Thursday, July 26, 2012
On the Road Again 2012 #12
I went looking for the cheapest looking motel and I found it. It was of an old "pan-a-bode" ( pre-fab log building) design that had clearly had seen better days. It was dwarfed by the more modern looking and larger motels around it. But the name got my attention..... "Sweet Dreams Motel". Who could resist staying in a place that had such a charming name?
It was almost 9:30 and in spite of the fact that the sign said that the office was open until 11:00 there was no immediate response to the door bell. In fact I was about to turn away when I saw, through the office door window an older women wrapped in a bathrobe approaching the door. For a moment I thought that perhaps the building had been turned into a residence and I had awoken a permanent resident. I apologize for disturbing her but her response was somewhat reassuring " Its O.K., that is what I am here for.
There were still some rooms available for $66.00 (tax included) a night. I was delighted by the price. She was not very empathetic about my slow rate of travel. When I mentioned that I was hitchhiking to Yellowknife she suggested that I was either travelling in the wrong direction or at the wrong time as many northerners were be heading towards urban areas (south) for the long weekend. But she had a friendly smile and it was fun to trade quips with here. I don't think she knew how to give a straight answer. When she gave me my room key, I asked her where it was. She just said "go out the door and follow the number until you find it"! She was fun. When I had mentioned that I had decided to stay for the night in part because of the storm that was approaching - she said " it has been threatening to rain for days, it won't rain tonight" She was right.
The building looked run down. What ever colour the milled, fabricated
logs had been - they were now a dirty brown. There was at least one
vehicle that I saw that looked abandoned. Its back end was jacked up
and the tires and rims were off. It had last year's plates on it. Inside it was equally as interesting. Rather dark and while everything was clean, it all certainly looked like it had been used before.But the bathroom was fine (if noisy as the family next door could be heard quite clearly), either of the two beds were comfortable and the curtains were double lined so that very light could get through them.
I put on my sandals and went to find a restaurant. There was attached to the hotel next door and as it looked almost empty I was worried that I would missed another meal. But the young waitress was friendly and welcoming. The menu was less so. The only thing on it that I could eat was a stir fry with no meat. That may sound awkward or poorly phrased but I had order a stir fry with no meat. It was surprisingly good.
I went for a brief walk after supper and then went to bed. Tired for no particular reason, but tired none-the-less
It was almost 9:30 and in spite of the fact that the sign said that the office was open until 11:00 there was no immediate response to the door bell. In fact I was about to turn away when I saw, through the office door window an older women wrapped in a bathrobe approaching the door. For a moment I thought that perhaps the building had been turned into a residence and I had awoken a permanent resident. I apologize for disturbing her but her response was somewhat reassuring " Its O.K., that is what I am here for.
There were still some rooms available for $66.00 (tax included) a night. I was delighted by the price. She was not very empathetic about my slow rate of travel. When I mentioned that I was hitchhiking to Yellowknife she suggested that I was either travelling in the wrong direction or at the wrong time as many northerners were be heading towards urban areas (south) for the long weekend. But she had a friendly smile and it was fun to trade quips with here. I don't think she knew how to give a straight answer. When she gave me my room key, I asked her where it was. She just said "go out the door and follow the number until you find it"! She was fun. When I had mentioned that I had decided to stay for the night in part because of the storm that was approaching - she said " it has been threatening to rain for days, it won't rain tonight" She was right.
I put on my sandals and went to find a restaurant. There was attached to the hotel next door and as it looked almost empty I was worried that I would missed another meal. But the young waitress was friendly and welcoming. The menu was less so. The only thing on it that I could eat was a stir fry with no meat. That may sound awkward or poorly phrased but I had order a stir fry with no meat. It was surprisingly good.
I went for a brief walk after supper and then went to bed. Tired for no particular reason, but tired none-the-less
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
On the Road Again 2012 #11
According to Wikipedia High Level is about 450 kilometers north of Edmonton
and 725 km south of Yellowknife. I certainly had not travelled very far
in the two days since leaving Susan outside of Edmonton. High Level
appeared to have a high percentage of First Nations residents or at least it felt as if First Nations individuals were driving the majority of cars and trucks that passed me. The other thing that I noticed was that in High Level there seemed to be an inordinate number of motels/hotels. If my memory is right, there were at least ten of them. Some of them were fairly big and belonged to national chains. Others were quite clearly local only operations. I wasn't planning on staying in this town but it was good to know that there were options. So many motels suggested that there was some sort of oil exploration going on or that this was one hell of a tourist hot spot.
The spot I chose to stand at the edge of High Level looked to be a lovely spot. Nice wide shoulder, cars still going slow, and great sight lines. Folks if they wanted to do, could have seen me from almost the other edge of town. High Level did not appear to be a large town but then one can never tell what houses or streets lie just behind the highway. For all I knew there could have been a medium size city just west of the town. There was certainly a lot of traffic around me. Just to my left there was a large Best Western Hotel that had a swimming pool. The pool was open to the public. There were streams of cars and trucks full of kids driving into the parking lot for a swim while young teenagers casually strolled across the highway heading towards the pool. All but the youngest children ignored me, most almost making a point of looking the other way. The young ones just pointed at me and asked their mothers questions. I don't know what they were told but I am quite sure that at least some of the adults had not seen a hitchhiker very often.
It was now close to 9:00 pm and the sun was still visible. However it was so low in the sky that my broad brimmed hat no longer provided much protection. Consequently my nose got rather badly burnt and so did the side of my neck just under my ears. While it was not the first time that my nose got burnt I can't remember ever having a sunburn on that part of my neck.
After being at that spot for some time I noticed a reasonably large dirt bike roaring out of an ally on the other side of the road, then tearing across the highway 20 feet north of me and finally disappearing into the woods. Seconds later a four wheel drive police truck tore out of the same alley and chased after the motorcyclist. I was never sure if the police caught the guy or not but twenty minutes a tow truck came and carted of the guy's bike. While the whole incident was somewhat interesting to watch it did cause me some concern as I thought about having to sleep out that night. Right where the motorbike turned into the woods was where I sort of had thought about sleeping for the night. The other thing that I noticed was a conservation authority truck driving around with looked like a bison (buffalo) head in it. I would have liked to have had a closer look at it and even more I would have loved to talk to the female conservation officer as to why the head was in the back of her truck.
Off the the south west the sky was black with clouds. I could see where, in the distance, there was a torrential downpour . Then the thunder and lightening started. Again it was fairly far away, but the wind was blowing the clouds towards me. I decided to call it a night and to look for a cheap motel. In spite of only travelling about 200-250 kilometers that day but it looked like I was done for the day. The oncoming rain, the bears and a potential police investigation were all factors in me deciding to find a bed for the night. I also had not eaten a real meal since the grilled cheese and fries in North Battleford two days before and thought perhaps I should.
The spot I chose to stand at the edge of High Level looked to be a lovely spot. Nice wide shoulder, cars still going slow, and great sight lines. Folks if they wanted to do, could have seen me from almost the other edge of town. High Level did not appear to be a large town but then one can never tell what houses or streets lie just behind the highway. For all I knew there could have been a medium size city just west of the town. There was certainly a lot of traffic around me. Just to my left there was a large Best Western Hotel that had a swimming pool. The pool was open to the public. There were streams of cars and trucks full of kids driving into the parking lot for a swim while young teenagers casually strolled across the highway heading towards the pool. All but the youngest children ignored me, most almost making a point of looking the other way. The young ones just pointed at me and asked their mothers questions. I don't know what they were told but I am quite sure that at least some of the adults had not seen a hitchhiker very often.
It was now close to 9:00 pm and the sun was still visible. However it was so low in the sky that my broad brimmed hat no longer provided much protection. Consequently my nose got rather badly burnt and so did the side of my neck just under my ears. While it was not the first time that my nose got burnt I can't remember ever having a sunburn on that part of my neck.
After being at that spot for some time I noticed a reasonably large dirt bike roaring out of an ally on the other side of the road, then tearing across the highway 20 feet north of me and finally disappearing into the woods. Seconds later a four wheel drive police truck tore out of the same alley and chased after the motorcyclist. I was never sure if the police caught the guy or not but twenty minutes a tow truck came and carted of the guy's bike. While the whole incident was somewhat interesting to watch it did cause me some concern as I thought about having to sleep out that night. Right where the motorbike turned into the woods was where I sort of had thought about sleeping for the night. The other thing that I noticed was a conservation authority truck driving around with looked like a bison (buffalo) head in it. I would have liked to have had a closer look at it and even more I would have loved to talk to the female conservation officer as to why the head was in the back of her truck.
Off the the south west the sky was black with clouds. I could see where, in the distance, there was a torrential downpour . Then the thunder and lightening started. Again it was fairly far away, but the wind was blowing the clouds towards me. I decided to call it a night and to look for a cheap motel. In spite of only travelling about 200-250 kilometers that day but it looked like I was done for the day. The oncoming rain, the bears and a potential police investigation were all factors in me deciding to find a bed for the night. I also had not eaten a real meal since the grilled cheese and fries in North Battleford two days before and thought perhaps I should.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
On the Road Again 2012 # 10
There were times this trip I thought about calling the trip "death by a 1,000 rides" (as opposed to On the Road Again"). I really do love meeting people but there are times, especially after a number of short rides that leave me in the middle of nowhere that all I want is one decent long ride.
As I stood on this lonely stretch of highway some north on Manning, I started to count the number of cars that would pass me in a specific length of time. As a car passed me that could have offered me a drive ( I didn't count corporate or transport trucks) I would transfer a pebble from one pocket to another. After all the stones were transferred I, based on the number of cars that passed me in ten minutes, calculated the number of cars an hour that were passing me. There were times that it appeared that only 15-20 cars an hour were going by. Some of the occupants of these cars waved, others vehicles moved to the other side of the road (out of politeness or fear I am not sure), and some occasionally slowed down so they could get a better look, not to offer me a ride but rather as if I was some curiosity to marvel over. Once a pickup going the other direction stopped, a young man rolled down the window and just stared at me for 30 seconds. I guess they don't see many hitchhikers in this part of Alberta. By my guess, after exhaustive investigation, it appeared that I need a traffic volume of approximately 50 cars an hour to get a ride fairly quickly. That was not going to happen on this road.
However eventually a large pick-up truck did stop. I threw my pack in the back seat - I didn't care where he was going. As I got in, the driver who looked to be around my age, asked if I had a gun or a knife. As I was already in the seat, it seemed like a slightly irrelevant question. But I answered it anyways.
Jake was just off to High Level. I of course was not too sure how far away it was but I had to assume that any town would give me access to more vehicles than where I had been for the past few hours. It turned out to be about 150 kilometers. Not the great long drive that I had been hoping for but it was the longest drive of the day. If the drivers (however few they might have been) were not so nice I would have gotten really discouraged. But they were nice. They all had lots to talk about and while the rides were short - that was not their fault - they generously drove me as far as they were going.
Jake amongst other things was a hunter. He said he only hunted for food for his family. I think he liked and appreciated animals. For example we saw a few black bears along the side of the road and he stopped so that he (and I) could enjoy the sight of a two year old bear eating and playing in the grass. We also talked about rules and why some people follow them. The example he used was hunting from his truck. (apparently you can be standing beside your car and shoot or you can, from a stand up a tree, shoot at a bear that has been trained to eat garbage out of a steel drum, but you can't shoot an animal from a truck?). His point was, if you do it and no one sees you do it, what moral law has been broken? Who has been hurt? Clearly, except for the animal no one has and the animal would have been shot anyway. I suspect he had done it more than once. Hunting was not a sport to him - it was shopping for the winter's meat.
We also talked about kids and their expectations. His young adult daughter wanted him to co-sign a car loan. He was prepared to do that but he thought she should probably not buy a brand new car and that she should get a job first. It was hard to argue with him.
Jake let me out at the southern end of High Level at a place that he said trucks stopped. It was a small gas station and I decided to walk to other end of town (which was only a ten minute walk). It was only around 6:00 so I knew I had lots of time left to get a ride further north. I knew the sun was not going to set anytime soon.
As I stood on this lonely stretch of highway some north on Manning, I started to count the number of cars that would pass me in a specific length of time. As a car passed me that could have offered me a drive ( I didn't count corporate or transport trucks) I would transfer a pebble from one pocket to another. After all the stones were transferred I, based on the number of cars that passed me in ten minutes, calculated the number of cars an hour that were passing me. There were times that it appeared that only 15-20 cars an hour were going by. Some of the occupants of these cars waved, others vehicles moved to the other side of the road (out of politeness or fear I am not sure), and some occasionally slowed down so they could get a better look, not to offer me a ride but rather as if I was some curiosity to marvel over. Once a pickup going the other direction stopped, a young man rolled down the window and just stared at me for 30 seconds. I guess they don't see many hitchhikers in this part of Alberta. By my guess, after exhaustive investigation, it appeared that I need a traffic volume of approximately 50 cars an hour to get a ride fairly quickly. That was not going to happen on this road.
However eventually a large pick-up truck did stop. I threw my pack in the back seat - I didn't care where he was going. As I got in, the driver who looked to be around my age, asked if I had a gun or a knife. As I was already in the seat, it seemed like a slightly irrelevant question. But I answered it anyways.
Jake was just off to High Level. I of course was not too sure how far away it was but I had to assume that any town would give me access to more vehicles than where I had been for the past few hours. It turned out to be about 150 kilometers. Not the great long drive that I had been hoping for but it was the longest drive of the day. If the drivers (however few they might have been) were not so nice I would have gotten really discouraged. But they were nice. They all had lots to talk about and while the rides were short - that was not their fault - they generously drove me as far as they were going.
Jake amongst other things was a hunter. He said he only hunted for food for his family. I think he liked and appreciated animals. For example we saw a few black bears along the side of the road and he stopped so that he (and I) could enjoy the sight of a two year old bear eating and playing in the grass. We also talked about rules and why some people follow them. The example he used was hunting from his truck. (apparently you can be standing beside your car and shoot or you can, from a stand up a tree, shoot at a bear that has been trained to eat garbage out of a steel drum, but you can't shoot an animal from a truck?). His point was, if you do it and no one sees you do it, what moral law has been broken? Who has been hurt? Clearly, except for the animal no one has and the animal would have been shot anyway. I suspect he had done it more than once. Hunting was not a sport to him - it was shopping for the winter's meat.
We also talked about kids and their expectations. His young adult daughter wanted him to co-sign a car loan. He was prepared to do that but he thought she should probably not buy a brand new car and that she should get a job first. It was hard to argue with him.
Jake let me out at the southern end of High Level at a place that he said trucks stopped. It was a small gas station and I decided to walk to other end of town (which was only a ten minute walk). It was only around 6:00 so I knew I had lots of time left to get a ride further north. I knew the sun was not going to set anytime soon.
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