Toronto- Tuesday, January 6, 2015

I just posted this to Facebook:

In 2015, I'll take a little trip, to fight with Andrew Jackson on the mighty Mississipp. I'll take a little bacon and I'll take a little beans and ride a bus filled with Canadians to the town of New Orleans.

Julie and I are in the hotel in Toronto now. The bus to New Orleans leaves at 7:00 AM tomorrow. I'm the only American on it, but I trust I'm not going to get too much grief from my busmates. They can say they won the war in Canada, but we win this last battle pretty decisively.

You can also be sure that our re-enactment for the 200th anniversary this weekend will be slightly more authentic then the one shown in the Johnny Horton video. No pure white uniforms with albino coonskins. No dancers. No alligators with the heads filled with cannonballs.

 It may seem a little backward to head to Toronto in order to go to New Orleans, but getting a bus with the Canadian reenactors seemed like the only realistic choice to be there for the end of the Bicentennial re-enacments of the War of 1812.  I've been to most of the big ones-- Queenston in 2012; Fort York, Fort George, the Laura Secord Walk, the Engagement at the 40, Stoney Creek, "Tall Ships Erie", Fort Niagara, and the burning of Lewiston and Buffalo in 2013; Chippawa, Lundy's Lane, Fort Erie, Mackinac, Cooks Mills and Fort McHenry (the Star Spangled Banner) in 2014.  This weekend is going to be the finale of the 200th anniversary and I really want to be there if it's at all possible.

In order to put money down for the bus trip, I played it safe and got the personal days approved by my principal last spring.  I've been looking forward to it ever since.  Well, I'm not looking forward to the busride itself-- about 26 hours in a crowded bus where it's pretty much guaranteed that I won't sleep well.  But once in New Orleans, this should be a weekend to remember.