Napannee Fair, Ontario

The guys had come for the Tractor races and the Demolition Derby. The girls, however, had separated off heading for the craft and horticultural exhibits.  When they returned they were singing the praises of the exhibits.  There was a lull between the lawnmower tractor heats and demolition derby..  My brother Ron and I headed over to the exhibits.  It was like stepping back in time.

Mom and Dad loved country fairs.  Ron had competed with gladiolas  in the Fort Garry Horticultural Fair.  Mom always had her beets and carrots in the competitions. She made jam too. And quilted. Only when I was older did I realize how little people did and knew in modern times.  My parents were real.  They had skills and accomplishments.  They didn’t just talk. They weren’t just armchair critics.  Everyone was active so they didn’t have a need for professional activists.
My parents loved life and learning.  Mom was canning, knitting,  crocheting,  writing.  In later life she even learned to play the keyboard organ.  She was involved in the Fort Garry community club, Trinity Baptist Church and later Fort Garry United Church.   Mom’s gardening was her summer joy.  As a result we ate fresh vegetables half the year round. Dad  fixed everything. He took pride in the working of his car and truck.  Built his own 2 car garage. As a kid I remember him pouring cement and making another room in the basement of the house.  As a hunter and fisherman he filled the freezer with wild game. We belonged to the hunting and fishing clubs and enjoyed the annual game dinners.   There was always community.  As kids we took it for granted  most adults were competent like our parents.  Only as an adults living in the city did it become became apparent that most people remained childlike, dependent.    So many adults could only talk tv and sports.  It’s a tragedy really. I  just see so much human waste and addiction today.
Walking about the Napannee County Fair I felt there was hope for the human race.  I loved seeing the ribbons on vegetables and flowers. I loved the woodwork and country art. The multi coloured multi themed quilts were terrific.  So much talent.  So many people do so many interesting things.  There at the Napannee County fair was the evidence that a whole lot of country people had put their time to useful pursuits. Too many people in the city today simply compete with who can buy more of which designer name.

I loved the 4H presentations.  I’ve always loved 4H.  If  I’d lived in the country I’d have been a  member.  My brother and I were in cubs and scouts.  Cubs and scouts were great but our country cousins were in 4H. They raised their own cattle. goats and pigs. They learned all sorts of critical things and life lessons in 4H.  We admired our northern cousins competency.  Real survivalists.   The Napannee 4H had brought their animals out to the fair for competitions.   I loved seeing the bright young men and women..  The attractive well dressed intelligent young women were a breath of fresh air after hearing CBC celebrating silly "slut walk feminists.” Where was the silly CBC when real women were showing they could manage livestock and farms.  The young men and women of 4H were real.  They did things.
 
Here were cows and goats.  The little ponies were darling.  Acapaca’s were not apart of Canada’s farms when I was growing up but they sure seemed at home here.

I loved the chickens and ducks too. I talked with a fellow about the Rhode Island Reds and Aracana’s I’d raised.  Great egg layers.  Ron and I liked the feather footed Brahma’s.  Ron even had a conversation with a rooster.  Watching and listening to the two of them, I laughed.
Having seen the exhibits we collected hot dogs before heading back to the grand stand where people were congregating for the Napannee Demolition Derby.

Lander, Wyoming - journal

This is a sweet little cowboy town.  Quilting and rifles and taxidermy in the fashionable clothing stores.  Lovely little MiddleFork Restaurant across from the friendly bookstore.  I walked about the town before stopping for a coffee here in MiddleFork.  I've decided to have eggs benedict even though I had an express breakie at the Super8 this morning.  With the stream running through this restaurant it's a cool sanctuary from the hot sun on the street. It's only 10:30 am and it's going to be a scorcher. I've enjoyed riding through cow country remembering this is the land of stage coaches, cowboys and Indians, trapping and hunting.  There's even a one shot Antelope outfitter down the street.  I love the tumble weed and craggy layered hills chiselled out of the earth by ancient rivers and land movements.  Lots of pick up trucks on the road.  In the music store next door there were ukulele guitars and lots of fine Christian music books.  I liked seeing the Amy Grant.  I've been making time on this ride doing doing hundreds of miles a day.  Today, with my destination of Denver in range, I decided I'd ease up a little.  Subsequently I've stopped to take a picture of a little church on the way down from Dubois. Now I'm stopping here for breakfast.  I was missing Gilbert on the ride, thinking how he might well have done okay with it.  The heat isn't so bad going at 70 mph.  A dog tied outside the restaurant barked happily when his owners joined him.  Brought the little one to mind.
I was thinking about friendship on the ride down here.  Someone in the last couple of days asked if I was riding alone. When I answered, "Yes." They'd responded with a quizzical expression.
I've always had friends and done a lot with them.  Mostly though married or with a girlfriend, she has been my companion. My father was like that.  Some men have a family and a range of friends they do other things with. I've hunted and travelled some with men but like being alone too.  Guy spoke about feeling lonely after his divorce and a breakup with a girlfriend.  Much of our emotional life revolves around women.
On the road I see a lot of couples, two guys riding together, a guy and a girl on separate bikes, the occasional couple alone and the loner like me. There are a few groups 2 or 3 bikes and usually there's a girl.  I've only see a few "gangs', a half dozen bikes and they're mostly mixed.  I remember reading Jordan's book about being gay and how he said 'gay men have such difficulty being among straight men'. He hadn't realized how sensitive and deep they were but that they had a defensiveness about letting anyone 'in'.  I was surprised in a men's group how many men struggled with their sexuality, their relationships, their feelings of guilt and shame, their fears about fatherhood and being sons.  It was clear that we all share in the human dilemmas.
I enjoyed riding with Donny down to Anacortes.  Another time riding with Dr. Cho and his friend was fine.  But only a few of my friends ride motorcycle, sail or hunt for that matter. Then my schedule is always so complicated. Theirs are more often 'fixed' in a way.  It's hard enough for me with my work to keep a commitment to family plans.  I have had holidays disrupted so often.  Even on this trip I'm getting calls.  My colleague stopped taking holidays, he told me, last month, simply because the work on his return was so much greater and overwhelming.  Now he'll take a few days off but mostly is life is his work. My other clinician friends tend to use their getaways for relaxation time with a woman friend.
I'm a loner in that sense.  I'm riding along missing my dog.  I didn't shave this morning.  Quick shower and hurried getting ready, to a quick breakfast and now I'm a couple of hours down the road enjoying this break. When I'm with others I always seem to be 'waiting' or going slower or taking it easier.  Alone I drove yesterday through hellish heat, horrid downpours with rain that bit my face, then cold high altitude riding with the road covered in mist at times.  I tried to find accommodation but the lodges were full and I almost camped but that would have required going off road some and my fear was the campground would be full.  In the end I was "rescued' near midnight by the Super 8.  When this has happened when women were along they've 'blamed' me and been angry with me, as if I caused the rain, the cold, or the accommodation being full.  Other guys gets somewhat irascible or hopefully have the black humour that such miserable conditions deserve. But even they, like myself, can be ornery. Alone I figure I don't inflict myself on others and I'm freed for a space from their negativity. I deal with so much fear and negativity in my work.  Countless times I feared going off a canyon edge taking a wet corner a little too fast though I'd slowed down. I could worry or just try harder next time to get the angles and speed right with the ever changing and often dangerous road conditions.  The 'bullet has to have my name on it' though I don't want to encourage death.  The trials of adventure and expedition are part of the overall excitement that heighten prayer life and make one feel truly alive. I suppose smart people really would just lie on the beach and stay in 5 star hotels.  I learned from a woman last week that her idea of 'travel' was taking bus tours and going shopping in malls.  I have to remember that when I think of travel it's been bicycling a cross europe, hitchhiking across Canada, driving and camping north america, sailing solo to Hawaii in winter and now motorcycling across the cowboy territories of the US eventually ending up at Sturgis I hope.  It's a different sort of travel.  Most people like the 'idea' of my kind of travel but they don't do it .
I could see bringing my RV to Lander. There's lots of massage and physical therapists in the town making me think that a lot of retired folk with arthritis or rheumatism come her for the hot and dry.  I wonder what the winters are like. Probably similar to midwest Canada but more south I'd think they'd be shorter and more enjoyable as a result. Lots of snowmobile trails signs on the way down to Dubois from Yellowstone.
I wonder if I'll stay in Vancouver if I ever retire.  The cost of housing and the risk of theft is so high I wouldn't want to be living there among all the drug dealers on a fixed pension.  I'd like to retire where 'theft' is considered wrong and not a 'necessary' or 'clever' occupation. I'd like to be among peoples who shared my morality rather than considering my generosity and truthfulness stupid. I guess at some level, when I look at older age and vulnerability I don't want to be in a place where I'm not allowed a gun and must be among criminals who have guns and don't respect the laws.  But then I think of Canada fondly, my home and native land.
Lander looks like a sweet country town. Reminds me of the places I worked as a physician and psychiatrist in the country. Probably lots of gossip but all the pleasures and beauty of small town living.  I did like the man that said Denver was just too busy.  Says a lot about cities in general