On the Road Again (heading east) #11

I had a great night's sleep and the next morning I was up early and read to walk down the road. Just a few hundred yards east of my hotel there was a gas station/restaurant. I stopped in and had a quick breakfast amongst the tourists and the fisherman.  Across from the the restaurant was an abandoned motel with a large parking lot. This meant that there was lots of room for me to stand and watch the cars zip past me. It was a grand day. Sunny but it didn't feel like it was going to get too hot. I was sure that by the end of the day I would be in Thunder Bay. It was a long ride but I knew that I could do it. The drudgery and boredom of yesterday was gone. My optimism had returned. The sand from the construction was washed out my hair and brushed from my teeth. I was fairly sure that most of the cars that were going to past me - would be going some distance. I knew it might be awhile, but it would be a good ride when it came.

I was wrong- not that it was a bad ride - there are no bad rides if they get me a bit closer to my destination but it was not nearly as long as I would have liked. My driver was just going to Dryden which was no more than an hour and half away.He was off to see his mother and then take her to church. As we talked I learned the he had been in the army as a MP but had been out for some time. He had a son of whom he was very proud of. We spent much of our time talking about raising kids in the 21st century and what values are important. I am always surprised that in spite of all of the talk about Dads still not being as involved as they should be in their children's lives, how many of my conversations are about their children and what they do with them. It is quite extraordinary and very enjoyable. If he had not had plans with his mother, I think he would have driven me further just for the pleasure of having a conversation.

He drove me to the southern end of Dryden. I then had to walk for 10 or 15 minutes to get to a decent spot. I was there for quite awhile. Long enough at least to start looking at the motel just down the road, wondering if I was going to get a ride, or if I was going to be stuck in this town until Monday morning. But a ride eventually did come and this time it was to Thunder Bay.

My driver was in the army. His base was in New Brunswick but his wife and children lived in Manitoba ( I think - I seemed to have taken rather poor notes in this last section of travel). He had been home for a visit and now was going bac to work. He was stopping in Thunder Bay to spend a the night with a friend's mother and then they were going to continue on to New Brunswick the nest morning. This struck me as very generous to offer to drive someone he didn't know all the way to New Brunswick. The was room in the car for me but he said he wanted to ask his new travel partner how she felft with a stranger in the back seat. That made sense to me.

As he let me off on the highway, he said that he hopefully would see me the next morning. If I had been smart I would have asked for his phone number, it would have made it so much easier. Because it was not yet dark, I walked to the edge of town and tried to get a ride. That was dumb. It was dumb in part because I  had to walk 2 kilometers along a road that  I was not suppose to be on and then after standing on the side of the road for just over an hour, I had to walk back in the dark to the nearest hotel. By the time I got there and checked in, it was after 9:00 and all of the restaurants were closed.