Back in the fall of 2007 when I was thinking about travel to places with palm trees in hopes of finding a retirement home. I was still finding my way around the internet but had stumbled across a couple travel forums, Trip Advisor’s Cuba forum & Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree. Back then TA was 99% AI resort […]

My final Canadian trip had a couple Highs a couple Lows but mostly so-so same-same but different run-of-the-mill days. It started with a so-so flight on a good airline   Followed by a horrid experience with Canada’s Fascists Next came 11 so-so days on a short road trip & getting Scout on the road Next came 4 mainly good days, firstly Leaving on the road trip […]

Tuesday it’s up at 04:30 the nice night guy at the Super 8 had the brekky laid out as he had ordered my taxi for 05:00 to take me to the airport. 05:15 No taxi, night manager calls taxi “Can’t come cabs broke down” (Thanks for letting me know A$$****!) calls to a couple other companies, no drivers available. […]

Thursday morning dawned sunny once again as we headed west to Cleveland OH where we jumped over to I-71 southbound to Columbus OH where we picked up I-70 westbound for the last hour to Springfield OH home of the Navistar truck plant. http://www.navistar.com/navistar once known as International Harvester   a fully integrated farm machinery, construction equipment, school bus  […]

Getting back to the immediate problem of the blown tire (tires all looked good, haven’t had a flat in yrs so no spare) that would take the Scout on to his shop http://www.larosesinc.com   in http://www.villageofenosburgfalls.org where he would order (odd size tires) first thing in the morning & I would find a ride over there in the morning. Turned out that the owner […]

As I have just left Quebec/Canada in my blog it is a good place to tell a bit of the truth about each that is hidden from the casual observer. http://themacchoi.blogspot.com/2012/11/quebecs-pq-government-and-their-agenda.html now this may seem a bit over the top but, from the actions of the PQ government since last September’s election, it isn’t! The idiots are so […]

Sunday morning we head across the border to Cowansville http://www.ville.cowansville.qc.ca the site is in french as Fascist Quebec is not a democracy, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships http://www.easterntownships.org have to take the slightly  longer route through Sutton as the bridge is out the back way to Brome http://www.easterntownships.org/map A buffet brunch had been planed at http://www.aubergedescarrefours.com this dilapidated 30 yr old former […]

Saturday morning after pigging out on the free Brekky at http://hamptoninn3hilton.com/en/hotels/ontario/hampton-inn-by-hilton-napanee-ONTNPHX/index.html , where I slept in Canada for the very last time (YEAH!), did the circle check on the Scout, fluids all up, the oil leak from the rear main seal on the engine has dried up but the right rear tire is darn near flat. (shit!) However there’s […]

Friday Sept 31, 2012 the start of the Labour Day long weekend (hell of a day to start a road trip) pack my pack as I’m determined to hit the road today, come hell or high water! According to the original plan I should be working the CHS Homecoming booth at the Big Brome Fair  now but— as Robert Burns […]

Sunday, putterin’ day at Scout-mans, his father who worked out of my Pontypool shop stops by to visit, we spend most of the day reminiscing & catching up on things.      Mon/Tues are occupied by parts chasing at good ole Crappy Tire, http://www.napaonline.com Colborne store & http://www.partsource.ca  We also discovered that the original serial number plate that matched the ownership, had […]

Road trip day but first Scout-man has a shopping list of paint-n-stuff. Now with the new environmental BS paint has gotten a ridiculous price & is garbage (what used to cover in 2 coats now takes 4) so we decided to go with an old standby T R E M C L A D now the best place to buy this paint […]

Tuesday dawns sunny with hopes (unrequited) for a better day, it’s off to Avis to pickup a Hyundai, Budget in the same office wanted almost double as I had a Salvadoran drivers license, Avis was actually a bit cheaper. Filling out the paperwork brings up the question of insurance, seems the quoted price is for PLPD only, for damage […]

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this blog so I guess now’s as good a time as any to tell of my disheartening, final sojourn to Canada & what’s been happening since. The reason for the trip was fourfold, 1st to pickup my final toy, a 1978 International Scout II, 2nd to visit & say goodbye to […]