https://www.facebook.com/110537841867689/

My Travelogues

I am a wanderer who loves to record my experiences of the places I went to.

11/09/2022

MY FIRST WINTER IN NEW MEXICO

Portales, NM, January 22, 2015, 7:28 AM.--- As I write, powdery snow continue to shower outside of my house slowly covering my car, and the driveway. The forecast is that it will be snowing the whole day so I imagine that by noon my car will be melded with the driveway into one continuous form of white landscape.

I did not expect Portales to have this much snow considering that it is situated at a lower latitude compared to say, New York or Chicago. At 34o N, it has the same latitude as Los Angeles in California and for the past 15 years that I have been in the US, I have not heard that Angelenos have seen any snow in their city. But there is one big difference: LA is a seaside city so it is constantly fanned by a warm current of ocean winds. Portales, on the other hand, is situated on the central highlands near the Texas panhandle with an elevation of 4,000 feet.

This is not my first snowy winter in America. A major portion of my first 4 years in the US was spent in New York – New Jersey area. I can still remember the excitement and the exhilarating experience when I first saw and touched a snowfall. They were fluffy like feathers in my hands. But when my car started skidding and sliding and became less manageable as I drove, I realized that winter is not my favorite season after all. It was there in New Jersey where I learned the rules of driving on a snowy road: No sudden braking or turning, slower speed, keep a fair amount of distance from the car ahead of you, et cetera, et cetera.

Twelve years later, just a day after we welcomed the new year, I had to retrieve those rules from my mental hard drive. I was driving my way back from Loma Linda, California where I spent the Christmas break with my wife. By late afternoon, as I was approaching Albuquerque along I-40, white powdery mists started hitting my windshield. By sunset, snow shower started to intensify reducing road visibility that I decided to exit as I saw a sign of a gas station. There was only one vacant space in the station’s parking area and all the cars parked there were already covered with snow. As I parked, I searched my GPS for a hotel where I can spend the night and learned that the nearest hotel is 9 miles away. I cannot risk going back to the highway and drive 9 more miles so I decided to just spend the night in my car. The snowfall abated by midnight.

Early in the morning I resumed driving. Traffic was slow as cars formed a single line on the outer lane of the interstate where the pavement was still visible. As I took the exit in Santa Rosa for the last leg of my journey, I did not expect to meet my hardest challenge as a driver so far. Portales was still 100 miles away. Coming from a busy highway like the I-40, I had some eerie feelings when I realized that I was driving alone on that barren piece of snow-covered highway. No tire tracks were visible. If there were some vehicles who passed there before me, the evidence of passing wheels were easily covered with continuous snow shower. In fact you cannot see the outlines of the road. Your only guide were the few road signs sticking out on the sides like emaciated snowmen.

I kept my speed at around 35-40 mph when I realized that there were two vehicles behind me. They must be driving faster because they got closer and closer. I expected them to pass me by my left but that did not happen. Instead, they got closer---too close to me for comfort. Automatically, I increased my speed to 45 and that’s when I started skidding. I never expected that on the third day of a new year, I would experience the greatest scare of my life for the entire year! First my car veered 90 degrees to the right then veered 180 degrees to the left before correcting itself back to its original position. All these while, my car was still moving on the forward direction of the road before it exhausted its linear momentum and stopped.

The two cars that were tailgating me must have slammed on their brakes for they parted to opposite directions. The one closest to me---an Acura SUV---fell, buried on the right side of the road and stuck. The other has turned left onto the middle of the road. I felt guilty that I caused the accident. So, I got out of the car and started walking towards them to see if I could be of any help. The two cars must be traveling together because the drivers seemed to know each other and had conversations. That’s when I heard the first driver telling the other that he had a shovel in his cargo bay. Then three passengers---all men--- stepped out and started pushing the vehicle. I wanted to come near to apologize but then I realized that it was their tailgating that caused me to skid in the first place. And considering that they have more than enough helping hands and that I could not be of much help to them anyway, I went back to my car and continued driving.

When I told my wife later over the phone about my near mishap, my mother-in-law butted in telling me that God must have protected me because she prayed for my safety. I believed her. I mean, I prayed, too, but I always consider my mother-in-law closer to God than I am so that it must be through her prayers that God spared me.

Approaching Portales, I could see that the snow cover was thicker here than the areas I passed by. As I turned right from the road onto the alley that connects to my driveway, I got stuck. Fortunately, or because of my mother-in-law’s prayers again, an angel with a midsize snow-plow was standing by. No, he was not really standing by---he was busy clearing the parking lot of a furniture company next to my yard.

He came to me and with the help of two other men passing by, they helped me extricate my car from that mound of snow. Then with his snow plow he cleared the alley including the entrance to my driveway. My driveway, which had not been used for two weeks, was covered with about a foot of snow and my car could not move any closer to the house than at the entrance that was cleared by the angel with a snow-plow. But that was good enough.

11/09/2022

A RELAXING WEEK

June 25, 2007. Moody, Alabama --- I had a very relaxing week. An elderly couple friend of mine gave me an advanced birthday gift --- a 5-day stay at their beachfront condominium unit in Orange Beach. But in spite on the abundance of the sun and the fun, something was missing in my life--- no Internet! I brought with me my laptop with a roaming capability. But when I got there, there was no WiFi in the vicinity, and I wondered how come all those people who were there were only interested in swimming and water surfing and sunbathing.

I did not know that Alabama has beautiful beaches down there along the Gulf of Mexico. I initially thought that Alabama is a landlock state. But a simple peruse of the map would show that it has a very short strip of shoreline squeezed between Florida and Mississippi. And that short strip happens to be a very beautiful shoreline. I had to see it to believe it. And the sand, oh my! It was as white as the sands in Boracay.

It was also my first time to dip in the blue-green waters of the Atlantic. The first time that I stepped on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico was way back in 1992 when we had a 5-week tour in South Texas, courtesy of Rotary International. The high point of that tour was our one-week R & R at the resort island of South Padre. The first thing that I noticed then was that the color of the water in Atlantic was greenish while Pacific Ocean is pure blue. Maybe it has something to do with the kind of algae and other microorganisms that thrive in each ocean.

Six years ago this week, I was at the opposite end of the US mainland. Together with Shinar, Manang Vi, Shinar’s sister Pilar and Shinar’s nephew Svend, we drove for about 12 hours from Shinar’s place in Missouri before we reached the northernmost tip of Michigan where you can see four of the five great lakes stretched out in different directions. Canada was just a bridge apart. I wrote about that experience titled “At the Great Lakes On The First Day of Summer 20001. ”

Time passed by so swiftly. All I did was riding the waves if not backstroking in the swimming pool and it was time to go home. I did not even find time to use my fishing gear. Seashells were very abundant, and we have gathered quiet a large collection. By Thursday, we left the place for another 5-hour-drive back to our home in Birmingham.

11/09/2022

AT THE GREAT LAKES ON THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER 2001
Monday, October 3, 2011

The 21st of June officially marks the beginning of the summer season. It was also the day I found myself wandering around one of the most scenic places in the world---The Great Lakes---which form part of the boundaries between the US and Canada. Thanks to Shinar and Manang Vi who financed the entire trip as a treat to Shinar’s sister Pilar and nephew Svend on vacation from Denmark. By default, I became part of the entourage.

I first read about the Great Lakes in a geography book when I was in high school. It consists of five connected lakes whose names form the acronym HOMES which stands for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. In its totality, it is the biggest inland body of water in the world. According to that book that I read, if you are in the middle of Lake Superior---the biggest among the five---you cannot see any land in every direction.

We left Sweet Springs, Missouri at around 2:00 PM last Wednesday traversing the states of Illinois and Indiana before stopping over at Roger and Amy Galang Saldia’s place in Berrien Springs, Michigan at around 1:00 AM to spend the remaining hours of the evening, take some rest and a short nap. Amy was very patient and accommodating waiting for us at the door when we arrived. By 5:00 AM we resumed our long journey that would take another seven hours more before we reached our destination: Mackinaw City. And grrrr! It’s very cold there. No wonder the Indians chose that name.

While on the way, we received a call from Manang Raytim. (How she knew of the number of Shinar’s brand-new cell phone is the wonder of modern technology and sheer human ingenuity.) She passed on us the news that Bebing Aguilo, a MSUan has arrived in Toronto from Singapore. And that she, Tirso and other MSUans there have helped her find a job. I sent my regards to Brother Philip and the rest of the Sayote Gang-Canadian Branch.

We checked in at Best Western situated on the shores of Lake Huron. After lunch we proceeded northward passing by the Mackinac Bridge which connects the northernmost tip of Michigan mainland and the Upper Peninsula effectively drawing the boundary line between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. With its length of 5 miles, it is the longest bridge in the western hemisphere according to one brochure. It is 950 feet longer than the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the brochure continued.

We traversed the Upper Peninsula until we reached the city of Sault Ste. Marie which is actually a twin city located on both sides of the US-Canadian border linked to each other by the International Bridge. We could clearly see the Canadian side from our vantage point. We visited the Soo Locks, an engineering marvel constructed by the US Army which controls the water exchanges and the shipping passageways between Lake Superior and Lake Huron.

On Friday morning, we rode on a fast ferry that would bring us to our final destination: Mackinac Island. As we set foot on the island it was as if we were transported in time back to the 18th and 19th centuries with all its beautiful and stately buildings in gothic architecture. To preserve its historic ambiance motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island. Your options are either to rent a bicycle (some brought bicycles with them), ride on horse-drawn buggies driven by uniformed chauffeurs or simply walk which is more healthful. We chose the more healthful option. (According to one postcard, Mackinac Island has a population of 500 people and 600 horses.)

We met and befriended some Filipino construction workers who responded to our call of Balot! Balot! as if we were vending balot in Quiapo. It was an effective call sign and I suggested to my companions that next time we meet a Pinoy, I will shout “Itlog mo, Noy, orens!”

Then we went to the Grand Hotel standing tall in the middle of a garden of several acres interspersed with well-manicured trees, a fountain and carpeted with flowers of different colors. As we approached the entrance through a long, elevated driveway, there was a feeling of déjà vu in me as if I have seen the place before. I learned later that this was the setting of that romantic movie Somewhere In Time starring Christopher Reeve and the stunningly beautiful Jane Seymour.

On our way back home, we made another stopover at Roger’s place and stayed there for two more nights. We spent the Sabbath at Pioneer Memorial Church in Andrews University campus and listened to the sermon of Timothy Nixon titled, More Love. It was one of the best sermons I ever heard.

11/09/2022

DÉJÀ VU
Friday, November 15, 2019

It is a French term for “already seen.” It is that strange feeling you get when you are in a situation and feel like you've been in the exact same place before, but really haven't; or meet a person for the first time but seems that you have already met that person before, somewhere. Buddhists point to déjà vu as proof that reincarnation is real. But our present crop of scientists and researchers admit that they still don't know what actually causes it.

I have had two déjà vu experiences and, thankfully, I found down-to-earth explanations to both of them. My first experience was resolved almost immediately but it took more than a year for my second experience to make sense to me.

Scene 1:

In June 2001, I was part of an entourage who drove to northern Michigan. I described the details of that trip on my other write-up titled ‘At the Great Lakes On The First Day Of Summer 2001.’ One of our destinations was the idyllic Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. Since the island has no public transportation (motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island), we just walked around. When we reached the entrance to the Grand Hotel, I was mesmerized looking at the long stairway---as if---I had been to this place before!

Scene 2:

In summer of 2002, I was driving solo, going northwest along US Highway 101. At that time, this was the farthest that I have driven northward from Los Angeles. I was in the vicinity of Santa Barbara when, suddenly, I had a weird feeling as if I had passed through this part of the highway before---the mountain formation ahead of me looked so familiar. I could not explain it, so I just filed it in my mental database under the category UNSOLVED MYSTERIES.

Going back to the first scene, I was at the foot of a long stairway that led to the entrance of the Grand Hotel. The place looked so familiar… Shirley aka Shinar must have noticed my bewildered look and asked me, "Kuya Shem, have you seen the movie, ‘Somewhere in Time?’ That movie was shot in this island, specifically here in Grand Hotel.” Oh, I see. Every tidbit of my mental processes seemed to fall into their right places. My favorite movie, that I saw three or four times was filmed here. The added information heightened my interest to explore the island some more.

In 1983, we had a day of gallivanting around Metro Manila with Roger Saldia and Sandra Querol, and we ended up at the Manila Film Center watching the movie SOMWHERE IN TIME. That movie was unforgettable to me for a number of reasons:

 I like the tune of the theme song and became one of my favorites ever since,

 I have an intriguing curiosity on the idea of time travel as a theoretical possibility, and

 Richard Collier (Christopher “Superman” Reeve) met the girl of his dreams, Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour) on the grounds of Grand Hotel on June 27, 1912, of which 43 years later to the day, I was born.

One case closed.

I was in staying in New Jersey in the autumn of 2003. One lazy Sunday, I decided to watch a movie from among my DVD collection. I picked up an old movie, The Graduate. I first saw this movie in 1968 when I was still a high school freshman. I always remember that movie because it was Dustin Hoffman’s debut and every time I see Hoffman in later movies, I am always reminded of The Graduate. It was also in that movie that I first heard Simon and Garfunkel’s song Sound Of Silence. As the scene moved on to the time when Dustin’s character was traveling to San Francisco in his convertible, the same mountain formation in Santa Barbara that gave me a weird sense of déjà vu the year before, flashed on the screen. It was an ‘aha-moment’ for me. No wonder the mountain formation in Santa Barbara looked so familiar to me for I first saw it in this movie 35 years earlier!

As I look back through my two déjà vu experiences I cannot help but be amazed on the indelibility of the human mind. A momentary scene, a wisp of perfume, an innocent laughter, a casual touch---all these sensory information are processed and meticulously filed in the inner recesses of your subconscious only to surface when a similar information is encountered in another time or a different set of circumstances.

11/09/2022

OUR TRIP TO CANADA
July 24, 2013

Last week, we embarked on a 4,260-mile round trip that would bring us to Edmonton and Lac La Biche in Alberta, Canada to visit Teng's relatives. It took us more than 3 days and two nights to drive one way, starting from Loma Linda on Monday, July 8 and arriving Edmonton at 2:00 am of Thursday, July 11. We were cruising Interstate 15 all the way except for a brief detour to Yellowstone National Park on the boundary of Montana and Wyoming.

A month earlier, while considering the trip, I did some research on whether I have some friends residing in those places. True enough, I found a family who used to be my neighbors in Hinaplanon who are now residing in Edmonton. The Quilacios are very close to me because we belong to the same church which only consists of half a dozen families.

Then I remember that Wengweng Candelasa is also residing somewhere in Canada but I’m not sure which part of the country. Wengweng arrived in MSU when I was the one directing the choir and when I learned that she plays the piano well, she became the pianist right away uncontested. When I went to Manila for a study leave in 1983, she was still there assisting Remedios “Remrem” Ortega who took over the choir leadership.

When I checked her page, I found out that she lived in Grand Praire, some 5-hour drive northwest of Edmonton. So, I informed her of our planned trip and that I wished to meet her but considering the distance, I would understand if it would not materialize. But she responded that she was willing to drive that far in order to meet me. She also informed me that "Bebing" Aguilo is in Calgary, which is a 3-hour drive south of Edmonton. When she told Bebing that I'm coming, Bebing also decided to drive that 3-hour distance to meet us.

Those were the highlights on my part of the trip, the rest of our itinerary was meeting and bonding with Teng's uncle, a number of first cousins and lots of nephews and nieces.

On Thursday, Teng's cousin, Alex drove us to Jasper National Park reaching up to the foot of Edith Cavell Glacier which was in time for snow drizzling. It was the first time for Teng's mother to touch snow. We spent the night at a hotel in Jasper City and the following morning we rode the tramway up to the park's Alpine Tundra at an elevation of 1300 meters above sea level overlooking six mountain ranges.

On Sabbath, we attended the Edmonton Filipino SDA Church which, as expected, I met Wengweng, the Quilacio family and Bebing. What I did not expect was that Wengweng would drive 5 hours on a huge 4x4 pickup truck with big wheels and elevated chasis. She arrived Edmonton the night before with 3 non-SDA friends who attended church with us. Bebing also drove a SUV from Calgary.

There was one unexpected friend who greeted me in church. It's Julius Betoya who I only knew in MSU as Dodoy, Alandrex's younger brother. Dodoy did not finish in MSU. He transferred to AUP where he would meet his wife. Since Teng worked at AUP during their time, they also recognized Teng, and she remembered them.

After lunch in church, Dodoy invited us to come to his luxurious townhouse at the outskirts of Edmonton. There, they offered us cold juice drinks while he was showing to us a video of their exploits in Mindoro as missionaries among the Mangyans for 5 years.
Too bad, time was so short for bonding. After the video, Bebing was already in a hurry to go because she is meeting her son also in Edmonton. We gathered around, sang one familiar song and I offered a short prayer thanking God for the opportunity of meeting old friends who have gone to different directions in life and then meet again at an instant in the same space and time after thirty years.

Since Bebing left her car at the church's parking lot and Wengweng left hers at the hotel they were staying nearby, we drove them back to be reunited with their wheels. I wish such meetings of old friends in unexpected places will become more frequent in the near future.

Then it was our time to bond with my Hinaplanon neighbors. They were very excited to see me and Teng. I am their first neighbor from the Philippines that they meet here in Canada. They brought us to the Alberta Legislative Park then treated us to a sumptuous dinner at a Royal Buffet. You can see our pictures in my FB pages. The rest of our visit was meeting and bonding with Teng's relatives. Her 97- year-old uncle is still strong and active. I could not memorize all the names of her cousins and nephews and nieces and even grandchildren but I enjoyed every moment of it.

On Monday, we drove northeast for almost three hours to visit another cousin who lives in Lac La Biche. At 54.9 degrees north of the equator, this is the place with the highest latitude that I have been to. "Lac La Biche" is a French word which literally means "Lake of the Deer." It's the name given by a French explorer who discovered the place. It was in Lac La Biche where I found total serenity and for a time forgot all the cares of the world. Our most enjoyable experience was boating on the serene lake on Tuesday.

On our way home, we had another sleepover in Edmonton and then retraced our route starting Thursday morning. When we reached Utah, our wanderlust was again excited at the prospect of visiting Arches National Park and on the Sabbath, we find ourselves amidst God's creative wonders, awed and mesmerized at those gigantic natural monuments and unusual rock formations sculpted by time.

Address

365 E Commercial Road
San Bernardino, CA
92408

Telephone

+19096592614

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when My Travelogues posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.