{"id":658,"date":"2019-08-29T22:47:03","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T02:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/?p=658"},"modified":"2020-01-17T20:36:37","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T01:36:37","slug":"family-and-familiarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/2019\/08\/29\/family-and-familiarity\/","title":{"rendered":"Family and Familiarity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Motorcycle
North Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The alarm wakes me up this time, and it takes me longer than usual to get out of my slumber: I went to bed later than I hoped. It was wonderful to sleep in a nice bed in a quiet room. After my usual morning routine, I pack up and get myself ready, then go upstairs to greet Paul\u2019s family. His three daughters are a bundle of curiosity and joy; they\u2019re quite curious about me, my motorcycle, and my trip. I tell them about a few of my adventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bugs
The perils of riding at night: bugs!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We meet my aunt and uncle at the restaurant for breakfast: everyone\nis happy to see me again and is curious about my trip; I love sharing my\nadventures. We catch up and enjoy the meal together. The restaurant is nice and\nnew, and the food is good; but the company of family is best. (Thanks for\neverything Paul!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Family
Aunt Jeanne d’Arc (next to me), Uncle Ga\u00e9tan (right), Paul (back) and his three daughters: Michelle (back left), Julie (foreground) and Isabelle (back right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After we say our good-byes, I head back on the familiar road\nthrough North Bay\u2019s downtown core, and south to Lakeshore Drive. I\u2019m going to\nEast Ferris to see my beloved grandmother, who lives in a retirement home. She\nwas so happy to see me, as I was, her. We share some stories, and a bit of fun\nwith my motorcycle gear. As I leave, she watches me through her window, and as\nI ride off, we wave at each other good-bye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Desneiges
M\u00e9m\u00e8re (Desneiges) C\u00f4t\u00e9<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This section of the road is very familiar to me, as I have\nbeen to North Bay a few times a year for decades. I keep to the same pace I\u2019ve\nbeen using this whole trip, and I do my best to rediscover the scenery, as I do\nevery time I take this road. There are a few surprises, but it\u2019s mostly unchanged.\nUnfortunately, after more than two years, the inuksuk Vincent built near\nMattawa is now gone, and this saddens me a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Inuksuk
R.I.P.: Vincent’s inuksuk near Mattawa, ON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019ve had less sleep than usual last night, I start to\nfeel it, and it affects my focus somewhat, so I decide to keep to my slower\npace\u2014I rarely pass other vehicles, but many pass me\u2014and to also take breaks more\noften. I enjoy Tim Hortons, the place, the coffee; it\u2019s part of our Canadian\nidentity. I\u2019m glad to find refuge there at times on longer trips in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Motorcycle
Bonnie at Timmies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Close to Petawawa, my odometer crosses 50,000 kilometers. I pull over to mark this milestone: Here’s to another 50,000! We’ve had wonderful adventures so far, and I hope to continue to add to our story together and share them with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Motorcycle
50,000 km<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I arrive in Ottawa at around peak hour, so I contend with some traffic for the final section of my trip; I was anxious to get home; however, I keep in mind that most road accidents happen close to home, so I redouble my focus and patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After almost 2,600 kilometers on this trip, I finally arrive home to a warm welcome from Nathalie. Merci beaucoup ch\u00e9rie!<\/em> This is such a wonderful end to the trip, being with her, and telling her many of my stories; it makes me happy that she loves to listen and share in my adventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, this was a wonderful trip: Algonquin Park, Manitoulin Island, The Grand Algoma Tour, Lake Superior Park, and, finally, family. I certainly would love to visit them all again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which was your favourite part? Where would you like to go?\nWhat has piqued your curiosity? Which experience did you feel was the most\nspiritual?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I invite you to share your comments with me and my readers\nbelow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until next time, keep the shiny side up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Daniel
Home after Manitoulin & Grand Algoma (2600 km)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Google
Day 5: North Bay to Ottawa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The alarm wakes me up this time, and it takes me longer than usual to get out of my slumber: I went to bed later than I hoped. It was wonderful to sleep in a nice bed in a quiet room. After my usual morning routine, I pack up and get myself ready, then go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadeo.ca\/daniel\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}