Little Birds Leaving the Nest

Kicked out of my comfortable Winterthur bundle of sticks and scavenged pieces of fluff, as well as my huge and awesomely-painted apartment, and after a brief dalliance with the lowlands of Nederland, I was bound for The Homeland's Northern Neighbor.  (O) Canada!

I drove a million miles through the state of New York.  Outside of New York City, there is not a single person living in the entire state.  It is so empty.  I should have stopped to get a tea at the gas station twenty miles from home, because it was the last one I saw for the next two hundred and eighty miles.

There is nothing out there!

I did pass Johnsonburg, which smelled repulsive as usual.  Why must paper-making involve such vile smells?  'Welcome to Johnsonburg' - UGH.  

On the way north.  Funny, I had always thought Mexico lay to the south of the United States.  My bad, apparently.  

I did arrive safely in Canada, and with the help of the parents (who visited for about 24 hours) and Ikea (those stores are madness, avoid if possible), am now reasonably settled in my New Canadian Digs.