North to the border…

The setting Sun lit up treetops briefly before sinking behind the hills.

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A sight I never tire of.

After catching sight of a single *snow goose the other day, Grant consulted Google to find out where we might have a chance perhaps to view a flock of them. It would be possible but a rather longer than usual expedition.

*As a reader pointed out – it could have been an albino Canada goose!

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When the man gets excited about an idea, he wants to get on with it and after its frosty start, Friday announced itself as a jolly good time for a road trip.

So, without further ado, we were off…

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Once more across the Hudson, heading for Wilton where we joined I-87 to head north to Plattsburgh, only a few miles from the Canadian border. From Cambridge, it’s 142 miles which is twice the furthest distance I ever previously considered and had not yet attempted.

A car journey of two and a half hours is not too taxing, but we need to return the same day after spending a little time wandering around which makes it more of an undertaking.

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The dear darlings would really not suffer if we were to stay out overnight. I could arrange for someone to come in to feed them and I doubt they would be in the least put out.

We would be, but it sounds as if Grant may try to persuade me…

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It is to the credit of my wonderful pain management doctor that I can now undertake such a long ride. Until he began treating me, two hours was the most I could tolerate.

What a gift he has given me.

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I-87 passes through the Adirondacks, skirting the bottom end of Lake George and running the length of Schroon Lake. The tallest of the Adirondacks is Mt Marcy at 5,343 ft or 1,628 m. It may even be the pointed one in the above.

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These are very modest compared to the Cascades and the Olympics out in Washington State, but they are lovely and do not clutter our view of the sky.

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Except by an occasional shrug of the shoulders.

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Northbound, we met very little traffic which made for a most pleasant drive!

It reminded me of long ago drives to Maine.

From Long Island, those were all-day undertakings.

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In those days I navigated with a paper map and handwritten notes kept at hand. I remember passing through a toll booth at one point and checking that I was headed for Bangor.

“Straight ahead, 200 miles!” I was told.

Those words made it seem a very long way indeed when I’d already driven over 200.

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Fortunately I quite enjoyed driving which was my thinking time. I always had music or language tapes for entertainment. The only problem was an inclination to fall asleep.

This was a problem that occurred frequently just driving home from work.

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It was worrying and I sought help which lead to inconclusive and unhelpful sleep surveys with an eventual diagnosis of borderline narcolepsy.

I was borderline for all sorts of things!

The narcolepsy may have been borderline but very often it affected me at work such that I fell asleep at my computer, which made getting routine work done a challenge.

No-one ever complained, so hopefully I still managed to do my fair share.

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It is very annoying, when you have that sort of affliction, to finally fall into bed at night only to find yourself wide awake, which of course contributed to the problem!

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Thinking back to those times, I ask myself how else I could have gone about seeking help.

My appeals to medical physicians seemed to fall on deaf ears. What would they have had to say if I’d managed to kill someone else in a traffic accident? It was by far my greatest fear. I did not ever want to be responsible for injuring anyone and the thought of causing someone’s death was terrifying.

If I’d made too big a fuss, I was afraid I’d get my driver’s license pulled which would have been fairly catastrophic too, so I tried every means I could think of to keep myself awake as I drove.

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The language tapes were semi-successful. Keeping the car cool didn’t seem to make a difference, nor opening the window. Mostly I smacked my face and hoped for the best.

So why would I take the risk of driving 450 miles? The periods of somnolence were not constant and they were unpredictable. I couldn’t let them rule my life.

Still, looking back, I think it was mad.

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Those somnolence is mostly a thing of the past, it still afflicts me occasionally while I’m at my PC and sometimes I cannot stay awake when I read. It seems to come in phases and I cannot attribute the cause.

Luckily, it stayed at bay on Friday as we drove up to Plattsburgh.

More about that tomorrow.