Latest Update from Karla

Subj: Brantford, Ontario -- Home of Wayne Gretzky
Date: 9/14/02 6:57:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From:    kbwalk@mymailstation.com

Howdy Everyone!
  It's been a great week as I slowly plod across Lower Ontario. After I left
Fonthill, I headed to the little town of Bismark, where I met Sunny and was a
welcomed guest at her B&B. Neil & Sunny have a beautiful, old house all fixed
up with a huge wrap-around porch on it. When I arrived, she was right in the
middle of canning grape juice.
  Two of her daughters, both in their 40's, passed away this year due to
cancer, so they're helping raise their grandkids. So in the evening, we drove
to Hamilton to take them to evening classes. On the way there, Sunny tried to
explain the Niagara Escarpment to me -- which we were driving over.
  The Niagara Escarpment begins in Watertown, NY and ends on the Manatoulin
Island in Ontario, Canada. It is 1,609 km in length and is the weathered edge
of a very ancient sea bottom. This is what brought Niagara Falls into
existence. It was formed and existed before glaciations. The escarpment is
not a fault line or a rift, but was created through erosion after the ice age.
It is a "cuesta." To compare when the rocks of the Niagara Escarpment were
formed 430 million years ago, the Appalachian Mountains were formed 295
million years ago, and the triassic and jusassic periods were only a meer 200
million years or so ago.
  After the kids were done with their classes, Sunny treated us all out to
Canada's famous "Tim Horton's" donut shop -- a lot like our Dunkin Donuts.
  The next day was pretty interesting as Sunny hauled my cart to Mt. Hope and
we were looking for a place to dump it so she could return back home and I
could then start walking from Bismark to Mt Hope.
  We stopped at a church because there was a car parked outside, and Ann
opened the door. She was quite amused at my story, and immediately started
calling around trying to find a place for me to stay. We finally decided I
could pitch my tent behind the church where no one would see me, so we
unloaded my cart there. Meanwhile, Ann called Janet, who lives right across
the street from the church, to ask if I could use her restroom -- I mean
washroom -- before I went to bed that night. Janet was also intrigued, and
walked across the street to meet me.
  She then said I could camp out in her backyard if I'd like, and that yes, I
could use their bathroom in the basement. We all visited for awhile, and
finally Sunny and I headed back for Bismark.
  The walk to Mt Hope was pretty interesting, because there is a motorcycle
meet going on just south of here, and I must've seen at least a zillion
motorcycles go by while I was walking. They usually passed me 20 or 30 at a
time, and the roar was deafening, but it was pretty neat to watch.
  By the time I had made it back to Mt Hope and Janet's backyard, she already
had the hide-a-bed in the basement pulled out and made up and was fixing
supper. She had invited several other people, including a kindergarden
teacher, her mother in law, and her aunt, who also has epilepsy. Her husband
John teaches high school, and he was a real joker and a lot of fun to be with.
We all ate outside on the picnic table and it was an enjoyable evening. The
weather has been really quite warm lately, and I'm quite ready for it to cool
off anytime now. But the evening was really comfortable outdoors, and they
are all saying this is REALLY unseasonably warm.
  While I was there, I called up the Brantford Fire Dept to see if I could
stay there tonight, and they said sure, to stop on in. The crew there is
super nice, and they're a lot of fun to be with. The weather out is REALLY
STORMY right now, and they all told me it's a good thing I got here when I
did. It's been so dry up here, everybody is glad it's raining.
  Y'all take care and have a great day, eh? KB

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