Sunday in Toronto.....

Yes, we made it......we drove through the Northern United States and have arrived safely in Toronto. Just in time for Swine Flu..... On the road we have encountered many people in public places and now we are in Toronto we find that many friends or their children have had Swine Flu.... Everyone swears they are not infectious anymore.... I'm counting on that.....

The road trip was quite wonderful. Except for a day of rain in Washington State, we had sunshine everywhere else we traveled. I had a huge case of bloggingresistance on my trip. We weren't always able to get free wireless and we often had long days and I was just too pooped to be communicative. Those are my excuses and I am sticking with them....

In my mind, one theme reappeared throughout the road trip - vision. My first overwhelming state of awe of someone`s vision was when we arrived in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is a huge expanse of land, the first National Park in the world. Someone thought that this spectacular landscape should be saved - someone had the vision. Many years later, we were able to see bison roaming (and even crossing the road in front of us), other abundant wildlife, spooky and smelly sulphur spurts and the scariest terrain and roads through canyons and cliffs. Vision - someone had vision to think that this park needed to be created for all people.......

Then another outstanding example of vision - Mount Rushmore. I know that if I had been a common citizen in South Dakota in the 1920`s I would have thought that creating a monument from the natural beauty of the Black Hills was the stupidest, most wasteful use of money I could ever envision. But....someone had a vision. Local labourers worked tirelessly and fearlessly to chip away the mountains....the architect spent all his last days trying to finish the project...and an impressive monument was created. Don`t get me wrong - the surrounding area is a mess of schlocky attractions - but the creation of Mount Rushmore helped the economy of the community and it has attracted many from all over the United States. And even cynical, no-vision me realized that creating Mount Rushmore was worth it.

So there you have it - outstanding examples of what happened when citizens of the United States had great vision. I was in awe....... AND THEN.....WHOAAAA..... REALITY CHECK COMING UP..... throughout our trip we were caught in the small-minded fight about universal medical care. We couldn`t avoid the news and the discussions - we couldn`t avoid seeing the crazies.... The funny part is that the US isn`t in the forefront here - it is the last first-world developed country to adopt universal medical care. Who could possibly deny every citizen the right to get medical care without financial ruin. I had a few heated discussions with Americans on my travels - people who had only heard terrible things about Canadian health care. I met the most suspicious and racist of citizens. In South Dakota we saw a bumper sticker:

I will keep my money, my guns and my freedoms - you can keep the `change`

Yep - no vision was anywhere in sight.