While walking through the road construction east of Revelstoke was more pleasant than hanging around road construction in the pouring rain outside of Vancouver, it was still dangerous. Traffic patterns in construction zones are disrupted, the shoulders (a sometime rather rare resource in the mountains) disappear completely and no one thinks of looking out for someone who is walking. The drivers of ordinary cars, transport trucks, large dump trucks, back hoes and diggers are all intent on not hitting each other. The flag people are focused on making the chaos manageable for those who are driving. No one cared about me and I was left to dodge the traffic as best I could. About three quarters of the way up the hill there is a pleasant little spot that I sometimes stand at for awhile, in part because it is a likely spot for cars to stop, but mainly because I am usually out of breath by this time and I need a break. I couldn’t stop this time because there were all kinds of construction vehicles taking up the space. I jokingly said to the flag person that they were taking my spot. She somewhat harshly replied “you are not allowed to hitchhike in a construction zone, please cross the road so that you can walk facing traffic.” I complied of course, but I was not happy having to walk on the other side where the shoulder was loose gravel and steeply slanted downwards towards the ditch.
After walking for another ten or so minutes I was out of the construction zone. At the top of the hill there is one of the best spots to hitch in the Rockies. It is in the shade, there is a lot of room for cars to pull over and while the sight lines are not perfect, they are pretty good. The only thing wrong with this spot is that it is at the top of a very long hill. That means that if cars get stuck behind a slow transport truck climbing the long hill, this is the first spot since Revelstock that they are able to pass the truck. Some drivers, frustrated with the slow climb, don’t even look at me as they zip by the trucks. Trucks of course never stop here. They have just had a torturous downshifting climb up a long hill (it may be one of the longest hills heading east. To make it worse there is a stop light at the bottom of it), they have just started to shift into the higher gears and the last thing the driver wants to do is to stop. I was more surprised than usual when a trucker hauling a “B train” stopped. They never stop for anyone!
A “B train” is two trailers attached together and pulled by a regular looking transport truck. It means that the trucks can haul almost twice as much stuff as can a regular transport truck. It also means that it is almost twice as long as most trucks. I have always assumed that it would take a lot more skill to drive one of these long trucks, that the trucks are all owned by large companies (and therefore are less likely to be allowed to pick up a passenger) and that they, if they had a choice, didn’t stop for anything. I was so surprised that such a truck had stopped to offer me a ride that that I didn’t move for a minute, but when the driver tooted his horn and I grabbed my pack and ran.
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