Catching Up

I've been pretty busy since starting out on this journey.  So many people to see, things to do.  I knew Ontario would be like this as I had so many friends and relatives to visit with.  Here are the highlights:

• The van is in the shop for some repair work. I had a crack and a hole in the reservoir for the power steering fluid, and the part had to be ordered from Vancouver.  While in the shop with my very favorite mechanics, they discovered a couple of other problems that should have been caught in the inspections.  Hmmmm...the brake on the front left was stuck to the wheel and he was surprised I could keep the van on the road.  The calipers were near done (I saw them, I don't know what they do), the ball joints need replacing, and I seem to be missing a tailpipe, and it's been gone for years from the look of the break.  So the van is being brought up to safety this week while I'm visiting in Waterloo. Better now than on the Rockies...
• I visited my alma mater and was able to hook up with some friends I hadn't seen in awhile. Breakfast at William's Coffee Pub, lunch at the Student Life Centre, and then snacks at the Renison cafeteria, and a lovely stroll around the crowding campus. They are building, building, building there!
• Toronto had some cool street signs in the "gay district" - they all had rainbows on them. I visited an old friend of my daughter's (and mine) and met his husband. This is where I got the van stuck in the parking garage.
• I finally decided on a tattoo and had it done last night. It was excruciatingly painful, took a couple of hours, but I am very pleased with the result.  It still hurts, but will look fantastic when it heals. It is a female Sagittarius.
• I had dessert with my good friend S. last night at Williams, after my tattoo. She was to be traveling with me on this journey but life had other plans for her, so she will have to follow my blog like everyone else!
• I really miss having my van with me. I've been sleeping at my friend's place until the van is repaired...hoping to get it back sometime today. The chalkboard has been a hit, but I forgot to take pics of the different drawings...will try to get better at that.
• I don't recall where the giant maple leaf was, but thought it was pretty cool. I think it was somewhere in Ontario just outside of Brockville along the hwy 2.
• Stormy has made tolerable acquaintances with the resident dog and cat. He is such an adaptable kitty! 
• I am anxious to get on the road again...Thursday I'm heading to St. Catherine's.