Peter was just going to Kanaskis (sp)- which is not that far but it was a good start. He was from the Newfoundland- but he had virtually no accent. He said it came out after a few beers. He was a plumber and loving living in the area. He was a snow boarder so working in the Foothills was just an excuse to enjoy the snow.
He let me out and I assumed - in my new found optimism - that I would get a ride quickly. I was in the Rockies after all with lots of young people well immersed in the culture of picking up hitchhikers. I was wrong. I was in that spot for well over 1 1/2 hours. And it was windy. I gave up wearing my hat. The wind blew so hard that my chin strap was almost strangling me! I had on a un-done short sleeve shirt and a tee shirt underneath it on and the wind kept on trying to take the shirt of off my back. When I truck went by, I literally was almost blown over. It was not fun. In spite of the sun being out most of the time it was cold.
Finally Guy, a lawyer picked me up and drove me to Golden which far exceeded my expections. I would have been happy getting to Canmore. In fact I was sort of looking forward to stopping there at the new hostel and having the best veggie burger in Canada at a little restaurant that I had found a few years back.
But I was not complaining. We had a great conversation - again it was about politics and the lack of civic engagement of young people. Again I defend the youth. We also had a long talk about what made a good leader aand used his critia to talk a bit Canadian prime ministers. It was fun. Guy had spent his professional life being an advocate, he had protested in the late 60s and while he thought it was useful and productive he decided to grow up and do something useful. Like others who have picked me up, Guy, I think, had a need to defend his past and to prove that he had not really changed. I think it is my appearance that brings out this defensiveness. Which is strange as I have live a relatively conservative life.
Got the hostel in Golden which had lots of beds available. It is a really poorly run hostel - it is clean etc but the hosts do nothing to make one feel welcome. I think it is used mainly for winter sports and therefore they doo not really work at being the place to be in the summer. There is another hostel in Golden. Next tie I might staty there. On the other hand, this one is convenient and the beds are really great. I changed into my sandals and cross the CPR tracks to find a beer and something to eat. I felt as if I had earned it. Although in fact I had not worked hard at all.
Just after I got there, a couple drove up in a Corvette and registered. It seemed somewhat wrong that folks in a corvette would stay in a hostel. They had a private room so I did not see much of them.I would have asked for a ride except there clearly was not room for me in their two seater
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