On the Road Again (finally)# 8

Being on a ramp to the Cocahala highway is not the greatest place to be. Cars are already going by far too fast and the shoulder is far too small for it to feel safe for most cars to stop. There is no shade, and on this date it was far to hot. (although I have been in this area when it has been far hotter) There is not a store for miles and without the extra bottles of water that my truck driving friend had given to me, I might have been worried. But the luxury of having extra water meant that I could hydrate myself at will.

There was an osprey nest just off to the side. I don't think that they were very happy with me standing there - or at least both the male and the female were rather noisy every time I moved. I didn't want to disturb them but there was nowhere else to stand. I did try to walk a bit further towards the highway so that I could perhaps catch more traffic but the shoulder got smaller and smaller, and the cars just seem to go even faster. I like driving in fast cars but they are less fun when I am standing on the side of the road. As I was walking back to the best stop I stumbled backwards on the curb and feel backwards, away from the road. I felt like a turtle flipped over with no way to get up. I wasn't at all hurt - just embarrassed at laying there with my pack on my back - legs in the air. One would think that I would have got a ride just for the moment of laughter that I gave some driver!

However I did get up, and not too shortly afterwards I got a ride. It was in a somewhat beaten up Toyota four wheel drive with a canoe on top. The driver who was a small wiry guy named Adonis. At one point in our hour or so drive he said that he was a Gurkha. He could have been.

Adonis was a mushroom picker and a tree planter. He travelled though parts of BC sometimes earning his living and other times living off the land. He traveled with his three dogs and a pile of stuff in the vehicle. There was not a lot of room for me or my pack but as always - a ride is a ride. He told me that he had just got his truck back - one of the wheels had fallen off as he had been driving along this highway. Not exactly inspiring !! I some how have always assumed that wheels just don't fall of cars - but I guess I was wrong. The sway bar had also broken and every once in a while, depending on the wind blowing across the highway, the truck started to sway violently. Almost to the point of feeling ( I hope it was only a feeling) that the truck was about to flip over.As soon as he slowed down, the swaying stopped until the next gust of wind. I am now virtually positive that I am not inclined to motion sickness in cars.

It could have been an interesting ride - We could have had/should have had a lot to talk about. But Adonis  was more interested in talking about himself and his life, and on occasion,  lecturing me. For example at one point I mentioned my cell phone and the fact that I had one because my daughter and mother on occasion expressed some concern about me being lost somewhere in Canada. Most folks who hear this story - or the earlier versions of me having to call in every couple of days, usually say something like - "isn't nice that she cares that much about you". Adonis instead suggested that my daughter should accept the inevitability of death and get use to it!! Strange perspective.

However he did have a kilt that he wore in the bush. So we were at least able to compare the pluses of wearing one. He showed me his - I was somewhat cramped and didn't get the chance to look at it. Pity - I have never actually looked at one.  Probably could have leant something from looking how it was made.

I was given a number of choices where to get off. I choose to get off on the entrance ramp leading from Mission.. Right in the middle of cowboy country ( last time I was in Mission - actually saw a man wearing spurs in a store). Didn't feel like I was in a good spot - It was 5:15 - I had had two great rides and if there had been a place to stop for a meal and to sleep-  I would have called it a day.