Edmonton Folk Music Festival 2026 - My Three Faves

I love volunteering at Folk Fest and have done so almost e3very year they have had one since 2016, but most years, at some point, I hit a wall. And after hitting the wall, I have to actually consider if this will be my last year volunteering.

This year it was Friday. Not even a long day! Start at noon, the corral for the tarp lottery at Stage 1 is still up from the day before, no delays in marching the groups of 30 patrons on to the field so they can set up their tarps for main stage (unlike the day before as they scrambled to get more sand and rig mats laid over the soggy ground).

But it was hot. 26 degrees and I was still tired from the extensive standing Glory (my crewmate!) and I had done during the delays of the day before. I also don't think I hydrated enough; by the time the two of us marched off to the dinner line, I was a shambling wreck, cowering from the merciless sun in the shade of teh umbrella I had brought for rain.

But a great dinner (beer braised Alberta beef with garlic, Moroccan spied carrots, potatoes, three different salads) and a little time in the shade left me in a better state to see a couple of the Friday night main stage acts. We couldn't stay for Of Monsters & Men, the big draw that evening, since we had to be back on site at 6:30 the next morning, and since there is no longer a volunteer shuttle, that trip is about an hour now.

But Saturday morning was cool, and Glory and I had already decided that we would only watch a couple of afternoon shows and then head home to nap. We went to bed early and this meant we could see all the main stage acts Sunday, and even stay for the traditional singing of Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds" that closes out the festival.

By that point, both sleepy and exhausted, with aching feet and knowledge that my physically demanding teardown shift was a little more than 12 hours away, I was still at a point where I could say: I can't wait for next year.

So what did I like most about Folk Fest this year?

 1) The Workshops

I had wanted to see Nova Scotia storyteller Adam Baldwin in his own concert. I'd told Glory how great his stage banter was when he'd opened up for Alan Doyle at the Jube the year before, but the schedule didn't fit our needs.

So we went to a workshop called Tall Tales that included him, a trio called The Pairs and 'cosmic folk' artist Sister Ray, and it was fantastic. From his rejection of the term workshop in favour of "drinking in the kitchen" to the interactions between songs to the incidental accompaniment by the artists to the songs of others (perhaps hearing them for the first time), it was a great hour spent in the shade of Stage 7.

My favourite bit was Baldwin talking about how his tragic crime song "Lighthouse in Little Lorraine" was based on a true story, but because he could figure out neither a Nova Scotia community that rhymed with 'hashish', nor a narcotic name that rhymed with Louisbourg, he was forced to change both. And then the song got made into a movie! Which he says you can now watch on WestJet and "should be on a DVD in Giant Tiger any day now."

Similarly, the If You Could Read My Mind workshop featuring The Milk Carton Kids, Fantastic Cat, and The Brudi Brothers was full of great tunes, good humour and tremendous interaction as well.

2) My Crew

People are probably tired of hearing me quote my own maxim, "It's less about what I do and more about who I do it with," but it is true. And nowhere is is more true than when working with the Greetings East crew.

We run the tarp lottery, a somewhat arcane and counter-intuitive randomization system that allows 1000 or more dedicated patrons to enter the field prior to the public gates opening for optimal tarp placement. For our part, this includes building an enclosure (corral) that can hold 2000+ people out of fast fence, handing out 2000+ colored tags with the names of performing artists on them to the patrons as they enter, trying to keep them moving towards the back of the corral instead of crowding around the entryway, announcing an artist's name and then lining the people with matching tickets along the sidewalks up and down the neighbourhood, sometimes stretching further than three city blocks.

At the appointed time, usually 30 mins to an hour but sometimes two hours or more, some of us serve as human pylons, dividing the line into groups of thirty, then marching them through main gate and handing them off to security so they can race safely up the hill and place their tarps. 

After that, we (usually) take down the fast fence and stack it, then place our own tarps. I wouldn't call it easy, and sometimes testy patrons can make things more challenging than they need to be, but it is generally a smooth operation, and our duty is done before the first act hits the stage.

There were 19 of us this year (then team was less than a dozen when I started!), mostly ladies, all but a handful are much, much younger than me, and all of them are great. 

Different people are going to be great at different things, but there are no shirkers. Everyone understands and appreciates what we are doing and why, and we get on fabulously with all but a handful of the patrons. And even those ones should get the benefit of the doubt - who hasn't had a bad day outdoors in a crowd?

Having Glory as a crewmate in 2023 and this year has been an extra delight, and out leadership is smart, funny (like most everyone on this crew!), open minded and attentive. And they even bring cinnamon rolls and rice krispie treats for the early weekend shifts!

My crew are a big part of why I will come back next year.

3) The Music

I have been a fan of Corb Lund since 2007's Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier!, and Thursday night I finally got to see him live for the first time. He was sandwiched between two soul music acts, The Womack Sisters and Thee Sacred Souls, both of whom sounded amazing. 

Friday night we saw Irish trio Amble and enjoyed them immensely. Wonderful voices, great musicianship and tremendous stage presence from their frontman (but charm from all). Apparently when the lead singer told his family he was quitting his job as a teacher to play music full time, his father told him, "throw out the trout to catch the salmon," which is maybe the most Irish thing I have ever heard, and you can apparently see it written on a bunch of their merch.  I expect to be hearing more about them in the months to come.

Trousdale is a country/rock flavoured trio from California with a great sense of humour and absolutely heart-stopping harmonies. I am disappointed the studio version of their cover of Neil Young's "Old Man" sounds so tame compared to the version we heard on the hillside of Stage 5 that raised the gooseflesh on me.

St. Paul & The Broken Bones are hard to describe, but soul ensemble with the energy of a Gospel revival service probably comes close. Paul Janeway was perhaps the most dynamic frontman we saw all weekend. At one point he guided both the band and the audience through a 1-2-3 rhythm game ("That was good. Real good!  But we did not come all the way to Edmonton to be good. We came here to be great. And doo you know what separates the good from the great? No? FRACTIONS."), and at another, he clised ski hill on his belly. I will never miss a chance to see this group if I can help it.

At any rate, a week later the exhaustion and foot pain are forgotten and great memories of music, people and food (the volunteer kitchen still puts out simply amazing meals 3000 plates at a time!) are what remain.

I can't wait for next year! Hope to see you on the hill.

BONUS REFLECTION: THE TEEPEE TEARDOWN

At about the midway point of my teardown shift, as we used a rickshaw/wheelbarrow to move a heavy pile of fence posts and post-puller from one spot to another, someone told my crew boss Ross that the Nikawomin crew needed help taking down the 30' teepee from their cultural area.

"These three fellows would be only too happy to help," he said, before wandering off to supervise another group back of mainstage.

One of the Site Crew and a Nikamowin volunteer explained that it was not difficult work but it required multiple, steady hands and a respect for protocol. For instance, stepping over the supporting poles once they were laid down was considered disrespectful.

So began by folding the covering material onto itself, one team on each side of the opening, until it was all gathered at the back, then lowered it folded it some more and placed in on a bench someone carried over to keep it off the ground.

Then we worked as teasm to lower the various poles leaning against the tripod of lashed poles at the center. Working carefully from both a safety and respect perspective, two fellows steadied the pole while lowering it, and others like me moved to catch it once with in reach and then walk to the end until it was carryable.

At one point the volunteer showed us a "cheat" wherein you could use a still standing pole to slow the descent of one being lowered, which worked pretty well. 

Finally we steadied the legs of the tripod, lashed together at the top with a long cord, brought the three poles together one at a time, and then slowly lowered the bundle and caught it like one enormous pole.

"And that's it!" grinned the Nikamowin volunteer. "It's not hard, it just helps to have more hands."

The Site Crew worker nodded. "And you are all teepee certified now, so we'll see you next year, eh?"

And the volunteer grinned and nodded when I asked if I could put "Indigenous housing experience" on my resume.

Camping *Can* Be Good

There’s an old industry joke that goes something like this: A man works at the circus taking care of the elephants. Rather, he has to clean up after them. Day in day out, until months become weeks becomes years. After awhile, he’s sick and tired of cleaning up elephant dung and he starts complaining. He hates what he’s doing and he lets everyone around him know it. One of his coworkers overhears him grumbling and says, well, if you don’t like it, why don’t you just quit. To which our hearty circus man replies: “What, and give up show business!?!”

After hearing about our trailer tire-based mishaps in and around Clearwater, many people were surprised, nay shocked and horrified, to discover we were going camping the following weekend. Like, the same level of incredulity at the end of Black Hawk Down when Josh Hartnett exclaims to Eric Bana, having just run the infamous 'Mogadishu Mile' to escape that beleaguered city, "You're going back?"

I suppose on the surface it does appear pretty crazy: after having a week's vacation nearly demolished by two flat tires in rapid succession, we probably do appear to be gluttons for punishment. But the truth of it is, after the second tire repair, we still had a good time. 

Even on our way back from Kamloops the first time we stopped at the Artisan Antique Market in Louis Creek, near Barrier, which is a charming shop full of friendly people.

And on our journey home, we found a great place to stop for two nights. The Blue River Campground is just off Highway 5 and the sites are pretty close and not very treed, but the facilities are very well-kept, the bathrooms clean and the showers free, and the outdoor cooking area is not only a rain shelter, but full kitchen with stove, microwave and refrigerator, and well as a dishwashing station! 

We didn't use the outdoor kitchen as I had brought marinated pork chops that needed cooking as well as Babybel cheeses and charcuterie meat for making savory s'mores over the campfire.

The campground is just so tidy and friendly compared to many others we've stayed at, and there are lots of handpainted murals and decorations as well. Highly recommended, and we are likely to return next year to check out the nearby river safari and floating restaurant.

There is also a lake beach in town and an impressive set of rapids called Little Hell's Gate about 25 min south of Blue River.

This past weekend we joined my sister-in-law and her boyfriend for three nights at Paddy's Flat in Kananaskis Country, about 20 minutes southeast of Bragg Creek. There was a bear advisory posted on the website (a sow and two cubs) and we saw one as drove into the camp after sunset. 

Our late arrival was thanks to us having to turn around in Lacombe and head back after realizing I'd completely forgotten to pack my CPAP machine, despite remembering to lug along the battery to power it at an unserviced site! Thank heavens Glory was willing to drive out with it and meet us in Leduc which probably cut 80 minutes off our travel time!

The next day I saw another bear (or perhaps the same one again) after being warned by another camper in their vehicle that it was in the stand of trees about 25 feet from the outhouse I had just used. I locked eyes with him as I kept one hand on the outhouse door handle, but when a truck passed nearby, he disappeared into the bush separating campground loops.

This is not to say there was no animal activity at our campsite; far from it! We had many visitors:

Is it strange having massive wandering bovines stroll so leisurely through your campsite? Sure. Have we had worse intrusions on fewer legs? Also true.

Add to this the panic I created when I saw black fur in the nearby trees after sunset and warned everyone about a nearby bear cub, only to discover it was Vera's dog, Onyx. 

You see it though, right?

I had also made this error after spotting Onyx way, way too close in the bush after my outhouse bear encounter on Saturday.

It was pretty hot on Saturday as well, but we got some games in in the shade and I managed to type up last week's blog. On Sunday it was a bit cooler and I managed to get in some hammock time, which was quite enjoyable.

Vera's friend Charlene arrived at the site across the road on Sunday as well, and the three ladies got stuck in on a jigsaw puzzle Vera had started that day. Somehow they managed to finish it before sunset and Charlene's husband even found the last missing piece on the ground!

In terms of natural splendor, it is a short walk down to Paddy's Flat on the Elbow River, which is awfully scenic and tranquil (and pretty cold, being glacier-fed!)..

Monday morning, before packing up the Bride of Frankentrailer, Audrey and I headed out about 4 km down Hwy 66 to Elbow River Falls. A popular day trip for Calgarians, we got there before the parking lot was even a quarter-full, and 90 minutes later it was packed. Worth a trip if you are in the neighbourhood though!

I even tried my hand at a bit of rock climbing

(...poses). 

I am glad we had a chance to have a less eventful camping trip following our travails in B.C., even for just a weekend. And although we are hoping to retire the Bride in a year or two, I hope we have a few more summers (and falls) of trailer camping left in us. 

And when we share the next set of ridiculous obstacles that hamper our enjoyment and people suggest we stay in a hotel or Air BnB instead, we can scoff and say, "What? And give up the great outdoors?"

Flattened at Clearwater! (Part 2)

After returning our rented tools and grabbing a handheld breakfast, we found ourselves on the road to Kamloops, where we had been informed that the local Kal Tire had a half-dozen of the 13-inch trailer tire we needed to replace the flat on Bride of Frankentrailer.

Highway 5 is a lovely drive, up and down the hills and mountains alongside the North Thompson River for about 90 minutes. It gets progressively dryer and more barren as you get further south, so by the time you reach the city, it’s almost desert-like. There is still a fair amount of vegetation but it is largely scrub, sage and prairie grasses, with very few of the enormous pine and spruce trees up in Wells Gray, where we still hoped to camp eventually.

As in Clearwater, the staff at Kal Tire in Kamloops were a delight to deal with, and had our tire fixed and mounted in maybe 45 minutes. I think the most time was spent finding it. We even toyed with getting an extra spare when Keegan discovered the right-sized wheel in their inventory, but it turned out to have only four holes, not the five we needed, so the spare spare notion was abandoned.

With a fresh new trailer tire loaded in the back of the Lander, we only had two more stops to make in Kamloops and the first was at Princess Auto.

My satisfaction at this experience bordered on the spiritual.

First, it was deliciously air conditioned, in direct contrast to the heat outside which I recall as being around 36 degrees.

Their immense inventory, even the fiddly bits like the individual socket I required, were all clearly labelled and neatly organized.

And once again, friendly, helpful staff were easy deal with and were only too willing to let me open a saddle adapter to see if it fit the 2-ton bottle jack I was contemplating (it did not).

It did not take us too long to get sorted, and within perhaps 15 minutes we left with the aforementioned hydraulic jack, which I figured might work better in the close quarters under our trailer, as well as an 18” breaker bar, a 3/4” inch socket for the trailer’s lug nuts, a 6” extender for that socket, and some “Screwloose” penetrating spray for loosening the nuts.

Our second stop was at the T’Kemlups Petro-Can for some more ice for our beleaguered cooler as well as some enormous slushy drinks. I swear I have never enjoyed one of these more; it was just so hot.

Before we even returned to the Country Inn RV Park, we knew we wouldn’t have enough time to strike camp and make it to Mahood Lake, especially using the route taking us an hour south to avoid as much of the notorious F.S.R. as possible. So we heated up some chicken chili, packed up what we could before bedding down, and slept with hopes of an early departure.

Packing up went pretty well the next day, and to save time we again grabbed some breakfast sandwiches (and still more ice) and headed out once more the Hwy 5 south.

And not ten minutes south of Clearwater, the other trailer tire blew out.

It signaled its departure from this mortal coil with an immense POP, followed by the slapping of shredded rubber against the asphalt. It was the starboard-side tire this time, so I was able to pull over safely to the side of the highway, and after a few moments of reflection as to whether we were cursed by the Almighty or had angered some powerful folk-magician in our travels, I got out to take a look.

And yes, looking at my second trailer flat in less than 24 hours, I experienced my share of disappointment and despair, especially when looking at the inexplicable two inches of additional fairing on the this side of the trailer (see picture), which would make this extraction even more difficult than the first one.

But I was also heartened, because this time, thanks to advice, experience, and our loyal Princess of Autos, I was prepared!

I quickly unpackaged the bottle jack, marveling at is tidiness and realized something I hadn’t noticed when checking it for the adapter I had considered: there was no handle in the box.

There should have been a two-part jack handle, but there wasn’t even one. Blessedly though, the socket for the jack could also accommodate a long-handled screwdriver or even the extender I had bought for the breaker bar.

I quickly tested my hypothesis, but remembered before getting too far that I must loosen the nuts before lifting the wheel. I got the breaker bar out, moved the extender from the jack to the socket and put the whole works together. Only a bit of the spray was needed to loosen them and that didn’t take nearly as long as the first time around.

And when I got the bottle jack to an appropriate spot on the frame, it lifted up easily enough even using my improvised handle, and there was just enough room to work off the spare and squeeze it under the lip of the trailer.

But when I tried to put the fully inflated spare into place, it became very apparent that so long as it was full of air and a larger diameter than the flat, there was absolutely no way I could even force it into position.

Despite the bottle jack’s ease of use while crouched under a listing tent trailer, its maximum lift of 7&¼” meant that there was not a single place under the trailer where it could elevate it to a sufficient degree. Standing the jack on the block we used for the nose of the trailer would potentially raise it an extra 4” but put it above the frame and metal pieces of the trailer, and there was no way the aged wood of our 1974 Bonair would support the weight on the jack surface that perhaps an inch across.

It was about this time that I felt burning pinch on my right wrist, and jerked my arm up to discover a red ant with its mandibles sunk into my flesh. After brushing it off and noticing more ants upon my person, I rolled over and discovered I had indeed situated myself directly upon an anthill. I mean, why not? At this point the circumstantial evidence supporting an angry witch was becoming overwhelming anyways.

Once again, I began to despair, and once again, Audrey came to the rescue. “What about the scissor jack from the Lander?”

I shook my head in frustration. “Even with more lift, it starts out too flat to give the trailer enough clearance.”

”Yeah, but it would fit better on the block, wouldn’t it?”

I blinked and squinted at the shadows under the trailer. She was, of course, completely correct; the additional 4” from the trailer block made it a simple matter to fit the scissor jack under the frame, and also gave more room to put the windlass-like jack handle to work. There was soon more than enough room to fit on the spare, finger tighten the nuts, lower the jack and tighten everything back up.

 It did take us long enough that a friendly driver stopped to make sure we were okay, having passed us on his way out of town and seeing us in the same spot upon his return, and another compassionate soul asked if we needed help as well.

But we were able to return ourselves to the road all by ourselves and were soon headed back to Kamloops for the second time in 24 hours.

We weren’t going to make it to Mahood Lake by nightfall again, but when I called the reservation line, they confirmed my suspicion - after our being a no-show, our entire 4-night reservation had been cancelled anyways.

There was enough coverage along Hwy 5 for me to use Audrey’s data and book us a site at Blue River, maybe an hour north of Clearwater and as far as we could get along our homeward route and still cook dinner.

When I walked into the Kamloops Kal Tire with the flat, one of the techs from the day before gawked his eyes and said, “There is no way that blew already!”

I agreed and informed him it was the other, and as he took it back to get replaced, he assured us we should be good to go in 15-20 minutes.

As they worked on it, I reflected on the rotten luck of a second flat so soon after the first and realized it probably wasn’t luck after all - there was no chance that the starboard tire didn’t take some degree of damage during our initial highball run up the FSR. In retrospect, we were probably lucky to have gotten as far as we did! And I still could not recall wronging any houngans or brujas or warlocks at any rate.

Once the tire was fixed, our tech not only mounted it onto the spare bracket for us, he also retorqued the tire I had just replaced. We had many miles yet to go before nightfall.

Next stop was at Princess Auto to swap out the handle-less bottle jack for a dedicated scissor jack that would live in the Bride of Frankentrailer so that our next flat wouldn’t requiring unpacking so much of the Lander, since that one is stowed under the cargo area.

And once again, the heat of the day required slushy drinks to progress, so we stopped once more at T’Kemlups Petro Can and this time got some hot chicken for lunch, which, for gas station chicken? Was pretty decent.

We also drove around the area a little bit and found an immense and beautiful powwow centre, as well as Canada’s most notorious residential school, where they first discovered 215 unmarked graves of Indigenous students - a heady reflection on vacation, but we both think we will return for a tour at some point in the future.

The rest of the drive passed without incident, thank heavens! At one point, while we were driving up the side of a mountain perhaps two or three hundred feet higher than the river, Audrey spotted a bald eagle flying alongside us. When I turned my head, I didn’t even have to look up - the enormous avian was at eye level, thirty feet away from my window and perhaps 20 feet from the cliff side, gently flapping alongside us as we drew past him at 70 km/h. Amazing!

The private campground at Blue River was closer to the highway and train crossing than we might like, but was very well kept and tidy. After a Wednesday night dinner of grilled pork chops and cacio e pepe pasta (from ramen style cups), we were finally beginning to relax for the very first time since leaving on Monday.

After two flats, two tire replacements, being stranded in remote areas, spending six hours on the road between Clearwater and Kamloops without actually getting anywhere, nibbled by ants, and enduring a diet one meal short of being exclusively fast food and road snax, we finally, actually felt like we were on vacation.

Flattened at Clearwater! (Part 1)

Gentle readers: all gravel roads are not created equal.

Lord knows this blog has never been intended to serve as any sort of educational endeavour, beyond the trivial or the overshared, but if you learn naught else, I beseech and implore you to realize this one fact: Forestry Service Roads are different.

Thanks to visits to my wife's old stomping grounds around High River, I am completely inured at this point to driving or being a passenger on gravel roads while travelling at speeds in excess of 90 or even 100 km/h. Heck, many of these roads have posted speeds of 80 km/h, suggesting that slightly higher speeds are by no means beyond the pale.

But as we made our way out of the town of Clearwater B.C. on our way to our reserved campsite at Mahood Lake in Wells Gray Provincial Park, Google Maps informed us we would be traveling 63 km over a Forestry Service Road (FSR) for over an hour and a half.

While hardly ideal, we had come out here to camp and get dirty after all, so with Audrey at the wheel we got stuck in. The posted speed limit was 50 km/h, up a steep incline and with multiple segments of washboard or areas strewn with holes ranging in depth from two to six inches, so we were rarely at that speed, and towing the Bride of Frankentrailer to boot. I don't think we saw another vehicle while we were under way either.

It was intermittently scenic, with mountain vistas and dense evergreen forests, and we spotted perhaps two dozen tiny bunnies eating something off the gravel before passing the 23 km marker, which was when we heard the portside trailer tire blow out completely.

Now, what we did not know at that point is that the gravel on FSRs is not the smooth, rounded specimen of your traditional rural routes. Heavens no, these are  jagged and pointy bits of weaponized mineral so spiteful that experienced offroaders will often 'air down' their tires to 20 or even 15 psi before traversing FSRs. And there we were, dodging what my Mum called chuckholes at 50-60 km/h while towing a trailer whose tires were lovingly inflated by Audrey the previous day to the recommended 80 psi.

Honestly, it is a wonder we made it as far as we did.

But there we were, with a shredded tire, 1/3 of the way to our destination. With no other recourse, we unloaded the Lander to access the jack and tire iron, and Audrey got the spare off the back of the trailer while I got the scissor jack situated. Laying down in the dusty gravel while Audrey brushed increasingly large and aggressive horseflies off my back, I painstakingly twisted the scissor jack to a point where it at least met the frame of the trailer, which was no mean feat, given how much lower everything was when compared to, say, a car.

It has probably been a decade since I changed a tire, and the lift points on a 50-year old tent trailer are not nearly as clearly marked (i.e. not discernible at all) as those on the Corolla (or the Lander, presumably). I make no apologies for my ignorance, why have an AMA membership if you aren't going to use it, after all?

I will apologize for forgetting that the lug nuts must be loosened before lifting the vehicle, or the wheel will simply spin as you fruitlessly lean on your tire iron. But after lowering the jack, I realized the fairing or wheelguard or whatever you want to call it made accessing the nuts even more difficult than usual. But this was not the biggest problem. 

The tire iron for the Lander did not fit the lug nuts on the trailer. 

In retrospect, this was predictable, but up until that fateful moment, lug nuts had existed, in my mind, as a universal constant. Somehow I had forgotten the ubiquitous cross bar tire iron of my youth, with its four distinct sizes. 

It quickly became clear that none of our tools were going to fit the bill, and I had already dismissed two helpful loggers in their pickups, so there was naught else to do but to disconnect the trailer and make our way back to Clearwater.

Audrey drove so that once we were back in cellular range I could use data to find the phone number for a towing company to come change the tire for us as I was hot, sweaty, exhausted and running out of daylight. But when I reached them, I learned in rapid succession that 1) no one could get up there before late tomorrow morning and 2) the hourly rate (including travel time) and surcharge for a callout to an FSR meant the last one had cost the forestry company $750. "It's blowout after blowout up there," he told me, "especially after they grade it."

Since this was more than the cost of the trailer itself, I was crestfallen, After some discussion as to the tools I would need in order to get the tire off, and the realization that even if local stores had what I needed, they had all closed over an hour ago, he suggested he could rent me what I needed, and in a strange mixture of hope and desperation, I agreed. 

We drove to the shop where he helped me load up a three-ton floor jack, an 18" breaker bar (a non-ratcheting, long handled socket wrench with a swivel in the middle so you can flip the wrench 180 degrees while keeping it on the nut), a full set of up-scaled sockets and some penetrating spray to loosen the nuts themselves.

We made our way back to marker 23 at a much more reasonable rate of speed, but not before discovering that there were no rooms to be had in town but the Clear Water Country Inn had space for our trailer so we booked a spot. We also grabbed a Subway on our way out of town and my lovely wife fed me as I cautiously navigated the FSR once more.

Once reunited with our stranded Bride, I still struggled to get the breaker bar around the fairing. I got the 3/4" socket seated on one lug and managed to loosen it but with the bar trapped underneath the trailer itself, it was going to be a tedious process as I could only move it a couple of inches before hitting either the trailer or the road. 

Audrey pointed at the tray of sockets, indicating one with some kind of swivel; "would that help you get a better angle on it maybe?"

I looked and shook my head in frustration. "No, it just changes the direction, when what I need is some kind of exten- hello, what's this?"

Very close to the swivel attachment was an extension that added perhaps 6" to the socked itself, already perhaps 5" long...which was enough to clear the fairing!

It was still a laborious endeavour getting all the nuts loosened, but with generous applications of the penetrating spray and an appropriate transfer of furious mass and desperate grip to the breaker bar, we were soon in business.

Audrey got the somewhat enormous jack under the trailer frame and with three large pumps, I had enough space to get the wheel off and the spare back on. We had to lower it, raise it, spin the wheel and lower it once more in order to get all the nuts tightened properly, but we sorted that out pretty quickly with the big jack. 

Dusty, sweaty, exhausted but triumphant, we made our way to the RV park and set up camp. The site was nothing to speak of but it did feature free showers, and I have never been so grateful for an amenity in my entire life. Unfortunately our campsite, in addition to being very close to Hwy 5, was also  situated right next a a 24-hr gas station that had semis rolling in and out all night long, but it was also close to Kal Tire, which we would need the next morning.

The following day, we wasted no time after waking up from a sleep best decribed as restless and headed straight over to Kal Tire where the incredibly helpful and empathetic Dagan explained he could indeed get the tire I needed but not before Friday noon. When I told him I might be back after searching around (as it was only Tuesday), he checked other nearby locations and told me the Kal Tire in Kamloops (90 min away) had six of them in stock.

And so, with bacon & eggers from the local A&W in hand, Audrey and I set out for Kamloops...

(CONTINUED IN PART 2)

The Cup: Half-Empty

Lionel Messi, at 39, played an astonishing 120 minutes of football in the World Cup final tonight. In addition to losing the game 1-0, as team captain he led his Argentinian team and maybe his nation into ignominy.

In an absolutely brutal display, his team was not only outplayed to an embarrassing degree by the Spanish side, but earned the disrespect of much of the global audience by playing in a completely undisciplined and thuggish manner that was not only unsporting but also dangerous.

If you look up the play that earned Enzo Fernández his second yellow card and ejection from the game in the 93rd minute, you will see a man take out another player in a way that suggests that if the rumours of preferential treatment by officials are not true, that at least he believed them.

Brutal fouling, dirty play, and cheap shots that the Argentinian fans describe as ‘passionate’, ‘spirited’, or ‘part of the (South American) game have followed La Albicelestes throughout this tournament, despite having one of the easier pools and even paths to the final, particularly in their match against Egypt.

Even worse, after the final whistle, ARG player Nahuel Molina took a swing at .Spanish captain Rodri as he trotted past to celebrate with his teammates, and I think he connected. Rodri turned around to confront Molina, there were words, then shoves, a scrum formed and then Leandro Paredes jumped in, shoving, throat punching, throwing a second Spanish player down to the ground and got the game’s second red card for his troubles. (Fun fact: if the six red cards doled out at World Cup finals over a near-century, three of them belong to Argentina…)

And then, during the trophy ceremony, the Argentines appeared to turn their backs on Spain as they hoisted the trophy - truly classless.

It’s a sad way to end Messi’s legacy as the dominant player of the last decade and some, but I have no sympathy for the man. On top of him personally riding Jude Bellingham out on the sidelines in a headlock worthy of a steer wrestler at the Calgary Stampede during the semifinal against England, he tried to get Spanish player Marc Cucurella sent off under FIFA’s new rule prohibiting mouth covering during confrontations (a way to punish players trying to conceal racist attacks on opponents).

The video makes it abundantly clear that Cucurella was only pointing to his lips, not covering his mouth, but Messi’s hand shot up in a callous attempt to turn the situation to his advantage, which, blessedly, didn’t work.

Gracias to Spain for playing a great match and restoring some faith in football, if not FIFA.

Messi can cry himself to sleep on a pillow filled with money, and you know what? I kind of hope he does.

The Cup, Half-Full (2026)

My enjoyment of this year's World Cup, like most of the sporting events I bother to follow, is a mass of contradictions.

I hated watching Canada lose to Morocco, a solid, solid team.

I loved Canada not only making it out of group but into the Round of 16 for the first time! 
And playing the best 45 minutes in the history of the CANMNT for the first 45 minutes. This will not be our last World Cup!

I hated watching Canadian mid-fielder, Ismail Koné, get his leg broken after a flawed tackle attempt by a player from Qatar. 

I loved seeing that same player, bereft at the consequences of his action, being consoled by a Canadian player before being eject from the game. (The Qatari player, Qassim Madibo, not only visited the Candian locker room to apologize immediately after the game, but visited Koné in the hospital the following day.)

I hate having 48 teams in the round robin (with the possibility to expand the tournament to 64 teams by 2030).

I loved having Cabo Verde, a tiny group of islands off the coast of Africa with half a million souls and a 40-year-old goalkeeper, make it out of group undefeated and hold the reigning champs, Argentina to only a 3-2 victory in the round of 16.

I hate the corruption of international organized sport, which seems so endemic, being made so blatantly visible by Trump's demand that a red-carded American player be allowed to compete, and FIFA capitulating.

I love that Belgium, a weaker team on paper and not having a great tournament up to that point, beat the USA in a great match, and that the red-carded player made a point of shaking hands with the Belgian coach.

I hate knowing that, of his own free will, English captain Harry Kane played a round of golf with Donald Trump.

I loved seeing Jude Bellingham score a brace of goals in Estadio Azteca, perhaps the most intmidating staidum in the world for a visiting team, leading ENG to a thrilling  victory (seriously, the match to beat for years to come in my eyes). 

(Even better, after the Congo game Bellingham stopped to speak to a disabled reporter from Venezuela that almost everyone else in the tunnel ignored, and in Spanish, sent well wishes to the people there struggling after an earthquake.)

And despite his Norwegian side losing to England yesterday, I loved learning that Erling Haaland exists. 

My Instagram and Threads feeds are filled with this enormous lug, this Shrek-adjacent behemoth who, as near as I can tell, is winning the hearts of millions simply by being a hard-playing, decent human who appears to be one of the few millionaires playing professional football to actually be enjoying himself while respecting others.

And as long as we are talking about Norway, let's give it up for their brilliant team kit, unequalled team photos, and most importantly, their Viking row, hands down the best fan movement since the Mexican wave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5WUEqEkQZU

In the end, bringing the four corners of the globe together in sport will always be problematic - there is too much money, too many problematic personalities, too much greed for it to be otherwise. But despite this, the positive moments and quality individuals continue to make it a worthwhile endeavour, at least for me.

Still More Monsters of the Manual

Even without comparing it to subsequent editions, the very first Monster Manual for what was then called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was simply not a very good book. There are some typos and formatting issues and such, but the biggest reason is the art. 

Much of it is just not very good, drawn by seemingly whomever TSR could get to sketch something up by the deadline for the first-ever hardcover D&D book. There are exceptions (nearly everything by David Trampier, for instance), and a lot of entries have no art whatsoever, which is probably (?) worse.

But how many nerds like me did that 1977 book draw in and then never let go? Many of those images are still conjured up behind my eyes by the mere mention of the names of these esoteric creations, regardless of their quality.

And over the four decades I've played D&D, I have always sought to fill in the corners with some of the more iconic monsters and some other personal favourites, many times just because of the evocative memories of the art that accompanied them.

Most recently I added a displacer beast (mentioned in my 2020 post about iconic monsters in miniature) as well as a pair of perytons - harpy-like stags that not only consume human hearts, but whose shadows reveal the silhouette of a man and not a beast (tragically irreproducible in miniature form).

It's been six years now since that monster post, and I have been filling out the corners of my Monster Manual collection:

There are a number of things preventing me from having a truly comprehensive index of MM miniatures (lack of funds, time, storage space and interest to name but a few), but adding a few classics like these has been pretty rewarding - even for someon who only plays D&D in person perhaps a dozen times a year!