The Picnic, the Car, Baltimore, Québec City, Sept-Îles, Schefferville

-Originally written 7/24/2008-

Aloha!

I’m sitting in the club car of the Tshiuetin Railway, the only train between Schefferville and Sept-Îles.

The Picnic

On Sunday, Tamika, Talisha, Tom (Talisha’s boyfriend) and I all drove up to Philadelphia to go to the Mapp family reunion. Tamika’s mom (whom everyone calls “Angel” as a nickname) has the maiden name of Mapp, which is her father’s last name. So her whole side of the family was there. It was really nice. They held it in a park near the Philadelphia Zoo parking lot; a huge open area underneath a canopy of ancient trees. They had everything there. Ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers, coleslaw, 25 different flavours of chicken (curried, fried, baked, broiled, barbequed, blackened…) rice, beans, meatballs, sausages… and that doesn’t even count the hundreds of deserts and candies and drinks they had too!
Nya was already up there (she had spent the weekend with Tamika’s mom) and she was having a ball meeting everyone and being passed around. She’s learned how to clap her hands now when she’s excited, and will mimic you if you do it.

The Car

Tamika, Nya and I have been driving for the past two days.
Troy didn’t fix the Mercury in time for us to drive it, so we had to rent.
Tamika and I talked about it, and decided it would be the best decision, despite the price. I wanted to get a Mini Cooper or a convertible of some sort… just to make the long drive a little more tolerable, but in the end we agreed to just get whatever was cheapest.
Last time, we rented from Enterprise, which we used to drive to Connecticut. This time, however, when I called them to see if I could drive the car over the border, they said no way.
I did a little research; Budget, same thing. National, same thing. Alamo said I could, but they were expensive. Tamika and I wanted to go with the cheapest, smallest car available (which seemed like a Kia at most places. I checked up on Avis. Border crossing? No problem. And it was $200 cheaper than Enterprise.
On Monday, Tamika and I went in for her checkup. We were a little late, so it took longer than we originally planned, but it was cool to hear the heartbeat of the new baby! Everything was normal. We’re going to different doctor than we did last time; and they’re very nice. Very knowledgeable too. Nya’s checkup doctor seemed bit condescending to me when we used to go. The doctors paid little attention to me (I was at almost every visit). I understand their reasoning; I’m not the one giving birth… but when it came to things that Tamika should be doing or food she should be eating, or even how to take care of the baby after it’s born… they always talked to her.
After the appointment, we drove to the Avis in the Lakeforest Mall; right outside of the National Fatherhood Initiative.
The kid at the desk was really nice. We told him what we wanted, and was happy to oblige. However, once he looked through the system, he asked us if we would like to drive a convertible. They had a red convertible 2008 Misubishi Eclipse, which had two tiny cracks in the windshield. With such a defacement, it could no longer sell it at normal price, and so it was the same price as the economy cars we were looking at.
We thought about it, and decided to go with it. Tamika drove our Saturn to work, and the rental agent drove me to the lot to pick it up.
It was beautiful. Candy apple red, with a black mesh and leather interior and matching top.
I took the top down and drove it home feeling like a king. I’d never driven a car like that before; every car I’d owned had something wrong with it. I wasn’t accustomed to such luxury.
I drove to the birth certificate office near our house. I needed to get some sort of paperwork proving Nya was ours so that we could take her with us.
When I got there, someone told me I should hurry up to get there before they closed down for the day, so I ran.
Waiting in line at the office, I suddenly realized I no longer had my phone. I knew I had in the car; Tamika had called me from her office on my way back… but I couldn’t leave. The office was indeed closing, and because I had to take a number to be waited on, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back in if I went to look for my phone.
I was miserable. It took 30 minutes for them to process my request, but it seemed like hours. As soon as I had it, I dashed out the door, asking everyone I saw. No one had seen it. I ran out to the car. Not there. Not under the seats. Not in the parking lot.
I was frustrated. I drove to the gas station, and filled up. I had the thought that maybe I should leave my information with the security people back at the office.
I drove back.
It was hot. REALLY hot. Maybe 95-100º F. But I didn’t notice.
I ran back to the office. I asked the security. Nothing. I left them a note. I asked some more officers. Passersby. Anyone.
Nothing.
I ran back out to the parking lot, and ran around everywhere. Nothing.
Dejected, I drove home.
Once I got home, I felt a tingling feeling on my neck and arms.
I was burnt crispy. All red.
I sat in the reading room chair, wondering what to do.
I noticed the light on the answering machine was blinking. Tamika had left me a message. Someone had found the phone!
Apparently when I was running, I had dropped it, and some lady who was shopping picked it up and called my parents. They directed her to Tamika, and Tamika called the house.
I called the lady’s husband up, and he agreed to meet me that evening with the phone.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning, doing laundry, packing and preparing food for the trip.
At 9 I went to pick up my phone. Turns out that the lady’s husband, David Muhammad, owns a media company! We exchanged information. His team seems pretty cool, and he said he was looking for some help with some graphic design! We’ll see what happens.

Baltimore to Québec City

Early Monday morning, we took off for Canada. I had fit everything we needed in the Mitsubishi, and we drove for most of the morning with the top down (up until it got hot). We took I-83 north to Harrisburg, and then continued on I-81 all the way up to 1,000 Islands. I’d never crossed the border up there; it is really beautiful. Right before the border was a really tall bridge that led us onto one of the main islands, and down below you could see the most beautiful lakehouses, yaghts, jetskis, people swimming… all nestled among these islands overflowing with pine trees.
We crossed the border without a hitch, and continued on up.
In Québec, we hit some fierce thunderstorms. Huge thunderheads, at least a mile wide and several miles high crashed down on us, turning the roads outside of Montréal to rivers and turning the visibility to practically nothing. The Mitsubishi had some really nice tires on it, though, so we stayed firm on the road.
Late Monday night we met up with my parents at Le Comfortel in Québec City.

Québec City to Sept-Îles

Tuesday morning we got up bright and early and took 40 north along the St. Lawrence, caravanning wit my parents. They wanted to take Nya along in their car (plus, she didn’t seem to enjoy sitting alone in the back of the Mitsubishi), so I installed the car seat in the back of their Taurus. It was a beautiful ride. I love that part of the trip just because there is so much to see. And surprisingly, it didn’t make Tamika sick at all. That ride always made me and my brother and sister motion sick when we were younger.
We crossed the ferry at Tadoussac. I saw the back of a whale briefly, but I don’t think anyone else caught it.
Just outside Sept-Îles we stopped at the beach… but there was very little wind in the parking lot and within seconds we were suffocated with black flies. Even though there was a nice breeze on the beach, we decided on to stay and continue on to Sept-Îles.

Sept-Îles to Schefferville

This morning we got up from the Comfort Inn (next to Mike’s restaurant) and drove to the train station. It’s really cool to see the train completely native run. About 4 years ago, the Naskapis and Montagnais got together and purchased the railway from the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) and have been working on getting it repaired. This summer they got a grant from the government to repair it.
It’s been a beautiful ride so far. Tamika stood out in the vestibule with me watching the scenery, and got to see the Tonka Falls.
I just realize I made a grave mistake, though… I left the battery charger to my camera at home!!! I packed 16 GB worth of memory cards, and now my battery is just about dead!! My dad and I are going to see if we can rig something when we get home.