Final "Find Gary" Post

Original End-point Goal

My goal for the trip was to get to Labrador and Newfoundland.  I wanted to get to the Viking settlement site and I did reach my goal.  My interest in this came from historical fiction books I’ve read over the years on the Vikings and also a series of educational podcasts that I pulled off of iTunes on the Normans.  Six hundred years before Columbus – the Vikings had a settlement in Newfoundland.    Their boats were very small.

The other thing that interested me about Newfoundland and Labrador was that until 1949 they belonged to England.  Up until then, they were governed by England and paid taxes to England.  They became a part of Canada by one single vote.


Riding a Motorcycle in the US

Many states in the US have no helmet laws and the majority of motorcyclists riding in these states don’t wear helmets.  I attribute the lack of a helmet law as a state’s way of keeping the motorcyclists population in check.  It would also appear to be a part of the evolutionary process of natural selection.

All Canadian motorcyclists wear helmets - so the question is - are they more evolved or are they hampering the process of natural selection?

Observations and Reflections

Most Canadians are as overweight as most Americans.  The cities in both Canada and the US seem to be the exceptions to the issues of obesity.  In my experiences in visiting cities such as New York – most New Yorkers are in good shape.  This would also be true to cities like Toronto.  People walk a lot more in cities.

The Questions

There were three questions that I wanted to get reflections on:  Why do you live where you live, what you are doing to make the world a better place and then a not so serious question on why are people afraid of clowns.

I did ask the clown question a few times and with the exception of only one person I met – most people did not have an issue with Clowns.  One person said they were “creepy” but other than that – most were ambivalent.

The people that I met over the course of 52 days ranged from retirees, laborers, people pursuing dreams, and those dedicated to making the world a better place as a matter of their job.  Overall, most of the working people I met were focused on survival.  If they were doing anything to make the world a better place it was trying to raise their children in a way that would give them independence along with a set of values that would sustain them.  As would be expected – the better educated someone was, the more money they made, the more responsibility they felt towards making the world a better place.  Adult working children, of parents focused on a better education for their children, were more likely to be involved in building better communities.

Most of the people I met along the way live where they live because it’s “home.”  Some have moved due to the requirements of a job but others will either stay where they were raised or will eventually move back near “home.”

As I rode back into California – what stood out to me were the dry grasses, the trashy sides of the interstates and the general disrepair of the roads.  Now back in Sebastopol with a few days of adjusting to “California” – I’m not noticing what so stood out when I first hit the Sacramento Valley on I-80.  What now stands out to me is that I can go outside at anytime during the day, in a rural setting and not get eaten by bugs.  I have to contend with the constant possibility of fires and earthquakes but I will gladly adapt to that risk for the instant and ongoing gratification of being able to go outside without a gallon of “Off” coating my body.  Home is Home.

Overall Observations

Canada is financially healthy.  They did not get wrapped up in the financial mess that the US banks did mainly because of regulations that prevented them from getting sucked into the sub-prime mortgage deals.  The economy seems to be doing well.  Things are not cheap in Canada.  Gas is anywhere from $3.50 to $5 per gallon (US dollars).  I don’t know about their overall income taxes but what I have heard from a few people is that they are a little lower that the US.  Their sales and VAT taxes are on average – higher – around 13%.

Cheesy motels in Canada are "cheesy."  They are too expensive for what you get.  The best bets are name brand hotels and Bed and Breakfast homes.  B & Bs were consistently clean and a good value - and you meet more interesting people.

On their healthcare – Canadians are generally happy with their healthcare.  They will say “it’s not perfect, but I wouldn’t trade it for your system.”  I did not find anyone that felt the US had a better system of healthcare.  Canadians would just shake their heads when talking about the US system.  This isn’t to say that the US medical capabilities are not some of the finest in the world – it’s that you have to be wealthy to get access.  Dental is not covered by their insurance and neither are prescription drugs.  They have supplemental insurance to cover these.  Drugs in Canada are generally much less expensive than the US.

Canadians are much more trusting than Americans.  Many gas stations in Canada would not take an international credit card at the pump - they will take it inside - but not at the pump.  You pump first and then pay.  You don’t pay and then pump.  At the bed and breakfasts I stayed in Newfoundland I would ask 3 or 4 times when I could pay them and the response was – “don’t worry about it.”  Finally after trying to pay one B & B owner several times – he just looked at me and said, “you can pay me tomorrow, Newfoundland is an island, where you going to go….”

Newfoundlanders are some of the friendliest people that I have ever met - but they can be a little difficult to understand.

I met so many great people doing so many interesting things.  I hope I will have the chance to see them again.  Meeting Bill – riding his motorcycle across Canada at the age of 78 was an inspiration not to allow age to keep me from doing things.  My uncle at 89 – still driving and still riding his motorcycle is more alert than many younger drivers.  Age has not kept him inside.

Brown v. Board of Education – Topeka Kansas

Many things touched me on this trip but I think one of the things that had a real impact was my visit to the Brown V. Board of Education site in Topeka Kansas.  It wasn’t the fact that we had segregated schools that were a holdover from looking at African Americans as substandard to Whites – that type of prejudice can be seen today not only in the US with Black and Whites but in Canada with the First Nation (Canadian indigenous) people.  You can also point to anywhere on a global map and find prejudices.  What struck me was the courage of individual Blacks that pushed to overturn a policy accepted by a majority of their community as standard.

I cannot imagine getting up in the morning and stepping outside into an environment where I was looked on as little more than a dog.   What remarkable men these were that fought to overturn this common practice.  These men and women are heroes to the overall human experience and should be taught as examples in all schools.  All children, all adult Americans, should know these leaders' name's by heart.

Belton v. Gebhart (Bulah v. Gebhart)
Delaware State Court, Wilmington, Delaware

Thurgood Marshall, Chief Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund
Louis L. Redding, DE NAACP
Jack Greenberg, NAACP/LDF (PDF, 65KB)

Bolling v. Sharpe
U.S. District Court, Washington, D.C.

Thurgood Marshall, Chief Counsel, NAACP/LDF
George E.C. Hayes, NAACP/LDF
Charles Hamilton Houston, independently
James Nabrit Jr., independently

Briggs et al v. Elliott et al.
U.S. District Court, Eastern Division, Charleston, South Carolina

Thurgood Marshall, Chief Counsel, NAACP/LDF
Robert L. Carter, NAACP/LDF
Harold R. Boulware, SC NAACP
Spottswood W. Robinson III, VA NAACP
Arthur Shores, AL NAACP A.T. Walden, GA NAACP

Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County
U.S. District Court, Richmond, Virginia

Thurgood Marshall, Chief Counsel, NAACP/LDF
Oliver W. Hill, VA NAACP
Spottswood Robinson III, VA NAACP
Robert L. Carter, NAACP/LDF

Oliver L. Brown et al v. Board of Education of Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas
U.S. District Court, Topeka, Kansas

Thurgood Marshall, Chief Counsel, NAACP/LDF
#Robert L. Carter, NAACP/LDF
Jack Greenberg, NAACP/LDF
Charles Bledsoe, KS NAACP
Charles Scott, KS NAACP
John Scott, KS NAACP


To those of you that have followed my trip blog – Thank You.  For those of you that I met along the way – thank you for sharing a bit of your life with me – come see me sometime.

Home is Home

The End