In an e-mail last night, my oldest friend, John Coffey, remarked how ironic it was the I'm leaving the USA today for Canada, where they could care less about our celebration. In 2007, I had left on Father's Day from Knoxville for Alaska and returned to the USA into Montana after many days riding through the Yukon, BC, and Alberta. I can remember being very happy to be back home where everything was familiar, and gas was cheap. Today will be the opposite, I suppose, but the adventure continues... Everything is dried out now and so it's time to pack the bike and head out. More kater! But now this reminder that there is still much work to be done in our great country:
"...When we let freedom ring, whem we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!." -Martin Luther King, Washington, D.C. August 28th, 1963
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update on the day at 10pm EST:
Pretty much rain was the story of the day, but there is a very happy surprise ending, so keep reading.
I was searched for the word "Catholic" on the gps, looking for morning Mass when a monastery popped up that I'd heard of. The Sisters of the Precious Blood are located in Watertown, NY, which was only 45 miles from where I stayed last night. I got the address off my iPhone and set the gps. I arrived and was their only visitor. I was welcomed in by an older sister and I prayed in their chapel for 30 minutes or so. They have this deal about prayer... They never stop. They've been praying for all manner of petitions in a perpetual prayer for years. I told the sister in the chapel about Nancy and Peter and she was visibly saddened. They have agreed to pray for both of them as well as for the Feist/O'Keefe family. I left there feeling better about having visited their chapel. I have used them as an example of Eucharistic Adoration in the past in some of my homilies so it was a special treat to actually go there and drop in on the sisters who always dress in red.
The Canadian border was just 40 miles or so and it was awesome!. There was no one even there!!! I had heard horror stories about waiting for hours to get through. The guy was cool. He asked me how long I'd be in Canada, I told him a week maybe. He asked me where I was going so I told him Goose Bay, Labrador. Where is that he asked? OK, so know I know I'm in trouble. The guy standing behind him started laughing and came over to the window and told me I need to bring water and some food in case I get stranded. I reply, yeah, I got that memo. Anyways, I promised not to be obnoxious, thy both laughed and wished me a safe trip (bon chance!").
Rain, rain, rain, then a bit of dark overcast sky for a while, then more rain, sometimes heavy, sometimes a drizzle. Montreal is a place where I had shot an assignment for the NHL years ago. It was winter then so it looks a little different when not buried in three feet of snow. It's a great sprawling city that is more spread out in size than sheer stature. Quebec is a city defined by water. Huge, big water. The gps is great at navigating around and through cities and all that French I took at Morgan Park Academy and Marist, sort of paid off today. I can read most signs, and certainly navigate. I was ordering dinner tonight and a TV was on showing file of Steve McNair with the word, "mort," after his name. Very sad to see a young African American with that much promise lose his life on the wrong end of a gun. I couldn't understand any details but the crime scene tape was all I needed to know he's gone. I photographed his first two seasons with the then Tennessee Oilers in Memphis. He was always a nice guy when I saw him before or after games.
I was hoping for Mass today but the GPS does not have good information for Canada. I just watched the towns as I approached them, looked for steeples, and when I saw them, I'd pull off and investigate. Most churches only have Sunday Mass so I just kept going. I checked three churches out from 4-6 but by 7, I knew I was out of luck. It began to rain hard again as I rode into a small town. I saw this massive church that looked like Notre Dame sitting there all lit up in the middle of no where! It was the Church of St. Ann, and it was made a Basilica by the Vatican some time ago. I parked the bike and walked the grounds to the entrance. I was just in time for 7:30 Mass!!!! Just before the bi-lingual liturgy began, a man asked me and a couple to bring up the gifts (I was in all motorcycle gear and soaked). It was the anniversary of the dedication of the Church so there was a huge celebration, with music and a 10,000 lb. organ that shook the foundation. If you've been to the new St. John Neumann, think 30X that size. the place is huge and looks brand new.
When we brought up the gifts, we were welcomed through the gate and up onto the altar. We got to sit in the choir chairs intended for clergy. Immediately after Mass, they did exposition of the Blessed Sacrament followed by a Eucharistic procession, all by candle-light. It was amazing! We sang songs, prayed for the dead, the living, and for the intentions of St. Ann. I thought of Nancy sitting in our KCHS chapel so many times and thanked her for arranging all this for me to experience when I'd lost all hope of getting to Mass today. I got a whole lot more than Mass!!!! I took a photo with my phone from the side of the altar but I'll have to wait to post it as I lost all cell service when I crossed into Canada today.
The place was packed tonight for the liturgy. We spoke mostly two languages and were from all over the US and Canada. Jesus brought us all together tonight. For those of you that have never been out of the country before and to a place where they don't speak English, it's a blessing to see how the Mass unfolds. We are truly one holy and apostolic church. The unity was awesome tonight; I felt a little sad to walk back outside after all that and be alone again in the drizzle and darkness.
I have to be honest. Today was a tough day. I've always said that any motorcycling after 150 miles is pain management. My butt hurts (I broke my tailbone on the AK ride two years ago) and my left knee is giving me new pain I've never experienced before. I picked up some over the counter pain stuff and it seems to be working OK. Rain is simply demoralizing. I'm used to getting upwards of 700 miles per day so my mileage is way under what I was hoping. But the TV news says the rain should be done by tomorrow. That's good as the toughest part of the ride awaits on the Trans-Labrador Hwy. I'm around 600 miles from the road going all gravel, and then another 500 or so to my destination of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Until next time.... God Bless you all :) dpat
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