On the Road Again 2012 #24

I have stayed at Painted Turtle in Naniamo a few times before and generally I have enjoyed it but the room that I was in this time was on the street side. It is a busy street as all the folks from the local bars used it on their way home, or at least so it seemed. There was a lot of yelling back and forth amongst friends. There were times when their voices were so loud that it sounded as if they were in my room. I was tired before I got up.

The next morming the taxi was on time, I got to the ferry in good time and the ferry got to the other side just when it should. The Greyhound which last time was almost empty, was full to standing room only but the views on the Sea to Skyway are so extraordiary that I did not mind. When I got to Whistler I checked the city bus schedule. I would have had to wait half a hour to catch the bus that would get me to the edge of town. I decided to hitch from downtown Whistler. Perhaps that decision not a good one.

I got a ride fairly quickly but it was only a short one. At the next spot, while I waited for a ride, the city bus passed where I was standing. I would have better of spending the $2.75. As well a person walked across the highway and started to hitch 15 feet in front of me. That is just bad manners. Although I must confess that the spot he chose was a better spot. After he got a ride, I took his spot.

I had to wait another twenty mintues before I got another ride. This one was equally as short to the tiny village of St Croix ( I think that is what it was called but I can't find on a map)

This village is part of a First Nation's community. There were a lot of hitchikers and they all got rides quickly from people they knew. I had to wait well over an hour and a half. While waiting for a ride, a large black bear ambled across the road. He/she paid no attention to me about 10 feet a way nor to anyone else in  the area. As it was now getting close to 4:30 I was getting a bit  worried. If I didn't get a ride by 7:30 I knew that I would have to look for a place to sleep.The fact that a bear was in the area and was apparently not particularly concerned about humans caused me some concern.  Sleeping anywhere near a bear sounded like a bad plan.

There were a fair number of cars passing me by, but I think they were mostly local traffic although it is always hard to be sure. For example one of the vehicles that passed me was a blue Toyota pick-up truck with two mountain bikes in the back. It was driven by a young woman. It seemed logical to assume that that this driver and truck were heading towards where the owner of the other bike was waiting for them. Afterall - who has two bikes in their truck?

The answer is a professional downhill mountain bike racer. The driver turned around and came back for me. The first think that Lorraine asked was " are you going to rob me or hurt me?" I of course answered no - but it is a strange question. If I did plan on doing any of those things - would I admit to it?