On the Road Again 2011 #40

After sleeping well, I got up early, had a shower and was on the road by 8:00. I have stood at the same spot just outside of Kamloops a number of times in the past. It is a good spot in terms of there being lots of room and just past a stop light so at least some of the cars are going slowly but it frequently has taken me awhile to get a ride out of there. It is a very busy section of the highway and frequently there have been so many cars zooming by me that none can slow down enough to stop. But then I have always been there later in the day when people are heading home. At 8:00 in the morning there was much less traffic and the drivers had lots of time to look me over. I got a ride fairly quickly.

My first driver of the day was a rodeo livestock handler. I think his job was to deliver, to the various small rodeos, the required bucking horses and bulls. His language was to say the least, colourful or perhaps more accurately bordering on obnoxiously rude and obscene. He was also quite assertive about being right about most things including the fact that I had been standing in a horrible spot and would never get a ride there. He didn’t appear interested in me saying that I had always (although somewhat slowly sometimes) gotten a ride there. I find it irritating when people tell me that I don’t know how to hitchhike. There is no such thing as doing it the wrong way. There are perhaps general tricks of getting rides such as looking presentable, making eye contact, not sitting/laying down at the side of the road with one’s thumb out etc, or having a sign, but quite frankly hitchhiking is not rocket science. Any fool, and I being a particularly good example of that, can do it. However as we were only going a bit down the road, it was not worth me debating with him about the finer arts of hitching. So I bit my tongue and waited for the ride to be over.

He let me out at a spot that he swore was a great spot. He was positive that there would be lots of trucks coming by and that one would surely stop. It was of course, a terrible spot and after fifteen minutes I walked up the road a piece until I got to a location where it felt as if drivers would be able to see me and have space to stop. I felt vindicated with my decision as within five minutes a car pulled over. They too were going just a short distance. They being a woman and her adult daughter (who was driving). The two of them were attending a rodeo near Pritchard and had just been to Kamloops for a beer run. I thought it was a bit early for a beer so I declined their offer of one as I sat in the back seat of their car. They also invited me to the rodeo and that would have been fun. I thought of doing it but I knew that I needed to get home so ten minutes later they let me out by the side of the road and turned south.

It was turning into an interesting day. I don’t particularly mind short rides as long as I don’t have to wait a long time for them. The weather was perfect, not too hot with a sunny sky with lots of clouds to keep it cool. I was feeling pretty good.

My next ride was from a couple. The driver was in her forties (I think) and her passenger looked to be at least 10 years younger than her. He was an Israeli who she had met in India. They had become friends and she had just picked him up from the Vancouver Airport. I think he was planning on staying for a while. I was never too sure of their relationship.  I am not sure if they were just friends or lovers. I didn’t think I should ask.

Originally they were just going to drive me to Salmon Arm as they were stopping there to go shopping before they went on to her home in Revelstoke. It did not take much to convince them that I would be glad to wait in the parking lot of the shopping mall. So I did. It took them about 45 minutes to get all of their stuff and then we were off. My driver had done a lot of hitchhiking both in Canada and around the world. It was a great conversation as we talked about crazy rides and strange adventures. I heard from her perhaps the best line I have ever heard about hitching. We were talking about the times that we had had to wait a long time for a ride. She then said – it is not that we have to wait a long time for a ride – it is just that we have gotten to the spot too early for our ride. What a great attitude!   

They offered to drive to the top of the hill on the east side of Revelstock. I was really happy with the offer as the hill is rather steep. But there was a lot of road construction happening so I got out about half way up the hill. Otherwise they would have been stuck in traffic for awhile.  It had been such a great day that I didn’t mind thought of walking for awhile at all. Some days it just feels good to be there - wherever there is.

On the Road Again 2011 #39

I picked the seediest of the two or three motels available on the hope and assumption that that if it looked crummy, it would be cheap. I frequently use this approach but I have no way of determining whether or not it is either an accurate or useful method of finding a cheap but comfortable bed.  On this particular rainy Monday the outside of the motel looked seedy enough, but it was not that cheap. The inside was just a touch better than adequate. There may have been cheaper motels along this strip but it was dark and I was far too tired to embark upon a comparative shopping expedition. 

I quickly got into some dry clothes, hung the damp ones over the chairs, and checked to see what else was wet. I had packed well. The only thing that was even slightly damp was my sleeping bag and that was just one on corner. Good to know that the pack’s cover could do the job. On the other hand it was a pity to have to unpack it all. I had spent so much time (with the assistance of my grandson) packing that pack carefully so that I could find what I needed quickly. Now I would have to do it all over again. Of course this time it would be faster without his help. It would also be less fun.

I was hungry. I went out and looked down the secondary road that runs parallel to the TransCanada. It looked as if there were some restaurants a mile or so away. So I walked towards those lights. They were a collecting of service stations and car dealerships. There were no restaurants. So I walked back to the motel, dug out some Mr. Noodle soup, plugged in the kettle kindly provided by the management of the motel to make a morning coffee and made some soup. For desert I had a chewy bar. Not a great meal but it did warm me up.

I flipped though the TV stations looking for something that could keep my interest. Nothing did so I went to bed early hoping that Tuesday morning would be better than Monday morning. It was.