On the Road Again #2016 #6

On the train again. Feeling sad, surprisingly so. Usually when I leave Duncan, heading east, at the end of my summer, I have had this profound sense of loss. I knew I would be back, but the sense of leaving my son has, on some occasions, been so strong that all I wanted to do was to jump off of the ferry and swim back to land. This trip, everything seems to be in reverse. Yesterday, I was anxious about the trip, and this morning I have this almost overwhelming feeling of loss. As we sit at the Capreol Station, fifteen or so minutes from Sudbury waiting for a freight train to pass us by, I wonder if I should just get off here. I won't of course. But a part of me wishes that I could.

I think I should consider myself specially fortunate to have such feelings for my adult children. To have kids who support me, occasionally feed me, look out for me and in general just put up with me is truly  blessing.

Other than those feelings which I know will gradually drift into the back parts of my brain, only to flare into my consciousness at unexpected moments, I am ready to travel. The only glitch so far in my plans ( I don't count the train running late a glitch..... it is just part of the plan), is the fact that I seem to have left my steel blue water bottle behind. Pity. I think I have used that bottle for most of my trips. While I like the bottle in part for the fact that it holds a lot of water and the top never leaks, it also has a certain charm because of its battered shape and missing paint. I guess I will have to use plastic bottles this trip.

It is quite fascinating to see which of the trees have fully burst into their mature colouring and the others are almost glistening with the light green colour of leaves not yet fully mature. On the way east, a month ago, it was quite noticeable that spring was occurring much later in the east than the west. Part of me wishes that I was going all the way to the Pacific Ocean by train so that I could see that transition again, this time in reverse.

We arrived in Hornepayne about 20 minutes early. As I said to the lady at the small store, it is at least four years since the train has arrived in Hornepayne on time, or at least early enough to have enough time to get to the store. While it remains quite windy, the sky is cloudless and the air getting warmer.

One of the attendants made an announcement just after we got going again that we might get into Winnipeg early but that if we did so - we could not get off of the train until 7:30 - 8:00. I am excited about the possibility of getting to Winnipeg on time. Nothing is more frustrating that to be on the train, close to Winnipeg but to be held up by a freight train.