retiredguys2017-blog

[retiredguys2017-blog]

Day 1 - 2017 Whisky Tour.

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Preparations for this year’s trip have been a little bit rushed with both of us being a busy of late.   But the car is packed and we’re glad to be pushing off again - whatever we’ve forgotten we’ll have to do without.   This year we want to learn more about some of our ancestors and are headed to locations on the prairies where they homesteaded many years ago.   Check the photos above to see that Bob has lost a few pounds since our departure for Labrador and Newfoundland last summer.    Bob’s partner Maureen was on-hand to send us on our way from their home in London - Maureen has her own big trip to the Baltic coming up in a few days!   Bon Voyage.

To our mission - our great-grandfather Michael Flood married Agnes Anderson - a girl from around the corner, and headed west to Manitoba back in 1891 from rural southwestern Ontario.   He was the grandson of one of the first settlers of London Township.  Agnes has a similar story.   One amazing thing that we have already learned is that we have a lot of material on our ancestors - Bob located a file box filled with information, just 2 days ago!  So one thing we will be able to do is study up on Michael, Agnes and other family as we travel westward.  This is a game changer for us.

As has become a tradition, our first tour stop is at brother Tom’s and his wife Anne Marie’s in Ancaster.  Tom and Anne have busy professional lives but always find the time to look after us for a day or so on our trips.    This year is no different - we started with a delicious dinner followed by a harsh lesson in Hearts from Tom.   And its fitting that we start our whiskey tour with a visit to Tom’s single malt whiskey collection (that we’ve offered to babysit, for security purposes, when Tom and Anne go on their next holiday).

Our Audiobook this year is James Joyce’s Dubliners - 15 short stories for our 15 day trip.   We did not start the book yet so we’ll need to catch up in the coming days.  We’ll keep you updated on our progress through the book.

Tomorrow we have lined up 3 Whiskey Distilleries to visit in the Niagara District and we’re hoping Tom can break out of the office to join us for at least part of our tour.

[retiredguys2017-blog]

2017 Retired Guys Whiskey Tour - Quest for Michael Flood

T-1 days until we launch our third Retired Guys summer road trip.  The car has completed its pre-launch oil change and tire rotation.   Having reached 280,000 miles we are starting to baby the Volvo just a little, trying to avoid those nasty break-downs in remote locations (like the Sioux Nation in 2015)

Why Michael Flood?  First of all you should know that Michael Flood and Agnes Anderson are my great-parents (on my mother’s mother’s side) who grew up north of London in London Township.  We recently learned that Michael and Agnes moved to rural Manitoba for a few years in the 1890′s.   I believe some family members were already aware of this but it was a surprise to Bob and me.  We hope to learn more about Michael and Agnes on our trip.

We did know that Michael and Agnes’ daughter Gertrude Flood married a fellow named Tom McNulty and immediately homesteaded in Saskatchewan (in the early 20th century).   Since Saskatchewan is so close to Manitoba we are also going to visit Nokomis, SK 

And finally, cousin Bernie and his wife Kathleen are both celebrating their retirement with a party in early August.   And since Alberta is so close to Saskatchewan we are also going to venture a little further west to join that celebration.   

What’s new in 2017?

We have a full spare tire, in addition to the donut spare.  Its a little bulky in the back of the vehicle but it gives us peace of mind.

Sadly we will not be meeting up with brother Tom along the way this year.   To compensate we are spending the first two nights of the journey at Tom and Anne Marie’s home

What’s the same from 2016?

We will be listening an audio book again on our journey.  This year we are gone for 15 days so we are enjoying Dubliners - 15 Short Stories by James Joyce.  (We’re hoping this is better than Gulliver’s Travels from 2016)

We are bringing the portable grill again.   Recall that Bob is a cheapskate that likes to eat out of his cooler.   You can only eat so many ham sandwiches - so a grill gives us some options.

We added a Major League baseball game (in Cleveland) to last year’s trip and this year we’re going to take in the Tigers in Detroit.

One of the best parts of the journey is staying with friends and family along the way.   For 2017 we have 7 nights guest lodging lined up with some nice people, and are looking forward to enjoying some nice hospitality.

We’ve heard from cousin Ted Merrifield (one of our genealogists) that Michael Flood was known to enjoy a drink or two.   To honour Michael we will be stopping at as many distilleries as we pass in order to collect a set of whiskeys for our after-trip whiskey tasting.