Back To the Future

 Canada in the old Days...

This road trip, driving around Lake Superior, has been such an education to me.  I used to say that the reason I love visiting Canada is because it’s like going back in time.  Canada always seems more peaceful and a few steps back into a nicer, more pleasant time when people were polite and cared about others.  

We crossed in Port Huron and spent a couple days in Tobermory, Ont.  Ironically the hotel we stayed at had terrible wi-fi.  It was in a great location with a view of the harbor and a nice restaurant but the lack of wi-fi was an issue.  There is at times minimal cell connection and since we were in Canada we couldn’t use much data without incurring a large expense.  The point here is how different it is traveling today…. wi-fi and our digital life is important!

After a couple days in Tobermory we took the Chi-Cheemaun ferry to Manitoulin Island then drive to Sault Ste Marie…. great digital connections and still densely populated.

Driving north and after staying in Sault Ste Marie is when the wilderness encompassed us.    Our cell signal became sporadic, not that it was a problem… after all we don’t live on our phones …. But while traveling we usually access maps and travel instructions.  So it was back to paper maps and asking directions. 

The motel we stayed at in Wawa was nice… but a little rustic.  The room was basic and clean but… not your typical polished room you would expect in the US.  Yet, the wi-fi was fast.  And even though it was an old television set, we had over 100 TV stations.  This was true in every place we stayed in Canada.

So … Road trips have turned a significant corner in technology…. and information sharing, even in Canada.  Cell may not be everywhere but tech  is, either through wi-fi or cable/satellite.  Watching TV in  Nipigon (the farthest north of our trip) we watched all the same channels we see at home … in fact, sadly, we got to see Detroit news every morning about the everyday violence there…. Sigh….

Still with access to internet and media the world becomes smaller.  People that would, in the past, be sidelined from the digital world are becoming full participants in the digital world.   The clear challenge is for these world citizens to not become tainted by the materialism and decadence of the western norm….

It’s clear that there is a special energy here in Canada…… the people…. more inclusive, more caring, more diverse…. and celebrating this diversity and inclusiveness, IMHO the Canadians have surpassed the US in the way its populace is treated by the government…. (read health care)  ….. not ONCE have I heard any Canadian complain about their medical coverage.  This is counter to all the complaints I hear from US citizens discussing their next premium.

Our trip is now back in the states…. And I have to say that in MN and northern MI we’re finding the same caring, inclusive and genuinely nice people…. so maybe it’s not a country thing… but a country thing…

Never the less, road trips have changed, for the better, knowing that our world is a little smaller, diversity is a good thing and communication an asset.

Yes it’s like going back in time… and yet we jumped to a better future.