There and Back Again

Our big trip yesterday to the greater metro area of Terrace didn’t turn out to be as big as we had hoped. It had been a month since we had been to “town;” a semi-isolated month of Arctic outflow temperatures, heavy snow and blizzard conditions. Yu-Ling had an appointment with the Vet for his booster shots, so we planned to drop him off with the Vet first, then visit a bookstore, enjoy a leisurely lunch, browse through the shelves of the Public Library, do some shopping for those “hard to find in the general store” food items. We did make it there and back, but it was a much-abbreviated trip. Checking road conditions at bcdrive.com (thank goodness for our satellite Internet connection) we found that Hwy 16 was described as “low visibility with blowing snow,” and the Environment Canada weather forecast called for possible freezing rain by late afternoon in the Terrace area. Neither the road report nor the weather forecast sounded good. We weighed the pros and cons – should we call and reschedule the appointment, should Bob take Yu-Ling in for his booster shot and leave me at home to keep the cabin warm, or should we just dash in for a quick trip? We opted for the last, putting an overnight bag into the Jeep just in case we had to stay overnight in Terrace.

We left at about noon for the hour and a half drive. We found the highway being plowed and sanded. There were huge mounds of snow piled everywhere in Terrace, at the edges of parking lots, and down the center lane of boulevards. The city was still digging out from under the most recent dump of snow. Priorities ruled our day. Yu-Ling’s booster shot, lunch at the newly renovated (and named) Elephant’s Ear, quick trip down the Save On Foods grocery aisles, and a stop at the library where we left with a bag full of books for winter reading. It is hard to know when we will get back to the library. We stopped at Timmy’s on our way out of town for coffee and two apple fritters to go. Sustenance for the road. We didn’t do too badly – three hours round trip – three hours in town. And as it turns out, the worst driving conditions we incurred were the distance between our cabin and the Backroad. Only our four-wheel drive, snow tires, and Bob’s capable driving got us out. As we were leaving we met our neighbor Ralph on the road just above Woodcock Farm, sitting in his pickup. We stopped, Bob got out of the Jeep, Ralph got out of his pickup, they talked about the weather, and how deep the snow was this year. “The most snow I’ve seen in twenty years,” Ralph says as he offers to bring his tractor with snow plow down in a day or so to clear our driveway.

In many ways, I am glad my day of travel has been in Canada. I once traveled freely throughout the world with nothing more than my pack, a guidebook and a passport. Now travel to and from the United States has become like a visit to an armed fortress. Read Bush Orders Clampdown on Flights to US I wonder when the American public will realize that Homeland Security’s surveillance and travel restrictions is not protecting America’s freedoms, but is in fact becoming a form of oppression. I want to scream when I hear or read comments like, “Whatever it takes to keep us safe.” Imprisoned by illogical fear is more like it. And if the U.S. Senate passes the House bill H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, we may not even be free to think controversial thoughts anymore. I have to wonder, how much longer will I be free to go there and back again?
... P. L. Morningstar

Ralph to the rescue (today)

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