August 17 – 25, 2014
Sunday
August 17, 2014 – Day 1:
Today, I have to travel about 900 km (about
409 miles) north and then west all day to get to the “Soo” (as Sault Ste. Marie
is popularly known to the natives of that region). It is not one of my better days though –
mostly because of ongoing headaches and a very sore neck. I’ve had arthritis in my neck for years now
and sometimes it acts up. Today, it’s
really acting up and so are the pains in my head.
I left my home in Ajax around 8:45 am
with Dave so that he could take me to TD Canada Trust where I could get some
money out of my account for him and me to get us both through the week. Then, he took me to Tim Horton’s so that I
could grab a bit of breakfast on-the-go and finally, he dropped me off at the
GO Bus stop at Salem Road and Hwy. 2.
The GO bus picked me up there at about 9:25 am and took me over to
Yorkdale Shopping Centre where I was to board a Greyhound bus bound for Sudbury
and then the “Soo” at about 12:45 pm. I
had packed up my laptop computer, speakers and DVDs (as usual), as well as my
clothes, toiletries and all the other stuff that people normally pack to go
away. I was really looking forward to
this vacation.
The headaches started just before the
Greyhound bus arrived at Yorkdale, so I downed three Tylenol (Ultra) pills made
especially for bad headaches and hoped like hell I would soon feel better. I didn’t, so I attempted to sleep on the bus
with my small pillow propped up against the window beside my seat and tried hard
to relax. After a while, it seemed to
help and I woke up as we were going up Hwy. 400 toward Barrie. Then, the headaches returned and I downed a
Tylenol 3 pill. This pill should only be
taken as a last resort, not as a normal painkiller. So, here I was struggling to get rid of the
pain in my head and neck; it was extremely uncomfortable for a time. The thing that carried me through to Barrie
and beyond was listening to soft rock music on my mp3 player. I listened to my favourite artist, Celine
Dion, until my headaches began to diminish in strength.
Eventually, as we sped north through
Barrie towards Sudbury, I tried shifting my position in my seat, which, all by
itself was uncomfortable. We stopped
briefly in Parry Sound, two hours south of Sudbury, for 20 minutes or so. I only hoped that by the time we arrived in
Sudbury (around 5:30 pm), I would be feeling fairly close to normal because my
long-time friend, Dale, and her daughter, Kaija, were planning to meet me at
the bus terminal in Sudbury and then we would all go for a quick dinner before
I had to re-board the bus at 7:00 pm.
Fortunately, I was starting to feel better by that time and we enjoyed
each other’s company for the hour and a half I was able to spend with them.
At 7:00 pm, we took off for the “Soo”
from Sudbury and that was going to take another four to four and half
hours. I hoped my headaches would not
return in full force, and this time, I was lucky – they weren’t nearly as
painful. I was still a little
uncomfortable in my seat, but that could not be helped. I played with my pillow a little to achieve the
maximum comfort possible and was determined to make the most of the rest of my
day. Again, I listened to my music –
this time, Madonna, and, being able to focus on my music was very beneficial.
There was one more scheduled stop in
Blind River, almost two hours east of the “Soo”, where we were allowed another 20-minute
break to get a drink and/or go to the washroom.
After that, the rest of the drive was relatively easy and we arrived in
the “Soo” on time at about 11:20 pm. It
had been a very long day for me and I was really tired. From now on, I may break up this journey into
two days. It’s getting to be too long for
me to do it all in one.
The hotel I am staying at, the Holiday
Inn Express, had been newly renovated from stem to stern. It used to be called the Days Inn, but it got
sold to another hotel chain in the U.S. a couple of years ago. However, that didn’t matter to me – it still
looks great and it feels great just to be here.
First thing I did upon arriving at the hotel by taxi was to take a hot,
much-needed shower, unpack some of my stuff and relax. If I sleep well tonight, I know that it will
be a terrific vacation overall regardless of my difficult journey to get here
today. The “Soo” is, and always will be,
my chosen vacation spot in Canada in the summertime.
copyright 2014, Anne Shier. All rights reserved.
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