There are days when banging my head repeatedly against a wall seems to be the only thing left to do. And thanks for the offers, but I have lots of practice and can do that all by myself just fine.

Lets start at the beginning.

Family commitments have, for the last 20 years, made it impossible to have any vacation more than a 3 day weekend. Finally the stars were aligned in our favour and we seized the opportunity to head down the road for a 6 week road trip across Canada. Toronto to Alaska to Vancouver and back. Something approaching 15,000 kilometers.

It was a dark and stormy night, but the morning was clear and calm as I started the car. With a final glance at the house, we headed north. We were 5 days just getting out of Ontario. Just to give you an idea of size, there are only a couple dozen countries the world over, larger in area than the Province of Ontario. Ontario has basically one power company looking after it. There are 70 smaller utilities serving various towns, but the bulk of the province uses all the same hardware and insulators. It was very unlikely that I would see anything of interest until after we crossed the Manitoba border. Quite by chance up a steep embankment on the outskirts of Kenora, I did spot a crossarm with two old multi's on it, half buried at the base of a pole that had been upgraded some years in the past. If you have ever travelled northern Ontario, then you know there are sections of road where there is no place to pull over. If your vehicle breaks down, you block traffic. There is no where to go. That was the case here, so unless I wanted to walk back about a mile and then carry them back a mile, they were going to stay there. That could be why they are still there.

Manitoba had a few surprises. In Winnipeg we stopped at the Mulvey Flea market. It was a personal point of interest for me. Heading north from there, the first small town we drove through, and many more later on, used glass suspensions at the dead ends. Not the common 6 inch bells, oh there are a few of them, but the 7 inch flat style similar to the common 10 inch everybody is familiar with. A pole which shows 12 in use, is on the corner of Main St. and Barkman Av. in Steinbeck MB. One of the more interesting pole tops I observed during the entire trip: it has three, line cut-outs with individual bird guards over each one, 12 small flat disc suspensions, plus a three piece porcelain cleat type service drop. I took pictures.

As we drove along roads less travelled, we followed countless miles of lines that were graced with M 3XXX or 4XXX. (I can't tell from the ground, so will refer to them all as M4XXX, which I believe in the majority of places to be accurate. Mostly older brown, but there were a few white ones mixed in. Based on the colour, an off white, I believe these were the same era as the brown ones and not the more modern NGK . I took pictures.

Another feature I noticed frequently used in Manitoba, was some type of clamp instead of a tie wire for securing the conductor. From the road it looked like a pointy wizard's cap. Used on both multi's and less often on smaller power pieces. I intended to ask for one if the oportunity presented itself. I took pictures just in case. Hard to tell just what they were, I knew that when the pictures were downloaded on the computer I would have a large, clear, detailed picture. However, that would have to wait until the end of the trip.

In Alberta we passed through one town where I noticed numerous 10 inch Pilkington glass suspensions. Easy to distinguish because of their unique colour. The one and only town where I noticed them in use. I took pictures.

A short section of line, 10 poles maybe, I can't recall exactly where, and I can't come up with a better description, used M 4XXX, that looked to be made from oatmeal. Kinda yellowish and even looked like they had the texture. I was really curious to find out what they were. I risked stopping on the narrow shoulder to take a few pictures: not the best idea I had that day. Less than one mile down the highway, traffic was stopped as tourists watched a blonde colour phase black bear with cubs feeding on clover in the ditch. A few miles further on, we stopped in Dawson Creek BC. There, the Walter Wright Pioneer Museum has an assortment of insulators in one of their displays. A picture showed one in use identified as a M 4325c, that had the yellowish colour and was maybe one of the ones I'm curious about, but I will likely never know.

In the Yukon we visited a transportation museum, staffed by volunteers. I have to laugh at this. They had a display and in it was a Westinghouse overhead cable something or other cap attached to a power glass insulator. The funny part is the display was set up from the back. The person did a nice job arraigning things - from their point of view it look good. The view presented to the visitors was the back of every item.

Also in the Yukon was a place that I came across, that for at least a decade Pat Webster has had 50 insulators perched on top of a picket fence next to the sidewalk. Removed from service in the 60 -70's era. They were placed there at least 10 years ago as proofed by [id=537383905;2008 Google street view] they are all still there . Many old porcelain that were unfamiliar to me, many were early CP product. More boxes were in the barn with various multipart's. I was given an older CP as a gift and with permission I took many pictures. [id=537877654;the gift]

Newer construction used newer style hardware. I found the angle pin assemblys to be interesting, if only because I have not seen them used in Ontario. Possibly the mountain terrain where I noticed the most of them installed is a rougher life. A multi-purpose design the same bracket was used horizontally on the crossarm for side loads, or mounted vertically on the pole to angle the kingpin. I took pictures.

My favorite installation was a crossarm with three white M4XXX installed on a corner pole. Something about that much porcelain leaning in one direction gets my attention. I took pictures.

My favorite insulator picture of the entire trip was taken on an overcast day on the gravel road to Mayo, Yukon. Gray clouds provided great contrast for the 6 M3XXX. The pole had two crossarms, one in front with 3 white multiparts, the crossarm behind it had 3 brown ones. In the picture the brown ones were slightly to the side of the white ones and gave the illusion they were shadows of the white ones. This setup had everything going for it- and I came away with a truly memorable picture. One in a thousand, it was easy to imagine it on the cover of any magazine. .

Coming down the Alaska highway the line that ran beside the road used a mix of newer brown and white M3XXX on the straight with suspensions at the bends. In some places the 3 strings of suspensions were under so much side tension they were pulled almost horizontal. Really dramatic effect . Imagine hurricane force winds - that was the effect they gave. I took several pictures.

In all the days we travelled we never encountered any crews working near the road. We saw where new construction was going on in several places, new materials stockpiled on site, but no one to talk to to find out where the old materials were being taken. I envisioned a pile of thousands of old M4XXX somewhere, but it was not to be. New stuff, but I took pictures anyway.

And at no time in our travels did we discover any utility yard that was open. We did pass a big Yukon Power Co. yard early on a Sunday morning, but by nightfall we were 320 miles north.

Somewhere in our travels I remember, but appears I did not make any note of it, there are miles of baby blue RT uniparts. Not to be confused with the ever common RT white or sky-tone glazed uniparts that seem to be on every pole everywhere. I took a picture.

Back in Manitoba I stopped at a rural intersection, hwy 3 and 18, where a pole with 6 white M4XXX is currently located. The installation was interesting, a little different from what is used in Ontario with double king pins and below that dual crossarms secured together by metal plates which were used to increase the distance between the three pairs of multiparts . (2008 Google street view shows it with brown multiparts ). I took pictures.

We were all suprised when we came out of a coffee shop one morning and noticed the street sign. Google maps shows only five like it in all of North America. I guess that makes it as rare as many of the scarce insulators. Three weeks earlier we had stopped at the Mulvey Flea Market in Winnipeg - and I believe it is the only one !

Somewhere in our travels, there was one section a mile or two long that was unusual because the crossarm braces were attached above the crossarm. I have seen that a few times before in Ontario, but only for a single pole. I took a picture.

It did not take long for the camera to run out of memory. Every evening I would go through the pictures, deleting a few so that the camera had room for new ones the next day. Our last night in Manitoba I had looked at all the pictures - reduced to 100 or so of the best ones taken on the trip, and was very pleased. I was looking forward to posting pictures all winter, explaining some, asking questions about more than a few.

Back in Ontario there was nothing insulator related to take pictures of. My wife continued to take the 'trip' pictures with her camera. Once home I could not find my camera. Not expensive and not a real loss, but sadly I have no pictures. Fail. Last place I remember having it was at the Provincial park just a few miles outside of Ontario where we had stopped for the night. It was a busy night at the campground, every site was full. Did I leave it or did someone leave with it during an unguarded moment? I'll never know.

All is not lost; I have some notes to follow. I proceed to Google street view to find the same locations. In itself, this experience is interesting. Almost all the locations are dated 2008-9, a decade ago. Things have changed. Some of the lines I photographed did not exist then. Others have been upgraded since. Others were on roads less travelled and there is no street view available - my favorite picture was taken on one of those roads. And the few poles I can find pictures of are of poor quality - not a complaint as any picture is better than none, but the details just aren't there.

bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,

It was a great trip. My wife has her trip pictures. [id=546082913;next episode]