On January 30th, INS notified Sang that our petition had been denied due to a glitch with her divorce paperwork.  It turns out that they knew about this way back in Nov. but waited till Jan. to notify us. So, after a new round of picture taking and application filling out, Sang sent in our new petition the last week of Feb.

We'd decided back in Jan. that if we hadn't heard anything positive from INS soon, that we'd start planning a post-Easter visit.  When we got the news, we put travel plans into motion.

Once again, Sang flew into Detroit but rather than stop at the casino, we had another diversion.

I'd been contacted by my 13 yr old daughter, earlier in March.  While this may not seem out of the ordinary to most folks, this was at her instigation.  She and I hadn't seen each other in a long while because of her mother's intervention, contrary to the court orders from 2 years before.  While I won the case and the judge had continued the order, we had been kept apart by her mother.  This round of contact was at my daughter's initiative, and I was very excited to hear from her.

After collecting Sang at the airport, we drove over to the school my daughter attends and, after meeting the principal and showing court documents, we headed off to the same Timmy's from visit #5.

Shortly after the visit, and unknown to my daughter, Sang christened her with her nickname.  See, while Sang is 5'8", which is fairly tall for a woman, "Stretch" is 5'11" and will only be 14 in Aug. '99.  We had a fairly "light" visit, trying to not get the conversations too involved.  Yes....it DID involve a fair amount of tongue-biting on my part.

We enjoyed the time we had together and even talked about the possibility of Stretch going south with me. (Things aren't very good where she lives, but I'm leaving it up to her to make up her own mind.  I won't force anything on her.)  After taking some pictures of us in various combinations, (Sang stood on the curb in the parking lot for this one, LOL!!), we dropped Stretch off at a meeting she had, then Sang and I motored for St. Thomas.

We diverted off Hwy 401, near Blenhiem, and proceeded down Hwy 3.  My main reason for this was so that I could stop and show Sang Rondeau Provincial Park.  This is the southerly most park in Canada, next to  Point Pelee which is just down the lake.

Tho the park charges a small "day use" fee, the ranger allowed us to do a quick drive thru and walk along one of the paths.  It was just too nice a day to not stroll thru one of the last carolinian forests in Canada.

Rondeau is known for it's hordes of deer, but a couple of years ago, the authorities were forced to cull some from the herd and we didn't see any that day.  Lots of birds and even a couple of bunnies, but no deer.

Leaving the park, we continued east on Hwy 3 into St. T., entering the city past Jumbo's butt. (Please see the Christmas '97 page for details on Jumbo. LOL!)

Shortly after my Kansas Preview, we did a call-in show on London radio staion CFPL/Radio 98.  Tho' we're not "experts", that's the name of the show we were on.  This show was based on the 'net in general, with me in the studio with an executive from my ISP and Sang on a phone-link from Kansas.  The P.D. at the station's a friend of mine and as soon as he heard that Sang was coming back up, he asked if we'd do a 'return' show with both of us in the studio, about "internet love".  Being the 'showboats' we are, we agreed and were joined by the fellow that's behind AOL's Love-line website, via a phone-link.  Again, we had another fun-filled hour explaining just how something like this can happen online and the things you should watch out for. (please see our "internet safety" page).

After the show, we headed out to Eastown Pizza's main location for their "all you can eat" lunch buffet.  Mebarneyrubble joined us there and while Sang did her "eat like a bird"   impression, Barney and I did some damage to their foodstocks. LOL!!  [note from Sang:  Salad, pasta, pizza and dessert is NOT for the birds, unless Canadian birds travel in wheelbarrows instead of flying!!]

Following lunch, Sang and I zipped a little further east to Forest City Surplus.  You've never seen such a place!  There's really no rhyme nor reason to the joint.  Suffice to say that you really have to visit it in real life to get a grasp of it. They stock everything from camping gear and batteries to transistors and tools.   Their website is great and they'll ship just about anywhere, but you just have to see all the clutter, irl! LOL!

We were planning on a quiet weekend with just the two of us, but found out that one couple that had been invited to a get together on Sunday couldn't make it.  So........Dejavous and Dejavous2 drove down from Guelph for a visit on the Saturday night.  (this is the same Dejavous with the "bandana" on his head in the Christmas '97 pics.)  Brneyestoo drove over from London, and there was much conversation and merriment.
 
 

Right click any of these and choose "view" to see them full size.

Sunday, we went to a jam session hosted by my old band, The Caledonia Blues Band.  The guys finally got a chance to meet this "internet person". LOL! After more than a year, Sang finally got a chance to see me play.  She shot a video of the event and it felt really good to sit behind the tubs again. I hadn't played since a benefit in Sept. '98. Besides some blues 'standards', we rocked out my version of The Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See" and Downchild's "Flip, Flop n Fly".

We were joined by B_cat, Brneyestoo, Mebarneyrubble, lil_devil and her hubby, Hawkeye_01.  We called it a fairly early night because Sang and I had to head off for Detroit in the wee hours of the morning.

Monday morning found us making that run back to Detroit.  We were 'hoping' that this would be the last visit, but it wasn't to be.