I was finished breakfast by 7:30. I
went outside and hung around for a while. I tried to call home but while I had
access to cell coverage, I could not get access to my cell phone provider.
Finally by around 8:00 I got bored and so I decided to walk down to where George
had parked his truck. I thought that perhaps I would buy his morning coffee. I
was about 2/3 of the way down the access road to the Husky lot when I saw
George drive by. I waved but he did not see me. I stood there watching him
drive away. I looked at my watch. It was exactly 8:15. George had used his cell
phone to see what time it was....I was still on Calgary time. My watch was an
hour behind his phone. When we had talked last night I had assumed that he was
going to stay on Alberta time - most truckers, because they need to keep their
logs straight keep their watches on one time so that they can keep their hours
straight. Obviously George’s cell phone had updated the time. If I had stayed
where I was rather than walk up, I would have been fine .
I was so pissed off at me. It was not
George's fault (although I do wish he had stopped and waited for me, just in
case I was still having breakfast) it was clearly my fault. I had gotten bored
and had made a bad decision. I had never even thought about the possibility
that George would switch time. I walked (perhaps stomped would have been a
better word) out to the highway. It felt as if I had wasted the last few hours.
I could have been on the road by 7:00, but instead I had spent my time just
hanging around. All of those trucks and cars that had zoomed by me were
potentially drives. What a waste!!
I stood there for a long time. I am
quite sure that the waves of self disgust and inwardly directed anger were visibly
radiating out from my head. It was not surprising that people did not want to
stop to pick me up. I am not too sure if I would have picked me up. It was not until
after 12:00 that a car stopped. A young lady lowered the passenger window and
said to me that she was not going anywhere but she had some money for me. What
a sweet young lady. She looked a bit afraid of me but she had the decency to
stop and offer help. I think she was more than a bit surprised when I thanked
her and told her that I was travelling this way 'caused I liked it not because
I was broke. While there was part of me that wished she had offered me a ride,
I was very grateful for her stopping. She indirectly had reminded me that that
I was doing this because I enjoyed the adventure. It was time for me to stop
being angry at myself. I had made an error in judgment. It was not the end of
the world. I was able to relax and enjoy the day although for the next 20 or so
hours I was still pissed off at me. I should have stayed near George’s truck
that night. The accommodations were not as nice but I had blown a ride just
because I wanted to sleep in a certain spot. Dumb.
Finally a vehicle did stop. My new
driver was going to the other side of Winnipeg and was happy to drive me as far
as he could. However it turned out that he wanted to do some sightseeing along
the way. I think in fact he might not have liked the big highway and was
content to go the back road way. Who knew there was a back way? We drove along
the old Trans Canada, stopping to visit the old Camp Hughes cemetery for
families at near Camp Shilo, and we went through a number of little towns that
were attractive and well maintained. We also went through an outlying part of
Winnipeg that had huge homes on a golf course. What was particularly remarkable
about this area was that there were three nurseries or greenhouses with half a
mile. The people clearly had lots of money for landscaping.
At
one point I mentioned to him that I never, ever went off road with a driver and
that it was strange that I had done so with him. He confessed that he had found
it rather strange too. Especially as he did not pick up hitchhikers very often
(I think I may have been his third or fourth hitchhiker in his life). And
especially as his girlfriend told him not to ever do it
My driver was 69. He had lost his wife to cancer a little while ago and had had some
difficulty managing the day to day routines. He had never cooked or done
laundry before her death!!! He was not embarrassed by this lack of experience but
rather proud of himself for having learn how to do these mundane tasks of
everyday life. He was now dating a woman
that he had meet through an internet dating site. We talked for a while about
the difficulties of meeting women of a certain age. He seemed well content with
his life and looking forward to his weekend in Winnipeg.
It was a quiet relaxing ride. I was
anxious to get going. I was dreading trying to hitch along the ring road. My
sense was that it was going to be very busy and therefore getting a ride would
be a challenge. I had had mixed success on this stretch of the road and I
wondered if my luck had changed. I was also second guessing myself about not
taking the train although I knew I would have missed it because of the morning’s
missed ride. My driver drove me a bit
further than he needed to and let me out at a stoplight about 2/3 of the way
around the ring road. I was right… it was very busy and it was hot. It had
already been a long day and now it was well after 3:00.
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