I was on the road this week. Much further than my usual road trips, which I take frequently for work. This one neither for work, nor happy reasons. It's been about 5 years, I think, since I last drove this particular route. We drove in convoy, and my mother was with me in my car, the rest of them (dad, sister & her fiancé in the other) when we went through MTL on the way there. I hadn't been through the tunnel in years and thought I saw them take a turn off one of the various convoluted ramps on the 40 and we ended up going the wrong way. My mom & I laughed and laughed. We text messaged with them, turned ourselves around and got back on. As we approached the tunnel (a few kms still to go, actually), the traffic was thick and I thought I'd take the opportunity to text and let them know we were on the right track again. I wrote: "entering tunnel". My dad phoned and said, "Where the hell are you????". I explained where we were and he let out a sigh of relief. You see, they were ahead of us and hadn't yet entered the tunnel, so they panicked thinking - they are either headed downtown MTL or they have somehow found a short-cut to the tunnel that we don't know about. Again, Mom & I laughed, and laughed when we thought about what they must have been saying when they got that text. BTW... somebody got a speeding ticket on our drive down - and it wasn't me!! ;)

Funny stories aside, it was a very quick trip to Fredericton. And other than the trip I will be making next fall for my sister's wedding, it very well may be one of my last. Now that my grandfather is gone, only one of my aunts and my cousin would be a draw for me to go there, and even then, it would likely only be if I were driving to visit my grandmother in the place, besides where I now live, which I feel is home. The drive was filled with nostalgia... I've driven out east so many, many times in past years. There were all kinds of landmarks that we'd drive past and say: "oh I'd forgotten about that!". The last few times I've gone home I've flown, so the drive was kind of special this past week. It was good to go. It was good to see all of the people I hadn't seen in ages. And it was also good to say goodbye to Grampy. Yeah, that's what we called him.

Here is a cute photo from the old house on Shamrock Terrace, in 1975. Check out the 70's decor & the massive ashtray. He was way skinnier then, but just as bald! I guess I was almost as bald then too. lol!