Well, Rocky has found a new home. We auction him off at the local Legion 54 in Haileybury, Ontario. It's a bit of a story so let me tell it shortly.
After finishing my trip in Milton Ontario, I cycled to Toronto Pearson Airport and met my best friend in the world who is flying in from the Bahamas for a reunion this Easter weekend.
Let me tell you, that part of Toronto isn't the most cycling friendly place in the world. Driver's hissed from their windows and honked and flashed their lights, like a bike didn't belong, going between terminals. After crossing the continent I was immune from such negativity. Cycling through Brampton Little Punjabi was just as horrific. It confirmed what I had found for most of the trip that the bicycle is a relic and the automobile rules totally. It's a state of affairs I'll come back to once I get a keyboard and some nice empty time to think and write.
We stuffed Rocky into the backseat of a Ford Mustang convertible and headed up to our hometown. Final stop was Haileybury. It was still with snowbanks and the lake was totally covered in thick ice. I went down to the shore and sat there to think about my journey through life from here to there to elsewhere.
I know many readers don't know me that well but I've had the honor to live and be myself in many countries all over the world. But at the same time, it's had its cost and I've had to fight for that freedom to be me, to be alive, naked and alive.
The next morning, I met my first beautiful person up north, Don Martin president of Legion 54 in Haileybury. He gave me a full tour of the very old Legion building and told me about all the projects events and initiatives they were undertaking at the Legion. It was all part of restoring the building and fermenting community in the small town of Haileybury. Haileybury was the administration town along the lake and no one for its school of minds and it's jail. It's beautiful and scenic and where lots of the most prosperous people in the area of the Tri-Towns lived on the shores of Lake Temiscaming on the border between Ontario and Quebec.
I will tell you about just one initiative they are taking to make and form community. They have a Saturday and Sunday breakfast which over 200 people attend every weekend. And let me tell you breakfast is a great time for the community to bond!
On route 66 and even throughout Ontario I saw mainly dying towns. The fast pace of modern life had dried them up and there was little happening, just a few old stores and many derelict buildings. Once they'd been home sweet home to so many.
It takes people that are stubborn and who actively take the initiative of building community to sustain a town. I saw the exceptions along my road across America and Canada. Springfield, Missouri was one of them and what was happening here in Haileybury is another.
Thank you Don for being a beautiful person and helping us and Rocky's journey and helping give him a new home. Good luck in making Legion 54 stand proud and tall at the center of the community. I love your can do attitude!
That evening was the big event. A rising star of the Canadian comedy scene was in town and many people stuffed the Legion to laugh their ass is off and have a good time. Derek Gervais was so hilarious, S.T., a real talent. After his set, I got up there and told my story about Rocky, in brief.
Then the auction began and Derek did a great job. Someone who I went to high school with - Ron Bumstead, got Rocky for the price of $575. More help for Legion 54 in Haileybury!
I gave Rocky one last kiss and said goodbye. I embrace so many old friends that I met at the event. Then I headed out to see my aling, elderly mother.
Often during my travels people will ask me, Where are you from? Many times I'll jokingly reply, My mother! In every joke, in every quip, there is a lot of truth.
I'm spending time at a beautiful lake in a cold cottage that's not winterized. During the day I'll go out and visit my mom and dad at the farm. I'll cherish this time with them. I'll enjoy the roaring fire in the cottage and the time alone without Wi-Fi and others around. Just like I enjoyed my hours and hours alone on the bike embrace by mother America and Canada. It's so good for your soul to be out there in nature's bosom. Vulnerable. Testing yourself. Not separate and being part of everything. That was what my journey was partly about.
Next post, I'll discuss a little about why I was out there and doing this. For now I'll relax in the memory of Rocky rolling through the gravel roads outside my hometown. There are many and they are sweet, I've traveled them all. A little poem to end …
Pretentions
You think you know a lot. Then the floor gives way under ya and you find yourself laughing in the ether, in the contingency, in the mirror. Laughing at the ass you were or are.
And if you don't end up laughing your ass off. If you stick to your delusions, then you're just a waste cuz I know for sure - something, someone, somewhere is damn well laughing their ass off at you.
D. D. Coffee morning. April 22nd, 2025 Kelly's Twin Lake cottage, wind roaring, fire roaring too. Listening to Harry Manx sing The Thrill Is Gone.
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