Steel Wheels vs Wings

One can't arrive at a Green Party Convention in an SUV if one can use a bicycle. The options from Muskoka to Truro for a short jaunt require train or plane.

Curiously, in four calls to Via Rail I've been given four prices. I am expecting in the mail the final ticket- return for $221.00, a fraction of the cost of flying. The trip is supposed to take roughly 32 hrs. The seats recline I trust. Cell service will likely come and go, not sure about wireless. If it's available it will likely cost. Certainly parking at Washago is a lot more convenient for me than dealing with Pearson, and one has to remember to pack a lunch in any case, and water bottle, and flask.

Passenger service by rail in this country is normally second to freight, so it will be interesting to see how much time is spent on sidings. I switch trains twice- Toronto and Montreal both ways. Somewhere in six trains it would be nice to run into that old piece of rolling stock from the 40s called Evangeline a passenger car. I used to see it about every other week crossing the country when I worked on the trans Canada line in the summer of '76. Air Stream Aluminium in style, it strikes a personal note as my great grand father, grand father and father all made trips to that corner of Nova Scotia to lead meetings at a methodist camp called Berwick. That Acadian name migrated to Muskoka for our family over a hundred years ago.