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05/19/2007: "Me, Nathan, Fin and the Road"

Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie - Friday, May 18

I began this TO-to-Victoria Earth To Nathan Blue driving tour thinking I was going it alone. No such luck. That's the problem with us authors: we are never ever truly on our own. When our brains aren't concocting strange plots with unusual characters, we are breathing life into the lifeless things around us. I'm not meaning to drag the rest of the world of authors into my absurd notions of reality ... okay, maybe I am ... but it seems I'm having trouble telling a story straight. Anyway, here's how the beginning of my journey, um, began...

Home to Gas Station, 141 metres, heading west: It didn't take long for my first companion to pipe up and make his presence felt. Fin, my 2001 greeny silver Infiniti sedan, who has no idea he's being sold at the end of this trip, poor fella, flicked on an orange light beside the E for Empty sign, and I swear I heard him groan with pleasure when we bumped up the gas station curb. We filled him up so full that when he tried to utter something, all that came out was a wonderful gurgling sound. Oh, the satisfaction of a full tummy! It was time to really hit the road.

Gas Station to Outside of Barrie, 93 km, direction north: Things were quiet for the first hour of the journey. I've been driving up Highway 400 since I was a kid so it was like driving on autopilot. I'd come up with two new novel ideas and was singing along to Sam Roberts, when something caught my eye. Fin's dash was saying something I'd never seen before: SERVICE ENGINE SOON. I panicked. What the heck did that mean? I pulled off the highway at the nearest gas station, and then I heard something from the back seat, "S.E.S.! Coolio slick to infinity." I turned around and found none other than Nathan Blue, sitting there smiling with his seat belt on.

Now, I can't blame him. Nathan's been trying to get to Costa Oueste for almost 7 years now. Still, all I could utter was, "Nathan! No, not coolio slick to infinity." When I got to the gas station, I remembered I hadn't put oil in the car in ages. Right. I bought some oil, popped the hood, and filled Fin up with two bottles. I got back in the car to Nathan saying, "S.E.S. is not coolio slick to infinity," to which I replied, "Yes Nathan. Now quiet ... While I think."

The truth is sometimes I'm not so good at thinking, and I need a little help. I got on the horn, and called Bonnie S., my trusted partner back at TO headquarters. Bonnie S. is clairvoyant so when she answered, she said, "What's the problem?" I replied, "I need you to google Service Engine Soon. I think Fin is sick."

Well, if you've ever googled symptoms to find out what is wrong with you or a friend, you'll know what hair-pullingly confounding and scary experience it can be. The list of possible problems that Bonnie S rhymed off was long and I didn't know what half the things actually meant. My favourite of all the possible problems was: the S.E.S. light is faulty, and nothing is wrong. "Hurray," Nathan said. Fin still had his S.E.S. light on but he said nothing, which all things considered, was a good thing, and we continued to head North.


Outside Barrie to Sudbury, 324 kms, heading North:

Luckily for my grumbling tummy, Bonnie S.'s mother, Ermie, lives in Sudbury and she is great at feeding hungry human travellers. After some delicious food and wonderful conversation about her trip to Spain (Nathan whispered in my ear that Spain sounded very very familiar!), I was back on the road.

Sudbury to Sault Ste. Marie, 372 kms, heading West (!)

The drive was quiet again. Fin was purring like a sleeping cat, and when I looked in the rearview mirror, Nathan was passed out in the backseat with his mouth gaping open. That's why, an hour later, when Nathan suddenly start shouting, "Espanolia! Espanolia! We have to go see Mr. Sanchez!" I nearly drove off the road. When I finally got Fin back on track, I explained to Nathan calmly, "That's Espanola, not Espanolia. It's a small papermill town." "Oh," Nathan said, and went back to sleep.

The drive from Espanola to Sault Ste. Marie was new to me. The two lane highway was just a little windy, and every once in a while we would pass through a small town with "el ferrocarril" on one side of the road (if you don't know what "el ferrocarril" is, go to page 121 of Earth To Nathan Blue) and the town's buildings on the other. As I drove west, I started to see the startling blue of the North Channel's waters. It was gorgeous.

Near the town of Elliot Lake, we stopped at a gas station and filled Fin up. Inside, where I paid for the gas, there was a sign on the counter which said, "Don't steal or we'll tell Willie." When I asked who Willie was, the gas station attendent just smiled.

Fin, Nathan, the road and I finally arrived just outside of Sault Ste. Marie. A great and eventful first day of the trip.