I figured out what kept waking me up. It was lack of motion. Every now and then we have to pull onto a siding so a freight train can barrel by. I guess if you're rocked to sleep, lack of rocking wakes you up. So I was already awake when the train started up with such a jolt that I was afraid Lisa was going to fall out of the top bunk. Unfortunately, what awoke her was the repercussions of the delicious and elegant chili I had for dinner. So, I was banished from our sleeper. Frankly, I couldn't take it either.

We ate dinner last night with Evan and Brenda Woods, retired Canadian rancher/farmers. I was so severely scolded when I once called Uncle Garland's ranch a farm, that I corrected the Canadian when he told me he raised cattle on his farm. But he had "only" 100 acres and in Canada, that's a farm. Their stories are also fascinating, but the reason I mention him is his story about waking up and enjoying the dome car by himself at 5 am. That's what I'm doing now.

Evan & Brenda Woods.

The moon is still illuminating the countryside, which is still flat and featureless. (I'm continually reminded of a 2 year old Amanda reciting "The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave the luster of mud-day to ob-jects below".) Good time to write. Harry was telling me about the time one of his sons told him that he knew nothing about him. This reminded Harry how upset he was that he knew so little about his own father. So he started writing an autobiography. His first part was 100 pages. Part two has yet to be attempted. The one son loved it and has read it many times. Other kids have never finished it. So it doesn't bother me if this bores you to tears. Feel free to just look at the pictures. I know somebody will read it, even if it's only me trying to remember our trip. Thanks, Harry. I needed the encouragement.

I had breakfast with a woman who will soon be turning 90. Her sister scolds her for traveling alone, but she's says she's always alone so what's the difference. She's still mourning her husband who's been gone for 10 years after being debilitated for 3 years. He'd had his stomach removed and she fed him mushy food. But she is enjoying herself, traveling all around Canada by train to visit kids, grandkids and greatgrandkids. She had also been a farmer. I told her about Evan and Brenda and she introduced me to another retired farming couple. I'd wonder about who's minding the farm, but after hearing the bizzare politics and economics of farming these days, I'm pretty sure that nobody is.

In the picture above, Evan is holding a collection of Canadian cowboy poetry. They had chanced upon a weeklong cowboy poetry festival in Southwest Texas a few years ago and have been fans ever since. We watched the Saskatchewan farms roll by and Evan pointed out how the natural features affected farming and got excited whenever he saw old implements. They live on 5 acres now and he's pretty well filled it up with old wagons and various machinery. Someday he'll probably sell it off, but for now he's buying it up.

We stopped in Winnipeg for about an hour and walked to a nearby Folks Mall. There were all sorts of odd shops and odder food. The first place was a chutney store. Lisa found an elephant worthy of her collection and I found a musician playing a "stick" that had strings sort of like a 12 string guitar, was tuned like a guitar for one hand and a reverse cello for the other. I hope I enjoy listening to his cd as much as I enjoyed watching him play.

We strolled back to the station and it was almost empty and all the stairs to the train were roped off. The crew changed in Winnipeg and one of the old attendants saw us, scolded us and rushed us back on. The train left a couple of minutes after we boarded. Winnipeg was nice, but I'd rather not spend a few days waiting for the next train.

We had lunch and tried to sit in the dome car. The sun was so fierce on the shiny metal shell that it felt like a solar oven and we decided to return to our room. We read a little and napped until dinner time.

Our big screen tv, and my feet.

We had dinner with Doug and Patsy, a couple from Virginia who were almost to the end of a marathon trip from DC to Chicago to San Francisco to Vancouver to Toronto to DC. She was from Tennessee and once used the phrase "I swan". I had only heard Aunt Marylou use the term. It was the first time I was sure that the Enlows had come from Tennessee.

After dinner we talked with Evan, Brenda, Harry, Doug and Patsy until about midnight. Then we went to bed. About 2am we both woke up and decided to go back to the dome car. We had it all to ourselves and read, made tea and snacked. After awhile, Mary Ann joined us and we shared our life stories until almost time for breakfast. After breakfast we went back to bed till time for lunch. I always intend to skip the next meal, but it's always so good that I don't.

"Blackened Barren Bones of Trees"

I keep trying to get some pictures to liven up these pages, but there just isn't much to see. Just barren birches and lots of snow. We're finally getting into some rolling hills. The cloudy sky is welcome for a change and to cool the train off a bit. I've gotten off the train at a couple of short stops trying to mail some postcards (there are no mail boxes) and was very comfortable in a tshirt and shell jacket, even though there are several inches of snow on the ground.

The first time I tried to mail postcards was in Sioux Lookout. I thought the kids would appreciate the postmark. The second time, James, Ginny and I raced through Capreol looking for a mailbox. James finally went in a drugstore. There wasn't a mailbox but the clerk offered to mail them for us when she went to town later this week.

James is also a technophile, or gadget junkie. I showed him the webpages I was working on and we debated the values of various webpage development software. (I can't wait to check out his webcam of his backyard. Ginny rolled her eyes and said I might see a squirrel.) He showed me his scanner that he was eavesdropping on the train crew with. He could also pick up the readout from sensors on the track that told the speed of the train, the condition of the bearings, how many axles, etc. They were from Toronto and were wonderful tourguides as we rolled into town.

Our farewells were almost tearful. We'd become such good friends with so many people on the train. I'm looking forward to seeing Harry and Mary Anne on Vashon so Harry can copy some of Lisa's old photos. I'm looking forward to swapping tales over the internet with James. I don't know how we'll get in touch with Evan and Brenda, though. Maybe we'll visit them the last week of May, some year, to hear him auction off Mennonite quilts at the biggest benefit quilt auction in Canada.

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2/21 - 2/22 - Toronto to Montreal.