Draft, February 10, 2024 --- 560 words      File: IrvineToToronto1999

From Irvine, California to Toronto, Canada in 3337 miles

During the night from December 1 to December 2, 1999, I got an alarm call from ADT to go and check out what was happening at the business of Burkert  Contromatic on McGaw Avenue in Irvine, California.

Even though my last day of work of December 1^st was over, I had agreed with the company President, that I would answer any alarms one more night, because I lived only a few minutes away, much closer than where he did.

When I got there responding to the alarm, I found no earth-shattering emergency. I phoned the President to give him the reassuring news. He thanked me, and the world continued.

The day of December 2^nd was the day of final packing. There was only so much that I could fit into my Saturn four door car: tent, sleeping bag, ground mat, camp cooking gear, rain gear, important documents for crossing the border back to Canada, change of clothes and shoes. The rest had to go into bankers’ boxes and be taken to my of now former company. The staff at the shipping department had generously offered to pack everything onto a pallet and add it to the next shipment of valves and sensors destined to the Toronto airport for the Canadian subsidiary. That meant having copies of detailed packing lists for duty free importations as household goods exempt from Value Added tax and duties.

 I also needed to get ready myself for a long solo drive across much of North America the next morning: road maps, camping, youth hostel and motel accommodation directories, emergency food, etc. The trip was going to take me to San Diego, Yuma, Tucson, Truth and Consequences, Santa Fe, Tucumcari, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and through the Niagara peninsula to Toronto. The road trip eventually took 3,337 miles. I allowed myself 12 days, instead of ten, because there were several sites I wanted to see along the way. Optimistically, I also aimed at driving only during the short daylight hours of December.

After more than four years, I had given my (negotiated) three months’ notice to rejoin my spouse and two younger children who had come with us to California in August 1995. They had to be back earlier, before Labor Day, to go back to school and first year college at McGill University in Montreal.

My job at Burkert had not evolved as initially described, when Irvine was going to become the NAFTA regional headquarters for Canada, the US and shortly to Include Mexico and Latin America. However, Canada was doing well and could easily be supervised from the international office in Basel, Switzerland. Mexico and Brazil, in turn, was going to set up directly from Basel. My Latin American business experience and Spanish language skills where not of as much benefit for my career development as initially anticipated, nor for Burkert. That was a major reason why I decided to hand in my resignation and return to Toronto.

The twelve-day solo trip gave me a break, without any immediate pressures. I felt like having jumped out of a plane, gently gliding safely back to earth, secure in the harness of a parachute. It was quite a relaxing feeling, as I thought I had two potential job opportunities in Toronto and a promise to be considered for some consulting work at Burkert’s Canadian subsidiary whose President had become a friend of mine.

TO BE CONTINUED