A TRIP TO THUNDER BAY(6) TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2008

I drove west from Kakabeka Falls yesterday to see where Highway 11-17 had washed out, and I found the place. Workmen were still repairing the road, but it was now passable. I drove farther west looking at the countryside, and when I turned back I brought Highway 102 into Thunder Bay. Along Highway 102 where there was one oncoming lane and two lanes on my side, the asphalt for a large area of the outside lane had dropped down about two feet, as if all the supporting structure underneath had washed away. The unsafe area was clearly marked, and the lane I was driving was fine. The size of the damage surprised me.

In late afternoon, as Peter was headed home from work, he and his wife stopped at my motel room to invite me over for "leftovers." Supper wouldn't be anything fancy, they said, yet it turned out to be a lovely meal. It doesn't matter so much what you eat as with whom you eat it. And I was in lovely company.

Before we were done, they had loaned me Sharon Butala's Wild Stone Heart and Charles Williams' A Wilderness Called Home. Funny how this works. People who come to our house often leave with books too.

Soon enough it was getting dark and Peter was needing to get to bed. Once again he had to get up for work in the morning. I had to get up for the drive back to Fairwater.

And that's where I'm headed, as soon as I get the car loaded. Home.

That's why I go away: so I can go home.