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Be it ever so humble…

…there's no place like home. I took a road trip last week. Four of us piled into a car without working air conditioning and travelled to London, Ontario, for the Annual Meeting of the London Conference of the United Church of Canada.

…there's no place like home.

I took a road trip last week. Four of us piled into a car without working air conditioning and travelled to London, Ontario, for the Annual Meeting of the London Conference of the United Church of Canada.

It was a reasonably uneventful trip. There was a brief hold-up at the border while the very thorough Customs and Border Protection agent scanned our passports, but before we knew it we were on our way.

Friends following about 45 minutes later got to know the CBP folks a bit better than us; one of them had, unfortunately, brought a small bag of oranges with them.

(This was a lesson I learned at the age of 6, when we brought a half-dozen Florida oranges with us on a trip to Flint. I couldn't understand why they were taken from me and tossed into a grange bin. What does a 6-year-old care about fruit flies?)

But I digress… back to our story.

The interesting thing about travelling basically due south is recognizing the change in climate the further one travels. Just below Mackinaw City we noticed the trees were coming into leaf. The further we drove, the more the leaves had opened, and the more species were in leaf.

By the time we made the left turn at Flint almost all the trees were in leaf, and many of the fruit-bearing trees were flowering.

Crossing back into Canada at Sarnia the moderating effect of the Great Lakes was very much evident, as fewer tree species were in leaf, and those that were had not yet opened completely.

On the other hand, getting out of the car upon reaching the hotel on London it became obvious that -- although I had lived in southern Ontario for eight years -- I had forgotten the difference in climate between there and the Sault.

When we left the Sault at 8:30 am, the temperature was about 8°C. Various signs around London proclaimed the temperature at 4:00 pm as 27°C. After having a quick food court dinner at the nearby White Oaks Mall, I headed to Walmart to buy some shorts.

I'd like to say I took time to travel around London, marvelling at how it has grown, reaching further into the countryside, and visiting some of my favourite haunts, but there just wasn't time.

It was a good conference, but we spent over 12 hours in various sessions on Friday.
Saturday wasn't quite so long, but our evening was taken up by the celebration of Commissioning and Ordination; this was not an event to miss.

The church -- Wesley-Knox, on Askin Street -- was spectacular, and the music was amazing!

Sunday was a short day, wrapping-up some unfinished business and watching the presentation by the "Kids at Confernce" participants. Then it was back in the car for the ride home.

Crossing the border into Port Huron, Michigan, was an exercise in patience. Anyone who has complained about delays on the International Bridge needs to go down to Sarnia and give this crossing a try.

There were hundreds of cars, fanning out from the bridge across NINE designated inspection lanes. CBP agents, some escorting sniffer dogs, patrolled the line-up.

At one point a CBP agent strode purposely up to our car and informed the driver, "Do NOT move your car." He gave the same message to the car next to us, then intercepted a black SUV that was in the truck lane, directing it across the two lanes of stopped traffic toward the inspection area.

The driver was escorted into the building and his vehicle driven off by another CBP agent.

We weren't completely sure what the issue was -- whether his attempting to slip through in the truck lane caught their attention, or whether he simply "won the lottery," but we could almost hear the rubber gloves being snapped-on.

After clearing the inspection point we negotiated the extensive construction detour -- the Port Huron bridge plaza has been "under construction" for about 15 years, now -- and headed back onto the highway.

Aside from stops for gas, snacks and dinner, it was another uneventful trip. Arriving in the Sault to the same temperatures we experienced when we had departed three days earlier was disappointing; It really doesn't take long to get used to temperatures in the mid- to high-20s.

As I said earlier, I didn't get a chance to explore London, which was a bit disappointing.

I really liked London when I was spending time down in that area: I worked at a summer camp on the outskirts in the late-80s, and I would visit there a few times I year when I was living in Mississauga and Dundas.

In fact, there's still a part of me that would like to live in London -- even though the weather does get very muggy in the summer, and there is always the occasional threat of tornadoes.

As is the case throughout the 401 corridor and Golden Horseshoe, there are many great places to visit within a few hours' drive, and bot day- and weekend trips are plentiful and varied -- unlike here, where there's only two highways, and very little places I haven't already visited uncounted  times previously.

On the other hand, like Dorothy said while clicking her heels: there's no place like home.

There are things I really like about southern Ontario, but there are many things I like about living in the Sault, too.

Whatever anyone's complaint about traffic delays here, they are nothing compared to the sheer volume of traffic in a large metropolitan city like London.

And for anyone who likes trekking out to the wilderness, well… "wilderness" is pretty scarce on the ground in southern Ontario. Yes, there are spectacular parks and conservation areas, but nothing that really qualifies as "wilderness."

The Sault really is a humble place. We're proud of our community, but we don't crow about it all that much. It has the basics, and maybe a little bit more, but that's okay. That's what makes visiting bigger cities fun: they have more malls, more shopping districts, more variety, more of pretty much everything.

They also have cheaper gas: $1.27/litre, thank you very much.

Still, the Sault is home, be it ever so humble.

But… that's just my opinion.
 


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