Today began with one of my back molars losing a filling (or perhaps I lost a bit of tooth). Damn those ju-jubes! You may ask what I was doing eating ju-jubes at 10 o’clock in the morning but it is a question which will remain unanswered. An immediate trip to the dentist does not seem indicated so I think it will wait for my return to Victoria.
We left the boys at Riverside RV Resort and made the drive from Tweed, Ontario to Peterborough in a little over an hour. First on the agenda was a visit to the Peterborough Lift Lock. It’s a kind of elevator for boats. As one big tub of water goes up, another comes down. The two huge weights counter-balance one another although the lift going down has more water in it so that it will push the other to the top and not have them get stuck it approximately this position.
Just as we were walking up for a closer inspection, a fellow in a motor boat came along and the operator shouted for him to enter the lock on the left. Very soon the whole contraption was in motion. The tiny motor boat was in the lock on the left. Because of the counter-weighted system I can’t imagine that it takes a lot of extra energy to run and so I assume it’s not big deal to run this huge apparatus with for a 50 pound motor boat. I have to say that the captain of the motor boat weighed considerably more than 50 pounds.
Then it was on to the Canadian Canoe Museum. I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with Eliot because it was warm and very humid. But the two women who were at the door showed me a hoot where I could tie him in the vestibule. They even ran and brought him a bowl of water. I had been so looking forward to seeing this wonderful zen-like museum. The museum is a history of Canada told through the canoe and its many versions and incarnations over the years. Unfortunately after about 15 minutes I began to notice (from the third floor) a bit of yipping and yapping from you-know-who left along downstairs. I returned to the entry way and gave him a bit of a talking to and returned to my tour. The yipping and yapping continued so I speeded up my tour.
The two volunteers were quite understanding and said they didn’t mind at all as I was the only person in the museum at the time. One of them even took Eliot out for a brief walk to see if that would calm him down. I was glad to get to see the museum and most of its artifacts even if I had to rush a bit.
We finally left Peterborough by mid-afternoon for the drive into downtown Toronto. I had called my friend, Heather, a few days before and suggested we could drop by for a night or two if she and the family weren’t otherwise occupied. They weren’t so we were on our way. I don’t believe in all my years in Toronto that I had ever actually drive on Highway 401 or the Don Valley Parkway. But I did on Friday. The speed of the other cars seemed reasonable and no one was impatient. Helmut was able to keep up quite nicely. And we got to Manor Road East near Eglinton and Yonge at around 4:30pm
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