On the Road Again (finally) part #2

I had been let off at this corner before. The highway north (#16) heads towards Saskatoon and Edmonton. I had had some good luck at this corner as there are stop lights so at least cars have to slow down some of the time. But there seemed to be fewer cars. I kept on looking over at highway 16 wondering if I should head north and miss the mess at Maple Creek. In fact I did walk over to that side of the intersection and show my sign for a few minutes. But there seemed to be even fewer cars going that way so I walked back to the first spot again feeling a bit unprofessional about my indecision. One car did stop but they needed directions. Speaking of the blind leading the blind....

In terms of other trips, this time I did not have to wait long for my next driver whose name was Harvey.What was immediately surprising about him was that he was driving a Volkswagen. I can probably count on one hand (actually probably two fingers) the number of  Volkswagens that have stopped for me in the past 8-9 years. Harvey was about my age and heading off to his hotel/restaurant that he owned just north of Brandon. Interesting man, great conversationalist. Asked good leading questions about who I was and what I did. Perhaps even better, he gave nice long answers to my questions. It was an good drive and certainly one of those types of drives that could have lasted much longer.

He, much like me, had planned his life out using a process (as a friend of mine once described) called serendipity planning.That is you go with the flow and take the opportunities that are presented to you. He had always worked in the food industry, had cooked for well drillers and geologists, had owned a number of restaurants and seemed to enjoy the process of creating something. His present restaurant seemed to be well on its way and he was thinking that he would be selling it soon. One of the signs of success was that he had hosted a couple of birthday parties for women in their 90s. He liked the idea of being able to run a place that the locals could go to for a good time on Friday night and still be a place that could have birthday parties on Saturday afternoon.

During our conversation we of course talked about parenting, the drinking and drugs that seemed to be part of the lifestyle of those who drill for oil, and the great advantages of being comfortable with who were are.

We arrived at Brandon about 3:45. It was windy and partially cloudy. Harvey went south into Brandon to buy some supplies - I went and stood on the corner just west of the lights. I did so with some trepidation as last year I had been at this same corner for what felt like a long time. It had worked out well in the long run, but it is not a nice corner. The trucks seem to generate all kinds of dust, the traffic flow is confusing and either it feels as if there are no cars going by at all, or there are so many that none have the opportunity to stop. While there is a Husky and a Tim Hortons to buy water, the intersection is not made for pedestrians and it always feels dangerous to cross.