BootsnAll Travel Network



Team Band in Chicago

July 31st, 2006

I’m currently in northern Minnesota (near Emily, MN) at my parents’ cabin.  I came up here yesterday afternoon with my mom and dad and two of my nephews, Tony and Parker.  Jake also came with, but Dan stayed in Shakopee to attend a reception for his cousin, Kevin, who is showing his pottery at Normandale Community College in Bloomington, MN, and help his mom look for carpet.

We’re all in the cabin, resting after a hot and busy day of working and playing.  When the cabin was built last year, the 55 trees that were cleared to make way for the cabin were cut into sections and stacked in a LARGE pile.  When the whole family was up here for the reunion (or Family Camping Weekend – it’s original name, which doesn’t really fit anymore since nobody tents anymore unless they want to; there’s plenty of room in the cabin, bunkhouse, trailer and porch), we cut, split and stacked about ¾ of the pile.  My dad cut a few more of the sections when he and my mom were up here two weeks ago.  And, today, the five of us took another crack at the pile, cutting, splitting and stacking all but about a dozen log sections.  We’re all anxious to finish the project not only to have it taken care of, but also because the fire ring will be moved back to its original (almost), larger and more level location once all the sections are cleared.  UPDATE:  The following day, we moved the remaining log sections out of the way, leveled the area with shovels and rakes, dug the new fire pit, spread some wood chips around the pit and moved the kerosene torches to the new area.  While we certainly didn’t need a fire for warmth that evening, we started a small fire and made s’mores with roasted marshmallows.  The new location is just to one side of the cabin and has great views of the lake, cabin and bunkhouse; it’s going to work great!

After we called it quits for the day in early afternoon, we went down to the lake and went swimming.  We all swam out to the diving dock, even Jake.  Jake would jump off the dock after me, and I would lift him out of the water back onto the dock.  It was a lot of fun!  Dad, Mom, Jake and I swam back into shore after a bit, and shortly thereafter, I noticed three people swimming toward our dock, with one person paddling along side in a canoe.  The woman swimming in the water said “Hello!”  She and two of her grandchildren were doing their annual swim across the lake and back (about a quarter mile each way).  They rested a bit and, then, took off swimming back to the other side of the lake.  But, this gave Parker and Tony an idea: we should swim across the lake and back, too.  So, we recruited grandma (Mom) to follow us in the paddleboat, and we did just that.  We swam across the lake to the dock of the people who had swum over to us.  They were out on their dock, so we visited with them for a bit and rested.  Then, we turned around and swam back to our dock.  We had a big dinner and the boys went water skiing afterward.

OK, I’ll back up a bit… Dan and I returned home from our 12-day stay in Chicago last Sunday.  We participated in the Chicago Gay Games as members of Team Band, consisting of over 250 members of Gay and Lesbian Bands from around the world.  I played percussion (mostly snare drum), and Dan wore many hats, carrying a rainbow flag for the opening ceremonies, assisting in many ways for the band’s concert at Pritzger Pavilion at Chicago’s Millennium Park, and carrying our Minnesota Freedom Band banner for the closing ceremonies.  We both had an awesome time in Chicago for the games, meeting many other participants, including Team Band members and a few athletes, as well.

Chicago was extremely hot (in the 90’s) and humid for much of the time we were there.  We had a few long and hot days preparing our field show for the opening ceremonies.  Before arriving in Chicago, we had received online the music that we would perform and the charts for the field show.  Thursday morning was rehearsal at Soldier Field for the percussion feature that would begin the Opening Ceremonies.  And, the entire band first rehearsed Thursday afternoon, running until late in the evening.  We practiced marking time, carrying instruments, marching at an 8-5 interval (8 steps per 5 yards), doing turns, and yelling “GO, TEAM BAND!” after hearing “BAND, A-TEN-HUT!” from the director.  We also got into our step-off position and figured out our first movements onto the field.  We were a group of over 250 musicians with varying levels of marching experience – some with little or none.  Initially, we were in a large, hot gymnasium at the University of Illinois-Chicago.  Then, we moved outside to the baseball field.  After rehearsal ended after 11 pm, Dan and I – having had little to eat today — took the Red Line north to the Fullerton stop, where we had some excellent burritos at a little Mexican hole-in-the-wall and, then, walked back to our room at Arlington International Hostel.

On Friday, we had rehearsal at the UIC ball fields in the morning/afternoon and then the run-through at Soldier Field in the evening.  Our field show – which was simplified somewhat to better match the realities of putting a show together in two days — was beginning to come together, but we still needed the “optional” rehearsal Saturday morning to clean up the rough edges.  The time and location hadn’t been determined, so we were told to call the Team Band Hotline for that information later in the day.  The Hotline informed us Friday evening that rehearsal would begin at 10 am at a yet-to-be-determined location.  We set the alarm for 8 am and learned that we would reach the rehearsal location by taking the Brown Line to its terminus, where members of Lakeside Pride (Chicago’s Gay/Lesbian Band) would be waiting to shuttle us the remaining few miles to a nearby prep school.  The morning sun was shining, and we were in for another hot and humid day.  Bottles and bottles of water were consumed, sunscreen was applied and shirts came off.  A few minor changes were made to the field show, we practiced keeping our lines straight by “guiding center,” and we ran the entire show a couple times before taking cover from the extreme heat.

Dan and I went back to our hostel room, stopping for lunch at the Bourgeois Pig Café for lunch.  We took a short nap, showered and dressed for the Opening Ceremonies and took the Red Line and a bus to Soldier Field.  The security at Soldier Field was very tight, and we were required to be accompanied by our “wrangler” to move to our “holding area”, go down to the loading dock to unload/unload instruments and move to our performance positions.  Fortunately, for us, our wrangler, whose sole responsibility was keeping track of all 250 of us, had a great sense of humor.  Her name was E.J., and she had a high, squeaky voice like Karen on Will and Grace; in fact, she was very much like Karen, and we appreciated her ability to keep tabs on when and where we needed to be and do it with sharp wit.

To open the ceremonies, the percussion section and other members Team Band with various percussion instruments were positioned in groups all throughout the stadium in the stands, with each group consisting of a cymbal player, two snare drum players, a quad-toms player and a bass drum player.  On cue from Christy, our director, the snares began a drum roll very softly, as if it was coming from far away.  The sound grew louder, and the toms joined, followed by the bass drums, after which the sound grew to a great crescendo, ending with a cymbal crash and a great big chord of sound from the chorus, who were seated in the stands behind the main stage where the torch was located.  It sounded pretty cool, and we definitely got the attention of the crowd.

We watched the first part of the opening ceremonies from our designated seating section in Soldier Field.  After the athletes from around the world paraded into the stadium, they held up rainbow-colored lights to create a huge rainbow flag on the field.  Then we watched and listened to a bevy of gay and gay-friendly celebrities, including Megan Mullaly (Karen of “Will and Grace”), Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, singers Jody Watley and Erasure’s Andy Bell, comedians Margaret Cho and Kate Clinton, former Olympian Greg Louganis, Star Trek’s George Takei, former Major Leaguer Billy Bean and former Minnesota Viking Esera Tuaolo.

Then, E.J. announced that it was time for us to make our way down to our prep area behind the north “end zone.”  We retrieved and tuned our instruments, put our colored sashes on, talked through the field show one last time and moved into our positions to march out onto the field.  We just had to wait until the current speaker (I didn’t catch his name.) was finished and we would be up.

Our “handler” told us to stand by.  We were ready to go.  Then she gave our director the “go ahead.”  Our director, Christy Zurcher (from Lakeside Pride Band), gave us four counts with her hands, and we marched out through the plastic-strip curtain and onto the field to clicks (drumsticks striking the rims of the drums on counts 1 and 3).  The crowd was apparently growing weary of the many speeches and seemed to come to life with a roar that echoed throughout the stadium.  We reached our starting point at the “goal line” and played a rousing arrangement of Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.”  Then we moved onto the field and moved into the formation of a roman numeral seven (VII – for the Seventh Gay Games), first displaying it facing one side of the stadium and, then, the other – all of this while playing our next number “Everybody’s Everything.”  Then, we scattered from our VII formation into a formation displaying the Gay Games logo and played “Artistry in Rhythm.”  Once again, we scattered, but this time into our original lineup, faced the stands on either side and played “Somewhere” from “West Side Story.”  Having completed our show, we marched off to clicks again.  We did it!  We put together a field show in three days with a band consisting of musicians from all over the world, and we performed it on Soldier Field in front of the 12,000 participants and many more spectators.  It sure was a thrill.

Now, we had a concert to prepare.  We rehearsed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning for our concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s new Millennium Park.  We got a chance to see and play at the Pritzker during our run-through on Monday; wow, what a beautiful facility this was that we would perform in the next day!

My parents and my brother, Mark, as well as two of Mark’s co-workers from the University of Montana, would be attending the concert.  My mom and dad drove to Rock Falls, Illinois on Monday to visit my grandma and her daughter and son-in-law.  They stayed overnight and, then, drove to a suburb of Chicago, where they caught a train into downtown.  By a strike of luck and coincidence, Mark was scheduled to be in Chicago for work this week and would be able to attend my concert as well.

After our rehearsal on Tuesday morning, Dan and I met up with my parents, had a bite to eat, went back to the hostel to change into concert dress and took the train back downtown for the concert.

The concert went very well, performing at Pritzker Pavilion was a lot of fun, and having my parents and brother there for the concert was extra special!  Here is the program we performed.

“Call of the Champions” (The Official Theme of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games) – John Williams
“To The Summit! (Strive for the Highest)” – Robert W. Smith
“Fantasia in G” – Timothy Mahr
“Simple Gifts” from “The Lord of the Dance” – Traditional/Roland Smeets
“Blues in the Night” – Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen/Paul Jennings
“Cloudburst” – Eric Whitacre
“Suo-Gan” – James Curnow
“Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual” – Robert W. Smith
“Pop and Rock Legends: Chicago” – John Wasson
“Imagine” – John Lennon/Richard Saucedo

After the concert we went with my parents and brother to a nearby restaurant for some appetizers and Sangria.  On Wednesday, Dan and I went with my parents to the Shedd Aquarium during the day and, in the evening, we attended the event put together by Mark and his University of Montana co-workers for UM alumni now living in the Chicago area.  It was a neat opportunity to get a glimpse into the work Mark does for the UM.  Afterwards, my mom and dad and Dan and I walked a couple blocks to Johnny Rockets, where we sat in their sidewalk seating and had apple pie or a malt and coffee.  The weather both yesterday and today was cooler than it had been over the weekend and it was a beautiful evening.  It was a fun end to a great day!

Mark, Mom and Dad took the Red Line out to meet me and Dan at the Bourgeois Pig Café for breakfast.  It was raining this morning; so, we took our time over breakfast, coffee, and the newspaper to wait for the rain to slow.  We all took the train back into downtown, where Dan and I said goodbye to Mark, Mom and Dad, who would be on their way home shortly.

Dan and I went to the Clarinet Choir performance at noon and, then, visited the Art Institute of Chicago.

On Friday, we had rehearsal for the Closing Ceremonies.  This performance would be less demanding, in terms of field formations.  We would march onto the field in four lines – two from left field and two from right field.  The lines would separate to allow the athletes to file between us and, then, up into their seats in the stands.  We would take turns with the chorus to accompany the procession of athletes into the stadium, play one more selection standing in place (Sweet Home Chicago) and, then, march off.

Friday afternoon Dan and I walked out to Navy Pier and took an architectural boat tour down the Chicago Canal.  Saturday morning was the run-through for that afternoon’s ceremonies.  Between the run-through and the actual show, Dan and I had lunch at the Chicago Diner, a great vegetarian restaurant on North Halstead, and then, walked over to Lincoln Park for a quick nap in the shade.  We performed our part of the ceremonies as planned and then, watched the rest from the stands, including a couple numbers by Cyndi Lauper.  We also went to the “after-concert” gathering at a downtown bar to visit with – and say goodbye to — other members of “Team Band.”  Sunday morning we took an Orange Line to Midway Airport for our flight back to the Twin Cities.

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Heading Back

July 31st, 2006

It seems strange.  We are on the last leg of this part of the trip.  Next week, we will be at the family camping weekend and we won’t have to set up the tent or take stuff out of the back of the truck (at least after the family camping weekend).  Jake wont be in back of us looking over our shoulder.  We won’t be living out of the truck anymore.  It’s odd how I now equate home with the truck, not a building.  I also equate home with our tent.  Well, it’s not over yet.

From Montreal, we drove to Sault Saint Marie.  It is a fairly boring drive; many ups and downs and a lot of the same old sights to see.  It is different than driving in Minnesota.  Minnesota is fairly flat and you can see “far away”.  If there is any interesting buildings or sights, you are likely to see them.  This drive was hilly with some rock outcroppings next to the road.  At times, you could see pretty far, other times it was like driving in a green walled tunnel with only more road to look at.  As a side note on this drive, we did see a “new” sign we haven’t seen before.  The road was turning into a one laner from a two laner and the sign said “squeeze right”.  It was like a “merge” sign.  We laughed about it and still occasionally bring it up if we see a “merge” sign.

Sault Saint Marie border crossing was looming.  We were a tad nervous because we had Jake.  We had heard stories regarding pets coming back into the U.S. — bad stories of being turned away because of improper papers regarding doggy shots (I could have used a “shot” at that moment).  So I had the vaccination papers ready.  We also didn’t know what to expect at the border for security.  Last time we had crossed back into the U.S. from Canada or Mexico, it was before 9/11/2001.  We get to the guy after waiting a little in a car line.  He says “did you get the dog in Canada?” No.  “Have any alcoholic beverages or….(can’t remember because I was nervous and you can’t look nervous or they will think you are a terrorist or something.  I just wanted to get back without any problems)?”  No.  “Okay, go ahead”.  That was it?  That was easy.  He didn’t even look at dog papers or passports (or he may have looked at passports but I blanked it out in a nervous tizzy). 

We made it back to the U.S.
We then stopped at the locks to watch a big barge go through.  It took awhile for it to make it into the lock because if it went too fast, it would “barge” right through it.  Once it was in there, it was fun to see it “sink” to the other level of the east side of the lock.  We then stopped for some fudge before going further.  The last time we were here, we got some fudge at the same place (across the street and to the left if looking away from the locks) and we put it into a container and then put it in a cooler.  The container had a leak so the fudge turned into sugar water.  This time, we made sure that wouldn’t happen.

We drove to Pictured Rocks National Park.  On the way there, they were having road construction.  It was a little confusing trying to decide which way to go to get to the campsite.  We figured it out and on the way; we saw not only forests but big areas of old stumps.  We later found out that these stumps were over 100 years old.  The area was logged way back when and then there was a fire.  They (meaning whoever/whatever type of scientist, ecologist, etc) haven’t yet figured out why the forest hasn’t reclaimed the area yet but it is slowly working on it.  One possible reason given was the bio-organisms in the soil normally there after a forest is chopped down, got burned up in the fire so the natural cycle involving them has been taken away.  Who knows?  I know I haven’t got the whole story written down here but I tried.  We stayed at a nice, uncrowded, open and natural Michigan State Forest campground.  We were next to a lake.  It was beautiful.  We decided to stay for 2 nights.  The next day, we went into Pictured Rocks.  We did a 10-mile hike.  The day started very sunny and we found out when we got there, Jake couldn’t go on the trail.  He would have to stay in the truck.  We parked in the shade.  The initial part of the hike brought us through a nice and “airy” forest.  We saw a water fall.  We then kept hiking and passed a really neat rock structure with a White pine on it called “Chapel Rock”.  Very cool.  It was the kind of rock structure thing you would see in a fish tank only way bigger and real.  Also, as is our luck in most places (Crater lake-previous trip, White Mountains, New Hampshire to name a few examples) it got foggy.  The sun was gone.  At least we wouldn’t have to worry about Jake being too hot.  Chapel Rock was on the shoreline of Lake Superior.  We went along the beach for a small while.  Then we continued on.  The trail went up high along the “cliffs” of Pictured Rocks.  It was very cool to see these.  The water has carved out “caves” or what looks like caves from up high.  Big arches of what could be sandstone colored rocks.  The forests we were walking through changed into close dense forest and the trail narrowed considerably.  It got even foggier.  We could hear the waves crashing on the lake and gulls calling but we couldn’t see them.  Some areas of the foggy forest were surreal, dreamlike as we walked through them.  Eventually we started nearing the end and the day started to clear.  We saw another falls (Mosquito falls- aptly named).  When we reached the truck it was sunny again.  It was a great hike even if the views were fogged out.  Tim wants to go back when it is sunny.  I agree.  The next day, we went to the lighthouse at Pictured Rocks.  There are some remains of some sunken ships that have washed ashore — mostly just wood frames of the bottoms of the ships.  Very cool to look at but of course I wanted to see masts half sticking out of the water in the “classic” view of a sunken ship as shown in the movies.  Still all around neato.  The light house was fun to hike to since it was a short hike out and back.  I recommend going along the beach when you go.  The trail is rather plain but nice. 

We then drove on to our next campsite, Twin Bear County Campground just south of Iron River, Wisconsin.  This was our last campsite before family camping weekend – a somewhat sad event.  So we went out for a drink at Judy’s Bar.  It was a fun little dive and a guy there talked about Al Capone.  He had a different view than what we have been taught about the big, tough gangster who kills people with a bat occasionally.  He said people loved him because he took care of them and looked out for their jobs (not illegal ones).  If they needed something, he made sure they got it.  Also, the towns he controlled had an extremely low crime rate (probably if a crook crossed him, it would be all over).  It was a different side of Capone I had never heard.  The nice side.

Next morning, we headed to Minnesota.  We stopped at Duluth to pick up some groceries.  Then we arrived at “home” for a little while at family camping weekend lake lot, owned by Tim’s parents, ‘til we go back to Shakopee, MN.

Write more another time,

Dan

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Time for Some French

July 31st, 2006

Je mappellez Dan. Ce va? Comment allez vous?  (who knows if I did this right but it is supposed to mean “My name is Dan.  And you?  How are you?)  This very much sums up our trip through Quebec.  English was definitely a second language here.  People greeted you in French.  The menus were in French.  The street signs were in French.  French, French, French….it was really cool!  As one person said while we were here, it is more exotic. 

Let me begin by telling you we started to understand what we were getting into when we were just outside of Quebec in Edmunston, New Brunswick.  We camped just outside of this city.  We went into town to a place a lot like a “Denny’s”, an average restaurant with average décor and food.  The wait staff spoke broken English.  The other diners were speaking in fluent French.  It was fun.

We went on to Quebec City.  What a fabulous place!!!  High town is an old walled city with a fort on one side.  It was like walking into the 1700’s.  We visited an old church while we were there as well as walked around.  It is a very hilly place so there was a lot of up and down walking.  Steep streets, tall stair cases, old moody bars, 200+ year old houses, fantastic restaurants… and almost at the top of it all (at the top of a hill), Chateau Frontinac are just some of the fantastic sights we saw.  This was definitely a great stop on our trip.  Outside of High town is “low town”, a regular city as we know it with skyscrapers, parks, etc.  We walked this area for a while as well as part of the next day.  We ate at a couple of places the first day as well as a drink or two at a local gay bar.  The next day we would eventually have lunch at a local “German” sports bar.   But before I continue on, I’ve got to tell you what we did that morning.  We were going to go on a hike at Mont Saint-Anne.  That didn’t pan out because we couldn’t find the entrance to the place and because it began to rain a bit.  But before we went looking for this park entrance, we stopped at the Basilica of Saint Anne.  It was beautiful.  Gothic, gold, ornate…Wow!  Best church yet, although we would see “better” later in Montreal.  Anyway, after our morning adventure, and after eating at said “German” sports bar, we went to the Bibliotech.  This means “library” in French.  Librarie in French means “bookstore”. Go figure.  We needed access to the internet and after a frustrating search for wifi; we just decided to go to a library we saw the previous day.  It was once a church.  It was very neat on the inside.

We continued on our journey and went to Montreal.  We particularly wanted to go to “the Village”.  This is the “gay area” of town.  Wow.  Queer friendly to say the least.  5 story bars, the top floor is on the roof.  Very nice, professional people at the restaurants and such we went to.  One waiter after talking with us in English for a while went and got us all the gay magazines for all the happenings in the city since the weekend we visited there was “Quebec Day”.  This is a big deal for all those in Quebec because some still want to be their own country, not part of “Canada”.  Their blue and white flag with 4 fleur de lis (did I spell that right?) was hanging everywhere in the city.  A Drag Queen at the local drag club called the Mabo was really nice.  She was the MC at this drag lounge and there were a lot of people there on a big holiday.  After speaking a lot in French, she took time out to ask if there were any Anglophones (English-only speakers) in the room.  Only 3 of us raised our hands in the whole crowd.  She asked where we were from and then made us feel welcome.  Later, during the show, she took time out to explain in English about the drink situation/specials happening in the bar…for only 2 people out of over a hundred on a big French speaking holiday!  She was really nice…in a drag queen snappy way.  We stopped at several bars earlier that night and one or two afterwards.  A small jazz place where piano and bass with a singer were playing was one place.  Another place almost right out of Queer as Folk called “Parking”.  It looked a lot like the bar they always go to.  Another place, 5 floors high with a pool/jacuzzi on the roof was jammed with people.  Several other bars we visited were stop, go in, see, and leave types.  The “Village” was huge.  We walked around a lot that evening.  Jake walked with us during the day but as soon as it was evening and there was shade, in the truck he would go for a rest (for us as well as him.  He requires a lot of energy to watch as we walk through a city).

This is where a downturn happened after we returned to our campsite/RV park.
I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this since it still upsets Tim and me.

When we returned to our campsite at about 2 am, there was a teenage party going on near us which was barely under control for noise level.  The camping place said noise was prohibited between 11pm and 7 am.  These kids were somewhat loud.  We decided to not say anything.  We were almost asleep when one of the kids laughingly tripped over one of the strings of our tent.  What was he doing near our tent?  Who knows?  We woke up completely but figured it was an accident.  A few minutes later, they passed near our tent again.  Playfully one of the kids slightly trips again on the rope.  THEN SOMEONE BOUNCES OFF OUR TENT.  This was not a “trip” since it was delayed after the playful hit on our rope.  The tent tarp was ripped at the stitching about a foot and a half where the rope was attached.  Later Tim would sew this back together so we could still use the tent.  But the “bounce” did something else.  It bent our tent poles.  We still have yet to replace these poles so the tent is still goofy shaped now, not a “dome”.  We talked to the kids who spoke French and couldn’t communicate effectively with them and they laughed at us as well as made comments about our dog (I know barely enough French to understand that).  We got the owner of the Camping Park out to help us.  I’m not going to get into all that happened.  Let’s just say, we were going to stay 2 nights but left after one sleepless night after getting our money back and a promise out of the owner to pay our tent fix bill since he didn’t uphold his own quiet rules.  The kids were HIGHLY (I can’t stress that enough) disrespectful…and the owner (who knew the kids because they were his daughter’s friends) indulged them.  We were not happy.

Other than that, our stay at Montreal was awesome.  The next day we went to the Oratory of St Joseph.  It is the second largest Cathedral outside of Rome.  It was Huge!!  It was amazing!!  There was an entire big room lit with candles as a remembrance prayer area.  The votives they were in were colored red, green or white depending on the design and placement they were in.  The main Cathedral area reminded me of our own Cathedral in St. Paul, Minnesota.  It is a very big place.  We also went to “the Mont” as the people from Montreal call it.  It is a park on the top of a hill overlooking the city.  It was very crowded but it is big enough that there are many areas you can go to feel “alone” if wanted.  Jake loved it since all he’s had lately has been streets and truck.  We later had dinner at a place called the A to Z Cafe.  It was a very chic place to look at as we ate tasty tapas.  We walked the Village some more and then went back to our “new” campsite at the KOA.  We slept like contented happy lazy babies since I only had about 3 hours of sleep from the morning to afternoon and Tim had no sleep at all.

Our Trip continues in the next blog.

Sneak Preview: Sault St. Marie, Pictured Rocks National Park.

Dan

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We’re Home

July 6th, 2006

Just a quick post to let you all know that we made it home — well, to our temporary home in Shakopee, MN with my parents.  Last Friday we drove from Iron River, WI to my parents’ cabin near Emily, MN for my family’s Family Camping Weekend (FCW) or reunion.  Yesterday we drove back to Shakopee and unloaded (finally) the truck.  We began the process of cleaning up and organizing our gear and the truck yesterday and continued these tasks this morning.  We’re at a Panera Bread this afternoon getting caught up on some online business.  Much of the time was spent downloading music, charts and schedules for my upcoming performances with Team Band in the Chicago Gay Games (July 15-22).  We’ll be flying to Chicago on the 12th and returning on the 23rd.

We have yet to write about our experiences in Quebec City, Montreal, Ontario, Michigan and Wisconsin, but we will do this soon in future posts.

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Scenes

June 26th, 2006

Scene 1:  Tim and Dan walk into a bar/restaurant called “The Red Shoe” in Mabou on the west side of Cape Breton.  They have already set up their campsite near here because they know that tonight is “open-mic night”.  They order an appetizer of sweet potato fries with a curry mayo side.  They then order up some drinks and a desert to share.  While they are doing this, the music starts.  Mostly chanties are sung.  Guitars are played.  Pianos keys are tickled.  A violin is heard.  Even a squeeze box accordion is played by a guy from England.  When all is said and done, Tim and Dan go to their campsite quite satisfied with the evening’s events (while Jake waited in the truck).

Scene 2:  The waiter is horrible.  Tim and Dan are ignored.  The people on two separate tables near them are served up quickly and efficiently.  While Jake roasts in the hot sun near them, forced to be outside the “fence” from the outside eating patio, Tim and Dan eventually have to call loudly just to get the server’s attention to pay their bill.  The Argyle, named after the street it is on in Halifax, won’t see them again.

Scene 3:  Tim and Dan eat at a place called Mollyz.  Where the Argyle was road pizza service, Mollyz is rich fruity dessert attention.  The locals seated nearby want to share all there is to see in Halifax as well as the surrounding country side and the waitress was informative as to other places to visit if different fare was needed later.  Wireless internet rounds out the meal as email is read and responded to.  Photos are uploaded to flickr and a gay bar is upstairs.  What more could they ask for after a day of walking the beautiful and historic city of Halifax with and without Jake, than a beer (or more than one) at a local hangout.  They will later visit another “alternative” bar but will go home soon after, very satisfied with their day. 

Scene 4:  She wears a dress from the mid 1800’s.  She speaks in a funny way that isn’t just Canadian.  She sings along with the others in a setting like an 1840-something old stone tavern.  Tim and Dan are drinking the second of the two beers they get on this interpretive tour of Keiths Brewery.  They are thinking this tour is a bit corny but fun in its way.  The beer is good.  That’s what counts right?  Before this, Tim and Dan had visited the Public Gardens which was a big Victorian-style garden in the middle of the city.  After this, they will walk around Halifax to see more of what wasn’t seen yesterday.  The last part of their day will be a stop at the Menz bar.  They will talk with a gay couple there named Rich and Bob.  It will be a lively conversation.  They will then go back to their campsite and sleep.

Scene 5:  After a day of driving, we find Tim and Dan at a restaurant named the Bel Air in Edmundston.  Here, they find most people speak French.  It is raining heavily outside.  They will eventually finish their meal and call it a night so they can start another day of driving tomorrow.

Their next stop will be Quebec City, Quebec.

Write more later,
Dan

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New Photos

June 19th, 2006

We recently posted a ton of photos to our Flickr site (http://flickr.com/photos/timdan2/), including photos from both farms we worked on.

Tim

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Moose… and Good Ideas

June 15th, 2006

We’re seeing plenty of the former, and we’re getting a lot of the latter.

Last Saturday, we worked for part of the day, water-sealing wooden chairs, moving logs from the harbor side of the road up to the house, and re-building and expanding the rock steps on a path from the cabin in which we’re staying to an outhouse. We checked email and took showers in the afternoon, and had tacos for supper once Claudia and Rejean returned from town (Ingonish Beach).

Saturday evening, Dan and I drove into Cheticamp, about an hour and 15 minute drive, to see some live music at the Doryman. We were hoping for some traditional Gaelic music with fiddle and such, but as it turns out, the band that was scheduled was a local late 60’s/early 70’s cover band. They were really good, and we had a lot of fun anyway.

And, we saw about a dozen moose on or near the road on our way to and from Cheticamp. Claudia had told us that we should watch for moose along this road. After driving for about 15 minutes, following switchbacks up and down through the highlands, Dan mentions that Claudia said we should particularly watch for moose after the switchbacks. Like that moose right there?! This one was off to the side of the road. We slowed a bit to take a look; the moose lumbered further off the road and we continued on. Eventually, we went through another series of switchbacks and had some awesome views of the sun setting over the Northumberland Strait, with Prince Edward Island in the background. The road began to straighten as we reached the next highlands, and there were more moose. Some just off the road, some crossing the road and others just meandering down the road ahead of the truck and eventually moving off into the brush. We were very careful coming home in the dark, with both of us watching for anything that looked like a moose. We saw even more moose on the way home than on the way there. What a large and surprisingly graceful animal!

On Monday, we spent a night away from the farm, camping in Louisbourg and touring the excellently re-constructed Fortress of Louisbourg the next day. We saw two more moose on our way back to the farm Tuesday evening.

On a different note… I think my favorite part about working on the two farms is the exchange of ideas and recipes. It’s a great learning experience to live side-by-side with others who are trying to “tread lightly” on the earth by using its resources carefully. Reduce, re-use and recycle is not just a motto; it’s a way a life. A life where the maple syrup comes from the trees in the forest behind the house; where used plastic bottles are used as miniature greenhouses to coax along transplanted flowers; where the wood from discarded lobster traps become supports for tomato plants; where everything possible is composted; where the laundry is always hung to dry; where the bread is usually baked at home… I could go on, but you get the idea.

Yesterday, we mixed up some “Norwegian Varnish Oil” using linseed oil, pine tar and turpentine. The oil was used to seal the hoops from the lobster traps and a dock section.

At the first farm we stayed at, we learned an easy method of making homemade bread Joe and wrote down a recipe that Paul uses to make a great tomato sauce that can be frozen. We also wrote down a recipe for a “Scallop Bubbly Bake,” apparently, a P.E.I. classic. This exchange of ideas and recipes has been a lot of fun.

OK, it’s Thursday afternoon now, and it’s raining pretty good outside. This morning we hauled a few more logs up to the house and then worked on a trail that Claudia and Rejean are making from the far garden, to a tent site that they hope to rent out, through the woods and, eventually, across the road and down to the harbor shore. This trail-making work was very familiar to me, having done some volunteer work on the Superior Hiking Trail in northern Minnesota: clearing brush, cutting out small tree stumps, pruning branches and small woody plants, creating rock steps, etc. It was fun, and I’d probably be doing more of it right now if it wasn’t raining so steadily.

Tomorrow is our last day on our Cape Breton farm, and Saturday we travel south toward Halifax. We’ll spend a couple more days in Nova Scotia before heading across New Brunswick into Quebec.

Tim

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Avalon

June 10th, 2006

It is a late, silent evening on the Harbor.  The sky is lost in motionless, soft grey clouds, blending into fog that obscures the shore.  Farther away all land is lost in grey-white as the reflecting water meets the sky in a perfect match of color.  The kayak barely ripples as we paddle through what seems like dream waters from the “Islands of Mist and Memory” or mystic “Avalon”….
Yes, this is what our evening was like as we kayaked on South Harbour in Nova Scotia.  I am now sitting on a bench in our cabin.  Tim is writing down the expenses for the day and journaling.  Jake is sleeping between us on his bed, which we had to put on the bench for a doggy’s peace of mind (and so he would settle down and sleep).  We are now on an organic farm on Cape Breton.  The owners names are Rejean (pronounced Rayzhohn) and Claudia.
WAIT A MINUTE!  You might want me to fill in backround info from Tim’s last entry right?
Here it is.
On Friday, we planted over 300 potted plants (at least gallon size) between the 5 of us (Mike, myself, Tim, Joe, Tim2, another worker from Maine who joined us this week) at Mike and Paul’s new Hotel in Stanhope.  It is on the northern shore of Princed Edward Island.  We then went back to their place and planted seeds and potatoes.  Paul and Mike then took us out for our last supper (no, there wasn’t any religious overtones to the meal) at Dayport, a fancy “lobster shack on steroids” according to a recent write-up in a magazine we heard about.  It was very classy.

The next morning we got ready and left for our unknown campsite in Nova Scotia.  We rode the ferry over and drove for awhile and finally ended up in Ben Eoin, where a campground that wasn’t open for another week or so let us camp there anyway for a night.  It was a windy and rainy night, so we didn’t even set out our cooking stuff outside.  We set up the tent.  Then we made sandwiches in the car.  After eating, we went to sleep.  Next day, we went to church at St. Mary’s in East Bay.  We just happened to be driving by the Church five minutes before the sign said mass would begin.  It was a very bright and nice church.  For those who would like to know, the song choices were “quaint” 20 years ago, much less now.  No slam on them.  They were still nice if a bit “stiff”.  We then drove for awhile looking for a breakfast place since the weather was still uncooperative.  We eventually found one.  Most places are still closed at this time of year here.  Or, if they are open, it is only during the evening hours or midday because of the traffic at those times.  This place was a Pizzeria and Restaurant that served breakfast all day.

We eventually made it to Claudia and Rejean’s place.  It is not a “farm” in the conventional sense with cows and pastures and such.  Imagine a place with apple trees in blossom and close wild spaces and gardens that line the yard.  Each is tended to by hand.  Raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, aspargus, spinach, potatoes, carrots and more are all planted here.  There is a workshed, clothes lines, neatly cut woodpiles, harbor shore front yard.  The whole scene reminds me of my grandmothers home in Park Rapids when I was young.  There is even a side room off the kitchen very similar to grandma’s house.  The door they have here isn’t like the one at grandma’s house.  This one has windows.  The one in my memory has a screen and I used to slam it on purpose just to hear Grandma yell “DANNY! STOP THAT! DON’T SLAM THE DOOR!”  I didn’t try to slam this one.  It wouldn’t have been polite…but I did have the itch to do it. 😉
There is a big dog here named Buddy.  He doesn’t like Jake in his territory.  Buddy is bilingual, understanding both English and French.  I’m sure he would be yelling at Jake in both those languages if he could when Jake is sneaking food out of his dish.  As it is, he barks A LOT when Jake is near.  The work here hasn’t been too strenuous but it does work the muscles we previously were using at the other farm.  Tim has mowed the big lawn.  I moved logs down from a hill to the wood pile.  We both weeded an area with shovel and pitchfork (big weeds) and then raked it flat.  Tim has already cooked scones and spinach potatoe pie.  Today we balled yarn.  This is a lot tougher than it seems.  Repetitive motion kills your arms and hands.

We only work about 4-5 hours a day so we have had time to hike.  We have been to Tenerife mountain (didn’t go all the way up since it was a cloudy day and clouds blocked the view and the mountain was steep-think White Mountain).  We went to White Point today.  Absolutely beautiful rocky cliffs with big waves crashing on them lie next to the quintessential fishing village.  It was a picture moment, and we took some.  There was a 10ish foot cross over an “unknown sailor” graveyard on this point.  The gravestones were natural rocks of red and black granite of varying size placed upright with no names on them.  It was very cool.  We went down next to the crashing waves and collected rocks.  Besides the hikes, we have visited many of the towns near here.  All are very small.  Some you don’t know you have driven through them until the next town’s sign comes up.  Most places have limited hours or are closed.  We are told when the official tourist season begins, these places will wake up.

Write more later,

Dan

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Maple Hill Farms

June 1st, 2006

Well, Dan and I are in Canada on Prince Edward Island, and we’re just a couple days away from the end of our two week stay/working at Maple Hill Farms, an organic farm about 30 minutes west of Charlottetown, P.E.I.  Our staying at the farm is odd in that it is very different from when we were on the road.  Generally, we are working harder during the day at the farm than when we were traveling (except for maybe the two-day backpacking trip in the White Mountains), but our accommodations at night are – shall we say – a step up from our cozy tent.  Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The farm is owned and operated by our hosts, Mike and Paul, who also run an inn business in Charlottetown.  Three years ago, they bought 100 acres first, and then another 50 adjoining acres, of land that hadn’t been farmed in several years.  Their goal was to breathe life back into the farm via organic farming.  They first moved and completely restored the old farmhouse; the place is gorgeous, with wood floors, fireplaces, and a front porch that looks out over a valley of both open and forested areas.  The house is also decorated beautifully.  Then, they built a “shed,” which is really a three-car garage, and a barn.  And, last year they moved a small building and renovated it into a self-sufficient bunkhouse, complete with wood stove, lofted bedroom, kitchen and bathroom.

So, that’s the infrastructure, but what about the fields of vegetables and the animals, you ask.  Well, they began small and are expanding each year.  Southwest of the house, they have what I would call a very large garden, consisting of several vegetable and flower beds.  Beyond the garden is a fruit tree orchard that was planted last year.

And, as for the animals, they have cattle — eight Scottish Highlanders – that they will be breeding this year, and they are boarding two riding horses.  In addition, they just picked up 37 chicks the other day and will be receiving 50 more in a couple weeks.

When Dan and I arrived at the farm last Sunday, Mike and Paul gave us a tour of the place, we met Joe, who is a young, hired hand from England who pretty much runs the farm for them, and we got settled into the guest bedroom in the house.  So, Dan and I are staying in the house, but Jake gets to sleep in the bunkhouse with Joe.  Then, we helped Mike and Joe measure and stake out the new vegetable and flower beds that would essentially double the bed space.

Since then, here are some of the other things we have done or have been working on:

1. Transplanted about 200 tomato seedlings into larger pots.
2. Tilled and raked out the walkways in the garden, where we’ll transplant the turf we take out for the new planting beds.
3. Cut turf from the areas that will become new planting beds.
4. Lay turf in the walkways.
5. Burned a big row of brush and branches that had been trimmed from a treeline (to make way for a new fence).
6. Helped build an electric fence that will hold animals.  The fence is made of timbers and rebar, and strung with wire that will be electrified.
7. Prepared all of the planting beds, which entails weeding the area, tilling the soil (or, as Joe call it – rotovating), measuring out the planting beds and walking paths between the beds, trenching out the paths and, then, raking level the planting beds.
8. Fed the animals.

Paul is the main cook in their household, and has made several excellent dinners for us, including a Lobster/P.E.I. Mussel Dinner, which was a new experience for both me and Dan but also very tasty.  Paul is a great cook, and he has shared a few of his recipes with me.

Joe also seems to know his way around the kitchen, showing me and Dan a very easy method of making excellent homemade bread.  I can’t wait to try to replicate this bread once I get home, which might be tricky because he doesn’t measure any of the ingredients… so, we’ll see.

I made dinner twice for all of us, making Pad Thai one night and Spinach-Potato Pie another.  They seemed to be hits, and I shared the recipes with Paul and Joe.  I also made Cranberry-White Chocolate Scones last Sunday morning, which we ate for our mid-morning break from working on the new fence.

We have been working hard on the farm, and we were both sore the first week, but it has been very rewarding to see the progress we’ve made already in getting the planting beds ready to plant and the cows moved to a newly fenced-in pasture.  And, believe it or not, we’ve also had some time away from the farm to explore the Island. 

One afternoon last week, we went into Charlottetown, where we walked down by the water (Charlottetown Harbour) and around downtown, had dinner at Gahan’s Brewery, and went for a drive west of town along the water (Northumberland Strait).  One day last week, we drove to Cavendish on the north shore and visited Green Gables, the setting for L.M. Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables,” as well as the dunes and beaches of Cavendish Beach.  Friday night we went into Charlottetown to see X-Men III (mostly for Dan, but I indulged him and went along, too).  On Saturday, we went into town again, where we both got haircuts at Fergie’s Barbershop in downtown Charlottetown, bought some souvenir “dirt” shirts that are dyed with the notoriously red, P.E.I. soil, picked up some groceries and went to mass at the Basilica (St. Dunstan’s Parish).  We also drove out south and east of Charlottetown, where we had lunch at Mom’s Diner in Murray River.  And, yesterday we toured more of the north shore (east side) and stayed for the night at Johnson Shores Inn, a beautiful inn owned and operated by good friends of Mike and Paul’s.

Well, I could share more, but after working on this post in bits and pieces over the last several days, I NEED to get it posted.  We’ll leave Maple Hill on Saturday, camp one night somewhere in Nova Scotia and, then, drive to the second farm we’ll be working on, which is on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.  Mike and Paul have been very gracious hosts, and it’s been both a lot of fun and an honor to work with Joe, who knows a great deal about organic farming.  We’ll miss the farm and the folks there, but also know that we have more great experiences ahead of us.

Tim

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Question Jake.

May 22nd, 2006

People may be wondering how Jake, our dog, is taking all this travel.

Hmmmm.  How do I answer this?  Jake is doing great.  But that doesn’t encompass all that he has had to go through. 

When we first started traveling, Jake was NOT accustomed to traveling in a vehicle.  Sure, he has ridden in a vehicle several times, but all those times, he wants to be in the passenger seat in my lap.  This wouldn’t do since his claws can hurt my knees after a while.  That is where Tim’s Jake platform came in.  Jake would be able to lie down or sit in his bed in back of the cab while looking out the window in comfort. 

A problem with this arose.  Jake would look out the back window of the cab and see a reflection of cars coming at him from the front window.  He would freakout and shake and forcefully try to be in either my lap or disturb Tim while he is driving by trying to get into his lap…over his shoulder.  Sometimes he would scoot down by the break pedal.  This caused more than irritation for our part.  We solved the problem by buying paper and taping it on the back window area so he wouldn’t see the reflections.  It worked, he was much calmer and then started looking out the front window to get freaked.  What about our vision to see from our rearview window you ask?  There wasn’t any vision there anyway.  All our stuff in the back effectively blocks all vision of the road out of the back window so it didn’t matter whether it was covered or not.  We made do with the side mirrors. 

Yes, he is still shaky looking out the front window, but we discovered a secret.  Open a window anywhere and he is immediately distracted and no longer shakes.  He even goes to sleep!!  Occasionally he looks at us as if to ask “can I come in your lap now?”  We usually say “no, you silly dog.” Actually, we just ignore him.

He is getting alot of sleep time on that bed of his in back.  All the east coast rain wasn’t a good thing for us but for Jake, it was miserable wet smelly dog time.  He even seems to notice if his bedding isnt washed after such wetness (he sleeps easier on a clean dry bed vs. a dirty dry bed).  If we went out for a walk in the town on a rainy day, Jake would get a quick “find a spot” outside and then “in….IIINNNNN!”  In the truck he would go, sometimes for hours but we would come back to the truck occasionally during those hours to let him out and love him up a bit.

Many of the States we visited required him to be on a leash at all times.  We occasionally broke those rules and let him run at times but for the most part, he has been leashed or in the truck sleeping.  I began to think he was getting too much sleep.  This all changed in Canada.  Although we haven’t written about it yet (we will), Jake has 150 acres to run on, all day long at the organic farm we are working on.  Now he has a reason to sleep.  Barking almost at will, he is having the time of his life.

Abrupt change of subject.  While we were in the states, we brought Jake into the Vet.  He has a weird bump on his skin on the back of his leg, near the ankle.  We were worried it might be a burroughed in tick or something else.  It was somewhat “scabby”.  The Vet said it was just a growth and not to worry about it.  It can be removed easily if it continues to grow (it is just a little less than the size of a pea).  We are likely going to have it removed here in Canada so it can heal up in time for our family camping weekend in the first week of July.  Shouldn’t be a problem. 

Another abrupt change of subject.  We switched Jake’s food to a dry mix for this trip since he ate Sojos (looks like spicy oatmeal) and vegetables and cut up meat regularly at home.  All this “regular” food would have taken too much space so we switched to IAMS.  He seems to have the least reaction to that food.  One thing (you were expecting at least one thing weren’t you?), Jake normally doesn’t like to drink much water.  He is changing that habit fast since he has to “hack” down his food morning and evening.  He now drinks way more water than we have ever seen him do.  Even when he is just sitting in the truck.  He gives us the “look” now for water.

Doggy communication is a funny thing with Jake.  There is the “whine” which we call “singing” to us in the tent in the morning so he can go outside.  There is the “look”, an intense stare until we acknowledge him and some need he has.  This need can be several things.  “Let me off of this stinking leash so I can go kill that tasty squirrel!!” (Tim and I call squirrels S.Q.U.’s so Jake doesn’t get all excited about that word).  “Throw my toy now!”  This can be followed up by a bark.  “Where is my dinner!”.  “Can I get into your lap?”  “I’m miserable and wet! Fix it.”  (This is a little more forlorn of a stare).  “Outside now or I might squirt at an inopportune time!!”  “I’m hungry!  I want what you are having right now and I am trying to forceably will you into giving it to me!”  I’m sure there are other things he says but I can’t think of any right now.

Jake also talks (beyond the whining although it can mean other things like “please throw my toy!”).  There is a huffing sound he makes at certain times as if to say “do what I am staring at you for RIGHT NOW!”  “I don’t want to wait for my dinner, get it!”  “You are slow! Hurry up!”

Jake has learned a new command.  “Up!”  Which means jump up (usually to somewhere or over something along a path)  We use it to get him to go into his bed in the truck.  We use it to get him into the truck but that sometime is also “in”.  We have used it to get him to jump over a fallen tree on a trail vs. going under it so we don’t have to mess with the leash or him or his collar so we also don’t have to “go under the tree at low levels”.

Jake is now doing really well with travelling.  He considers the tent site his home and inside the tent is his bed (most of the time on our sleeping bags if we are not in there at the time).  He looks out for squirrels and barks at them and “squeeky” birds…loudly.  I think he does this to stay awake sometimes because he will bark even if “S.Q.U.s” or “birdies, bunnys, kitties, or other doggies aren’t there.

That’s it for Question Jake for now.

Write more later,

Dan

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