Getting There…

As I have said before, getting there can be half the fun! I hadn’t been to Keswick in many years. This was where the “Rise To Rebellion” re-enactment was going to take place and Judi and I wanted to be part of it. Rather than drive the boring highways, we (I) decided to take the back roads to Keswick. In the past, any time I had traveled to Keswick I had taken Hwy. #48 from Toronto straight to Keswick, no problems! Being the “Festival Nomad”, I, of course, know all the correct route to get to any Ontario festival or event!!?? With this confidence, Judi and I set out for Keswick and the re-enactment. All was going well, the sun was shinning and the roads were clear of traffic, so what could go wrong? Nothing until we turned from Hwy #12 onto Hwy #48. This is where I encountered my first “Brain Lapse”! I assumed (you know what that means!) that we were south of Keswick. Imagine my surprise and concern when signs started telling me that we were heading “SOUTH” to Toronto! It couldn’t be! I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road and stopped the car! I took my road map out to see where we were! No help! I turned the car around and started to retrace our steps! Then I got “cold feet”, I turn around again and headed “SOUTH”! One of the signs I had seen earlier had said “this way to Keswick”! I decided to trust the signs and not my brain! At each indecision, Judi just “sighed”! We continued traveling “SOUTH”! This is where my second “brain lapse” took place! I mistook “Sutton” for “Keswick”. Don’t ask me why, I just did! I turn down the road that said “this way to Sutton”. We traveled through Sutton towards Jackson’s Point. I was sure we were on the right track! When we reach Jackson’ Point there was a “T” in the road. Judi suggested that we should turn left. I confidentially said “no, we should go right”. We turned right, followed the road and eventually came back to Hwy #48. We had just traveled in a big (scenic!) circle! Now I was REALLY lost! Fortunately, this time I followed Judi’s advice and turned right. We followed Hwy. #48, passing the “Sutton this way” sign and headed south towards Toronto. A few kilometers south of Sutton we saw a sign saying “this way to Keswick”. We turned right and followed the sign’s directions! We eventually came to Woodbine Avenue and another “Keswick” sign. We turned right again and this time drove straight in to downtown “Keswick”. From there it was easy to find the re-enactment! It was being held at the Georgina Pioneer Village which was part of the Georgina Community Centre complex. The way to this complex is very well marked, we couldn’t go wrong! The sad ending to this story for the “know-it-all Festival Nomad” is that if we had turned left in Jackson’s Point, as Judi had suggested, we would have driven directly to the complex and the re-enactment. We would have arrived a half hour earlier and would have saved a quarter tank of gas! The moral - “The Nomad isn’t (sigh) always right, but his trusty side kick (Judi) is!”