Eventful Journey So Far

Yesterday Kazi and I made the trip to Pearson Airport in Toronto to launch her trip to Australia. We had gone only about 50km when just past Woodstock traffic was diverted from Hwy. 401 to Hwy. 403.  We assumed we'd be able to get back on the 401 at the next overpass but instead we were faced with this:

And again at the next overpass and the next. At that point we had no idea what had happened and were a bit concerned about getting to the airport on time. (well, I was concerned, Kazi remained optimistically  upbeat during the whole ordeal; maybe I would have too if I'd been the one heading to Australia!)

Eventually, after a detour that covered over 30km and travelling at an average speed of about 30km per hour we made it back on the 401. Once my "map" skills were no longer needed on my iPhone I googled "accident on the 401" and discovered there had been 2 major accidents on that stretch of highway Friday morning.

First an eastbound tractor trailer slammed into the concrete median causing debris to fly over into the westbound lanes - as far as I know the driver was OK. Then a little while later there was a collision involving 3 tractor trailers killing one driver and injuring another-oh no!! I'm so thankful we weren't travelling in the morning! There had been snow over night though I don't know if that was a factor or if it was driver error - police aren't releasing much info yet. When we began our journey on the 401 approximately 3.5 hours later the roads were clear and dry.  Very sad. I have to admit (and my daughter did too) that I try to pass large trucks as quickly as I can when on the 401 - it's not a pleasant experience!  And there are so many of them!

A piece of positive news is that Kazi met up with someone she sort of  knew who was travelling to Australia too - same plane! (2 planes actually as they have a stopover in L.A.) She knew the young woman would be on the plane (this woman is also in the law program in Australia that Kazi's friend is in and lives in the same apartment! They even had seats next to each other on the plane!!) Kazi hadn't met her before but it was still a happy moment for her to meet up with her and have a travelling companion who was familiar with where they were going. I was relieved because TWO are safer than ONE!

Unfortunately there was some not so good news. Kazi texted me around 6:30am (my time) that there were some issues with the plane they were supposed to board in L.A. and their 3 hour stopover had turned into 5 hours at that point. She had grabbed only 1 hour of sleep at that point by laying on the floor in the airport. I replied that a long stopover was still better than boarding a plane that is having problems!! I haven't heard from her since then so I can only assume that she is now somewhere over the Pacific winging her way to Australia - a 14 hour od.

As for me I arrived home shortly before 7pm. As suggested by Jane (The Maple Syrup Mob blog) I put a tray of food together with a glass of wine and parked myself in front of the TV.  Within the hour I was having a lovely nap....woke up around 11pm and went to bed!! So much for my first exciting night on my own lol!

Of course that would explain why I was wide awake at 6:15am this morning! I was actually sitting in front of the variety store (in my car) that carries my favorite newspaper before the owner had arrived! Pairing my newspaper with not one but two coffees from Timmy's and I had the most lovely and relaxed morning (well, as relaxed as I could be with my daughter hurtling over the Pacific!!) And of course now I am writing this post whilst doing laundry and will be catching up on my blog reading momentarily. I'm also going to check out the Ontario bloggers page over at Cindy's blog "North of Wiarton and South of the Checkerboard!" Perhaps you should too!

Talk to you later (TTYL!))