Here's a quick glimpse of the portion I rode with Harpo; not exact due to GMs propensity to route their way or the highway. Riding thru Michigan was the tough part, as we had to skirt several major cities across the breadth of the state. We took roads that were less than desirable on many occasions just to be reasonably safe. This caused us to divert from Oren's original routing and once off, made it hard to regain. But Harpo constantly tried to do so and that too took us a little off from the shortest points.

Heart

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Canada was a delight to ride thru. The drivers there were the most courteous I have ever encountered, bar none. Often they would come to a dead stop behind us on a double yellow line, even though there was obviously no traffic approaching. The roads were uber smooth almost the entire width of Ontario. No shoulders per se, but plenty wide and usually little traveled. Both the drivers angst and deteriorating roads increased as we neared the American side again in Niagara Falls. The western portion was a lot like our western states, in that civilization was sparse and services spaced far apart.

Used to be a republican, but more identified as progressive now that the 'pubs have gone all rightey and all, but always willing to sort things out for the "truth". I want to say that I never expected to be taken by the Canadian people and government as was the case. I had heard that their health care system was just ok, socialistic, but ok. Nothing could be further from the truth!

As with Harpo, I am one who starts conversations at the drop of a verb, so there were ample opportunities to find out what local folks thought about Canada in general and their health care in particular. The latter because mostly, they gushed forth about it. The downside is that taxes in Canada are high, higher than in the USA. We noticed that as we bought all kinds of things like Snicker bars, fine sea food dinners and motels. That didn't seem to bother the citizens; the economy is good, unemployment is low, and they didn't get caught up in that frenzy of buying a house they didn't qualify for. Banks wouldn't stand for it, as, ahem, they were well regulated. Oh, and the Candian dollar is worth more than the US dollar these days!

First was yakking with a group of seniors at a local Tim Horton's (sorry Harpo, but it is a pretty nice place) eatery in one of the small towns we passed thru. The old folks, some of which were just getting out of the hospital and one who was waiting his turn, were highly respectful of the plan. One guy said he got right in when he had a heart attack, and another that he had to wait his turn for stents, but only a couple of weeks. (medicos say they aren't really needed, that medicine will do the same thing) So as in the USA the seniors like it.

I wasn't expecting as much when we spent the night with the young couple in Wainfleet,Ontario, who had two kids and she was expecting a third. They were in their early thirties; he was the owner of a small business and hired five employees and she was office manager for a small local factory. I sorta thought they would recoil at the government activism, but nyet! They had gotten out of college with degrees at NO COST TO THEM and she was going on a years PAID maternity leave, at 60% of wages, money from the government. The two kids, should they run a high fever, were taken right in to the doctors office right away, again at no cost. They were very high on the quality of care, saying it was first rate. These were young people mind you and they were not thinking that Canada was going to the dogs:-) BTW, they didn't look kindly to Quebec and the separatist bent over in that province.

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Sorry this finish is so one sided, but I found Canada a wonderful place to live, grow a family and live. And the section we toured was their banana belt; they had little snow last year. Ok Harpo, your turn.

Spoon

Harpo: Spoon, you said what needed to be said, and said it better than I could have. We're two peas in a pod where Canada and Ontario is concerned. Canadian's tend to mind their own business where international politics are concerned, using the high taxes to better the lives of their citizens. Not sure how well all that would work without the US meddling, required and otherwise, in everybody's business. Canadian's might have to spend a lot more on their military and less on the collective interest of their citizens.