Vancouver's Hippie History . . . .

Thanks to our friend David Drucker over at Loud Murmurs we were introduced to the following YouTube video. David has an excellent post about Vancouver's hippie past here, but I wanted to share the video with you.

Enjoy:





Gotta love hippies, yesterday's and today's.

Peace . . . .

Dithering democrats ! ! ! !

Per Reuters today:

Spy, phone protection bill clears Senate hurdle

Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:43pm EDT - WASHINGTON
(Reporting by Thomas Ferraro)

(Reuters) - A White House-backed spy bill to protect telecommunication companies from billions of dollars in possible privacy lawsuits passed a Senate test vote on Wednesday and headed toward final congressional approval.

_______________


"This bill is not a compromise. It is a capitulation," said Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat.

Feingold has offered an amendment to strip out protection for telecommunication companies. But both Democrats and Republicans predict the amendment will be rejected.

Anti-democratic legislation supported by an idiot President with approval ratings hovering in the 30% range, and he gets everything he asked for! At least Feingold still has the right idea, but he's pretty much a lone voice in a sea of weaklings.

Knowing how enamoured harperco is with all things bushco, how many weeks, months or year's time will elapse 'til this little bit of crapola makes it up here?

And the dems would have you believe that things will be different when they have control of Congress and the White House. (If you buy into that, we've still got some Florida swampland we'll sell you.) They can't even muster the votes to protect the liberties and civil rights of US citizens that the Constitution mandates.

As "drf" continues to remind me: "It's just politics, Bob!"

Yup, looks like it is, and it ain't a'changin' anytime soon, no matter what "fairy" tales the DNC tries to feed you.

As Dana at TGB says: "Get drunk and stay drunk!" . . . .

That's Fair . . . .

Well, the Supremes have ruled on the Exxon Valdez debacle.

Far be it from them to put any undue financial burden on the cash-strapped corporation.

Per Reuters this morning:

Exxon Valdez $2.5 bln oil spill ruling overturned
Wed Jun 25, 2008 - By James Vicini
















WASHINGTON, June 25

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the record $2.5 billion in punitive damages that Exxon Mobil Corp had been ordered to pay for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska.

The nation's highest court ruled that the punitive damages should be limited to an amount equal to the total relevant compensatory damages of $507.5 million.

In the court's opinion, Justice David Souter concluded that the $2.5 billion in punitive damages was excessive under federal maritime law, and should be cut to the amount of actual harm.

_______________


Soaring oil prices have propelled Exxon Mobil to previously unforeseen levels of profitability in recent years, posting earnings of $40.6 billion in 2007.

It took the company just under two days to bring in $2.5 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2007.

The Exxon Valdez supertanker ran aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound in March 1989, spilling about 11 million gallons of crude oil.

The spill spread oil to more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) of coastline, closed fisheries and killed thousands of marine mammals and hundreds of thousands of sea birds.

The big guys win again . . . .

Economically and "Morally" Saudi . . . .

Now that the Saudis are being so cooperative on the increased oil production thing, (raise your hand if you think that's gonna happen) perhaps we can get 'em to work on this:

Per The Globe and Mail:

Saudi Arabia arrests alleged gays in raid

Associated Press - June 21, 2008

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A Saudi newspaper says religious police have arrested 21 allegedly homosexual men and confiscated large amounts of alcohol.













Al-Medina daily says the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which employs the religious police, was told Friday of a large gathering of young men at a rest house in Qatif, in eastern Saudi Arabia.

The paper says scores of men were initially arrested but only 21 remain in detention.

Homosexuality is seen as a sin in Islam and prohibited in Saudi Arabia and most other Muslim nations. In the conservative kingdom, the offence can be punished by flogging or prison.

Of course western nations could pressure the House of Saud to amend some of their more archaic and punitive actions toward alternative lifestyles.

But then there's that oil thing, isn't there?

Guess that Moral Compass gets out of whack when oil supplies start dwindling . . . .

Molasses = Immigration Process . . . .

Sure glad "drf" and I got our Permanent Resident application processed before harperco got too entrenched in power.

This from today's Toronto Star:

New immigration reforms put applications on hold

Ottawa officials are awaiting instructions from ministry about which candidates will be processed

June 21, 2008 - Nicholas Keung


Newly passed immigration reforms, which the federal government said were aimed at reducing a staggering backlog of applications by would-be immigrants, are creating a new logjam.

The backlog, which stood at 925,000 before the legislation was brought in, could grow by an additional 90,000 because officials have stopped processing new applications.

Prospective immigrants who submitted applications after Feb. 26, when the legislation was introduced, have been told by Citizenship and Immigration Canada that their applications are being put on hold until further notice.

It is expected that Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration will, within the next several months, be providing instructions to visa offices as to which applications are to be accepted for processing and which are to be returned unprocessed," Canadian visa officers explained in letters to applicants.

_______________


The move to stop processing new applications has baffled immigration lawyers and consultants, with some worried their clients' applications will be discarded altogether and they will be asked to reapply. Immigration officials declined to comment yesterday. The immigration reforms, passed by the Senate this week, give Immigration Minister Diane Finley the power to reject applications even if applicants meet all the criteria, and to instruct officials to cherry-pick immigrants based on labour market needs.

_______________


With the minister's instructions not expected until the fall, the number of people waiting in this latest queue could reach almost 90,000.

Also, while an applicant will get a refund of the processing fee if an application is returned, fees for professional help from lawyers and consultants are not refundable.

_______________


According to immigration's notification to applicants, once the instructions are issued, officials will start processing those applications received on Feb. 27, the day after the legislation was introduced, and proceed in chronological order.

Our process took over 2 years from the time the application was received by the Buffalo, NY consulate.

I can't imagine how long it will now take. Of course, the ReformaTory's new-and-improved system is supposedly going to speed up the processing time.

Somehow , I don't think "speed up" is the operable phrase here.

Molasses. Think molasses . . . .

Dems Fold on FISA . . . .

Nicolle Belle, John Amato and the crew at Crooks and Liars have been warning about Hoyer's behind-the-scenes backstabbing on FISA.

Today the knife was twisted.


From Congressional Quarterly:

House Passes Overhaul of Electronic Surveillance Rules

The House Friday passed an overhaul of electronic surveillance rules stemming from a bipartisan compromise that left Democrats divided.

The legislation, which would almost certainly lead to the dismissal of lawsuits against telecommunications companies accused of aiding the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program, won the support of 105 Democrats and 188 Republicans to pass by a margin of 293-129.

Senators agreed to place the bill on the calendar for next week and could clear it as early as Monday, delivering to President Bush legislation that gives him much of what he wants but with some restrictions he hoped to avoid. He placed a priority on the lawsuits’ dismissal, and on getting executive branch authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign targets, even when they are communicating with people in the United States.

House members who voted against the bill said its expansion of executive branch surveillance powers would gut Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

“This bill scares me to death,” said Rep. Barbara Lee , D-Calif.

Supporters, on the other hand, said it was an improvement over a Senate-passed, White House-backed bill, which contained less court and congressional oversight. Some conservative Democrats have been pressing House leaders to take up that legislation all year long, and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., said this week their support for that bill forced Democratic negotiators into a reluctant compromise.

“It’s not a happy occasion, but it’s the work we have to do,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif. She said the debate on the legislation was “valuable for making the bill better if not good enough but certainly preferable to the alternative we have.”

Republicans, including Bush himself, praised the legislation.

That last line sums it up pretty well.

Remind me again why someone should vote for a democrat vs. a reguglican ? ? ? ?

Medical Advancements . . . .

Compliments of my friend Tyler:

An Israeli doctor says "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him looking for work in six weeks."

A German doctor says "That is nothing. We can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four weeks."

A Russian doctor says "In my country, medicine is so advanced that we can take half a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have them both looking for work in two weeks."


The Texas doctor, not to be outdone, says "You guys are way behind. We recently took a man with no brains out of Texas, put him in the White House for eight years, and now half the country is looking for work."

No Wonder We Moved North of the 49th . . . .

Per today's Vancouver Sun written by one of their reporters travelling the US:

A deep malaise south of the border
Our columnist discovers a palpable state of fear in his U.S. travels

Pete McMartin - Vancouver Sun - Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Two weeks ago, in a campground on a barrier island off the coast of Georgia, a woman discovered I was from Vancouver. She was an American. We were washing our dishes over a camp sink, and when I said I was from Vancouver, her eyes lit up. She loved Vancouver, she said, and one day hoped to move there.

Why?

Her face soured. She said: "Because I hate the direction this country is going in."

And I thought, that was an answer only an American could give.

Canadians don't think of their country in terms of direction; our sense of history and ourselves is more up and down, like the rise and fall of volume bars on a stereo system. We watch the dollar, or the shifting levels of incompetency emanating from Ottawa, or the price of housing. We prefer domesticity, not direction. We don't feel the compulsion to save the world.

_______________


In Currituck County, North Carolina, our waitress complained loudly to another waitress of how greed was ruining the country. We asked, was she unhappy with the way things were going in the country, and she said, oh my, yes, things were bad.

How so, we asked, and the waitress, who was black, said, well, for one thing, you being from Canada and all, maybe you hadn't noticed we got a race problem down here.

Oh, we had noticed. You could not help but notice. Despite the vaunted rise of a black middle class, the gap between whites and blacks was stark.

Almost all the blacks we saw worked at menial, low-paying jobs -- waitressing, cashiering, janitorial and landscaping work. Any social interaction we saw between whites and blacks was rare.

The reality on the ground was so bald that it made laughable the media's hand-wringing over whether the U.S., in light of Barack Obama's rise, had a race problem.

_______________


Everything everywhere seemed for sale. We pulled up to the bed and breakfast we had booked in Beaufort, N.C., and it was for sale. Restaurants we ate in were for sale. Golf courses were for sale. Half-finished subdivisions out along the highway remained empty, or with only one or two homes occupied.

Backdropping all this was the rise in gas prices. The spectre of the $4 gallon of gas was causing a level of alarm among Americans that was all out of whack with reason. It was all anyone could talk about. In the media, the level of discourse was set on hysteria, with talk of the American way of life being in jeopardy.

In a sense, it was, if one considered the American way of life to be blithe consumption. When the subject of high gas prices came up in conversation with locals, and it invariably did, we would say that it had been a few years since Canadians, and the rest of the industrialized world, had paid as little as $4 for a gallon of gas, and that in Vancouver, we were now paying about $5.50 US a gallon. At this, the reaction would be something like disbelief, and a "Well, I never."

Well, no, they never, but now they will. And that prospect, if our intuition about these things was right, had people anxious.

It seemed to us to be a country holding its breath, not rushing toward some great destiny over time's horizon now, but fearful of what might be waiting for it there.

And then this from today's Business section:

Uncle Sam's fingers are all over the Canadian copyright bill
Michael Geist - Vancouver Sun - Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Last week's introduction of new federal copyright legislation ignited a firestorm with thousands of Canadians expressing genuine shock at provisions that some MPs argued would create a "police state." As opposition to the copyright bill mounts, the most commonly asked question is "Why"?

_______________


Instead, the bill, dubbed by critics as the Canadian Digital Millennium Copyright Act (after the U.S. version of the law), is the result of an intense public and private campaign waged by the U.S. government to pressure Canada into following its much-criticized digital copyright model. The U.S. pressure has intensified in recent years, particularly since there is a growing international trend toward greater copyright flexibility, with countries such as Japan, New Zealand, and Israel either implementing or considering more flexible copyright standards.

The public campaign was obvious. U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins was outspoken on the copyright issue, characterizing Canadian copyright law as the weakest in the G7 (despite the World Economic Forum ranking it ahead of the U.S.).

_______________


The private campaign was even more important. Emboldened by the successful campaign for anti-camcording legislation, U.S. officials upped the ante at the Security and Prosperity Partnership meeting in Montebello, Que., last summer. Canadian officials arrived ready to talk about a series of economic concerns, but were quickly rebuffed by their U.S. counterparts, who indicated that progress on other issues would depend upon action on the copyright file.

_______________


The heart of the bill, however, remained largely unchanged since satisfying U.S. pressure remained priority number one. Just after 11 a.m. last Thursday, the U.S. got its Canadian copyright bill.

The first article shows how everything's not so perfect down south, and the next article reveals how the US is still bent on making the world over in it's image.

There's something not quite right with this picture . . . .

The Times, They Are A Changin' . . . .

And in a good way, too . . . .

Per AlterNet today:

Governor's Acceptance of Gay Daughter Sends Message of Tolerance
By Deb Price, Creators Syndicate - Posted on June 16, 2008

Last year, a young African American told her parents something that can't go unspoken for long in a close-knit family: "I'm a lesbian."

Her father immediately responded, "We love you," and her mother felt a relief rush because she'd feared bad news. The family hugged.

"It was the easiest coming out experience that anyone could possibly have," the lesbian teen later recalled. "I've been closer to my parents since coming out."

Her story might not seem remarkable in a world where millions of heterosexual women comfortably spend their TV time with funny gal Ellen DeGeneres and personal finance wiz Suze Orman, both openly gay.

But this coming out story took place in one of America's most prominent black political families.

Deval Patrick, the dad, is governor of Massachusetts. The mom is Diane. And the daughter is 18-year-old Katherine.

The Patricks recently told their beautiful family story of truth and joyful consequences to Bay Windows, a gay newspaper in their state.

It's a story with the power to blow off closet doors in countless African- American homes, says Mandy Carter, a longtime out black lesbian activist who attributes much of the unease of African Americans toward the gay rights movement to the mistaken notion that it's "about giving more to already privileged, rich, white gay men."

Something very powerful and very special is happening within the black community to counterbalance the often unaccepting messages from the black church.

Just a few weeks ago, on the front page of The New York Times, the nation's other black governor, New York's David Paterson, talked about "Uncle Stanley" and "Uncle Ronald," the Harlem gay couple who were close to his family and helped him with his spelling when he was a boy.

Paterson reminisced about his "uncles" in explaining why he directed state agencies to recognize out-of-state gay marriages: "People who live together for a long time would like to be married -- as far as I'm concerned, I think it's beautiful."

Like Paterson, Patrick supports gay marriage, which started in 2004 in his state.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama, who'll be the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party, advocates civil unions (not marriage) for gay couples, giving married gays federal benefits and getting rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

So . . . .

Isn't it about time that national candidates for office in the US catch up with state and local officials?

You betcha . . . .

I'm Voting Republican . . . .

Enjoy, and make sure you watch it all the way through the credits.




Just about says it all, eh ? ? ? ?

Good Grief . . . .

Per Reuters this morning:

Bush contemplates writing his memoir
Sun Jun 15, 2008


LONDON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, scrutinized in books by former colleagues including a blistering critique by his ex-spokesman, is considering writing a memoir of his own.

Bush has been silent on former spokesman Scott McClellan's book, which said the White House shaded the truth and conducted a propaganda campaign to make its case to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Asked if he planned to pen his own book after leaving office in January, Bush said it was a possibility.

"I'm going to think about that, yes -- writing a book," Bush said in an interview with Britain's Observer newspaper published on Sunday.

Can't you just hear the jokes spinning around in people's minds already?

The late night comedians are going to have a field day with this one . . . .

Settling In . . . .

One week in our new (sort of) home and so far all is going well.

Not everything is done, as far as the details of moving, anyway.

Little things like re-doing the closets to allow more usable storage space, hanging the artwork, figuring where to put all of my CD's, etc., are still in the "we'll get it done soon" stage.

Going from 1,500 sq. ft. to 573 sq. ft. demands some adjustments, discarding, and existing in cramped quarters. All in all, though, the adjustments are definitely worth it.

Some of us, in particular, are loving the changes. The JoJo Dog has become a City Girl with ease, and we don't think she is missing her life on Jolly Bay at all. The West End 'hood has an active "critter" population being adjacent to Stanley Park. She's already seen numerous black squirrels, flying fowl of all sorts including the Great Blue Heron nesting area, raccoons, and - believe it or not - skunks. All in a teeming metropolitan area. The four-legged child is in doggie heaven.

She has even almost mastered the elevator ride in the building. Initially the moving floor under her feet was quite disturbing to the child. After a week, it is becoming the "norm" in her everyday life.


And, as of Friday, she's now completely legal with her new City of Vancouver dog license.










Life is good . . . .

Justice, Although Delayed . . . .

bushco dealt another blow (and not the good kind). Compliments of McClatchy.

Supreme Court rules Guantanamo prisoners have right to sue in U.S. courts

Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers - June 12, 2008 11:17:37 AM

WASHINGTON — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled Guantanamo Bay detainees have the right to challenge their extended imprisonment in federal court, and struck down as inadequate an alternative review system set up by Congress.

Repudiating a key tenet of the Bush administration’s war-on-terror policy, the court’s 5-4 majority concluded the foreigners held in Guantanamo Bay retain the same habeas corpus rights as U.S. residents.

“Some of these petitioners have been in custody for the past six years with no definitive judicial determination as to the legality of their detention,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. “Their access to the writ is necessary to determine the lawfulness of their status, even if, in the end, they do not obtain the relief they seek.”

_______________


The court’s conservative wing, including Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, at times with sharp words of their own.

“The nation will live to regret what the court has done today,” Scalia wrote.

Big surprise on the dissenting judges. Who would've guessed that one?

How much longer 'til the bushco crowd is brought up on war crimes charges ? ? ? ?

The Journey . . . .

So here's the scoop on David, JoJo and my 3,079 mile (4,954 km) cross-continent trip to Vancouver:

We left on Tuesday, June 3rd having Volvo SUV loaded with ourselves and various road items such as snacks, drinks, suitcases, doggie beds, etc. On top of the SUV were two bikes on racks. Behind we were towing a 5' x 8' U-Haul trailer with various "treasures" from the Florida house for placement in the tiny Vancouver strata (condo). Have you got the visual of Jed, Granny, Ellie Mae and Jethro leaving the hills of Tennessee for Beverly Hills, a la, "The Beverly Hillbillies" ? ! ? ! If so, you are very astute in your analysis . . . .

At any rate, we became very familiar with various and assorted Motel 6 locations (as they all accept four-footed children) across the continent. We can advise you to under no circumstances spend a night in the choice (NOT) operation in Mt. Vernon, IL. Slammed right up next to the interstate which was under construction all night long, pool loaded with youngsters screaming their heads off, vehicles with trailers having to park a block away, etc., etc., etc. The next night in Sioux Falls, SD was a much better location, and we were given a handicapped access room that actually had a shower you could use without hitting the walls as you wash your hair. Not to be outdone by Mt. Vernon, however, the third night in Billings, MT was located next door to an adult ""toys" establishment with no available trailer parking - great. Night four was in Spokane, WA which actually was a nice operation, but we were awoken at 10:30 pm to move our car as it was in a fire lane - never mind that it was exactly where the Motel 6 check-in lady earlier in the evening had advised us to park. The last evening in Bellingham, WA was another crappy place and our vehicle decided to begin acting up by setting it's alarm off at various times. (More on this later.)

We spent very little time on seeing the sites during the drive. Actually, until we got to South Dakota and Montana, there was not a whole lot to see. We enjoyed travelling through Tennessee and Kentucky which we had seen previously. Iowa, Illinois and Missouri were all very boring, though. Iowa was especially crappy: Bad roads, lack of any kind of scenery, aroma of meat-packing plants and a dearth of gas stations all added up to a "we'll never be back through this hell-hole." Once we got into South Dakota, we did take a scenic tour off the interstate to view The Badlands which was pretty cool. Montana, however was our favourite. Beautiful scenery from plains to spectacular mountain vistas - really impressive. Also particularly incredible was the Columbia River Gorge in west/central Washington. Amazing drop and then incline through the gorge with severe cross-winds all the way.

So, VERY early on Sunday, June 8, we arose to venture out on our last leg which included a border crossing into Canada with our "treasures" for Vancouver. (As you may recall, due to the wonderful real estate market in the US, and especially Florida, we are having to maintain a home there for quite some time. "Thank you, george bush!")

Note to those following us across the border: When we actually "Landed" in February at the Vancouver airport CBSA office, we were advised that our List of Imported Goods and Goods to Follow was not necessary at that point. They assured us - multiple times upon our "queeries" - that when we actually arrived with our goods that the land border crossing agents would handle the paperwork.

Well . . . .

That is not standard operating procedure according to the land crossing agents - Big surprise, eh? The gentleman was initially quite taken aback we did not have the paperwork completed earlier. Had to check with his supervisor, etc. I - profusely apologizing for not having the forms properly signed in February - was beginning to get a bit nervous. Meanwhile, David and JoJo are in the car awaiting my arrival. Agent informs me that by the airport agents not following correct procedure, they had put me in a bad situation as potentially all of our goods could be subject to duties and taxes. Great - did not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. After a bit more back and forth between agents, they agreed to check our paperwork, and thank goodness (Melissa, Mary & Diane - BIG hugs to you for the advice!) we had everything neatly completed in a document format with each page individually totalled. Once the agent saw how organized we were, his comment was: "Why didn't they take this at the airport? It would have taken them maybe 5 minutes to complete everything!" That said, he promptly totalled up everything, signed, stamped, gave me my copy and sent me on my way. Never even came outside to check our trailer, the dog, David's rabies certificate - Nothing! (That's a joke, re: David's rabies certificate, BTW.) Even with the initial confusion, I was back out to the car within 25 minutes. Yippeee!!

(As a sidelight to this saga, the whole time I was inside with the agent trying to get things processed, another rather hippy-looking gentleman was getting thoroughly chastised by another agent for not having proper documentation, paperwork, etc., proving he had "established ties to the US" in order to regain entry to Canada. That was, I believe, the situation at any rate. The guy kept telling the agent that he had paid for advice by an immigration attorney. The border agent sternly(and quite loudly) told him that he had wasted his money on the attorney as the advice was worthless. Just prior to me coming out of the office all smiles David and JoJo got to see the gentlemen leave looking very dejected through the exit that read "Back to the USA". Kinda sad, eh?)

Continuing on then:

We arrived at the condo in downtown Vancouver at around 7:00 am to unload in order to get the trailer back across the border into Washington. This to avoid an additional charge of about $400 for dropping it off in Canada - what a rip, eh? Oh, it just so happens that Vancouver was hosting an all-weekend Triathlon and most of the streets in our 'hood were closed - just to add excitement to the mix. Having navigated the streets, backed the trailer (Whew!!) into the loading zone we began unloading. Soon thereafter, the aforementioned alarm on the Volvo commences to go off sporadically - remember this is 7:00 am on a Sunday morning. Bob is freaking, as the typical disarming procedure of insert key, turning key, etc., is not doing any damn good. Cool, logical David is perusing the owner's manual to find the fuse box location. Bob thinks he knows where it is, but NO, there are more than one fuse box locations in the damn vehicle. Bob starts trying to disconnect the battery 'til he reads that this will set off the alarm - Great! Irritated gentleman in the building next to ours is screaming at the top of his lungs "SHUT THAT FUCKING THING OFF!!!) I'm thinking: Thank goodness we're not in the US as he would probably have an Uzi or AK47 available to shoot us and the blaring alarm. To end this drama, David does, in fact, locate the offending fuse which I promptly pulled out, and it will not be replaced for a very long time. We then completed our unloading procedure and delivered the U-Haul back to Washington. It was quite nice to be rid of the thing after 6 days of dragging it around. Plus the gas mileage promptly improved by about 50%. As of right now, we have 90% of our goods in place - still have the pictures to hang, and a few bike things to store, etc., but that's about it.

For those of you with pet concerns: Our four-footed child was adopted as a pup from a local rescue operation in Florida and raised her entire life in a rather rural, uninhabited area of the panhandle. After about 3 days here in a big city with lots of activity she is adapting exceedingly well. At this point, her only issue is the elevator ride up and down in our building. We've got confidence that she will conquer that, too. Her determination to become Canadian is nearly as strong as ours!
















That brings you all up to date on The Clampett's tour of the country. Again, if you need any recommendations of where and where not to stay - Motel 6-wise - let us know. We'll tell you which ones to have them leave the lights on for ya' . . . .

Ta-Da ! ! ! !

We're Here!

We're Tired!



Details later . . . .

The Drive Continues . . . .

Last night (Day Four) we arrived in Spokane, WA around 4:30 Pacific Daylight Time (our new time zone - Yay!) 2,616 miles into the 3,029 miles.




We took it a bit slower on Friday, as the scenery going through Montana and Idaho is especially beautiful. This was the first time either of us had driven through the area, and we enjoyed the views immensely. Even the Four Footed Child seemed to take in the sights when she wasn't vocally protecting us from cattle and horses near the highway.

Today will be a leisurely drive through Washington and spending the night in Bellingham, WA prior to the border crossing tomorrow. I know, I know, we could go ahead and do the crossing today. We decided to go through Canadian customs early Sunday morning to avoid the weekend traffic crowds and this way will get us to The West End early on a Sunday, also. Unfortunately, there is a Triathlon going on that day in our 'hood so the actual final destination logistics are a bit more challenging than normal. Towing a trailer through our 'hood at any time is difficult, so this should prove interesting.

Our next post will be from our Canadian home .

Gotta like the sound of that . . . .

Travel Update . . . .

Quickie Update:

We're 1,361 miles into the 3.029 (according to GoogleMaps) mile trip.



Spending this evening in Sioux Falls, SD, and last night was in Mt. Vernon, IL. Thus far, the two accommodations are night and day - tonight's being so much better than the disaster that was last evening.

As the driving wears one out, more updates as we gain WiFi access . . . .

We're Outta Here ! ! ! !

Too tired for much verbiage after loading the U-Haul, but wanted to let ya'll know:




We're outta here later today and we are looking forward to it, as you can imagine.

More as we cross the continent, depending on internet connections . . . .

Special thanks to Tom and Emilio for the pic. It's one of our favourites! (Note the "ou" spelling. Damn, this is great!)