On the Road Again 2013 # 27

I am now back in my apartment. I am obviously somewhat behind in my blog postings..... I will continue to discuss my trip in sequential order.

The day was hot, the shoulders were wide, there was just the right amount of traffic going my way and there was a place to get more water if I started to run out. With the exception of having to wait for well over an hour for a ride - it was just about perfect. In fact I didn't mind standing there. I was happy. So far it had been a good day.

At some point my eyes drifted across the highway and I noticed that there was a pop machine outside a souvenir shop. I almost never drink pop and I think I can count on two fingers the number of times  in the last ten years that I have bought a pop while hitchhiking. However once I thought about it for a minute - I could not get it out of my mind. I just kept on thinking how good something really cold to drink would taste. So I ran across the highway and bought a Canada Dry. While I was taking the first sips (actually it was more of a "glug") a mid-thirty year old old who had arrived on a motor bike started to give me a lecture about how I should wear white as opposed to dark clothing. While I agreed with his logic that a light colour would perhaps be cooler, white shows the dirt too easily. He was not interested in having a conversation - he just wanted to get his point across. So I thanked him for his advice and dashed back across the highway.

The ginger ale was not nearly as good as I imagined it would be. It was fine - but it tasted far too sweet. So I stuffed it into my pack's side pocket and settled down to wait for my next ride.  Not longer after a car driven by an older man stopped and offered me a ride to Dryden. I had not looked at a map but I thought that Dryden was a few hours down the road so I was quite delighted with a nice ride. In fact Dryden was less than an hour down the road.

My driver worked in a provincial park and he also ran with his family a lawn cutting business. So we talked about that. I think he had started the company when his sons were young so that they could have summer jobs His sons were now young adults and it seemed as if the company had continued to grow. In fact given the amount of machinery he had and the number of contracts, it seemed as if it was almost too big. He was on his way to check on one job and then to get another started. This all after a full day of work at the park. I do admire people who have that much energy. I have no desire to be like them, but I do admire them.

Unfortunately my driver had little understanding of being really helpful to hitchhikers and let me out quite close to the western end of Dryden. It is a long, boring and tiring walk to the other end of town. However, I had no choice so I got through it as quickly as I could. Just outside of Dryden heading east at the top of a hill there is quite a nice spot to stand. The sight lines are good, the shoulders in this part of Ontario are excellent and if I didn't get a ride to Thunder Bay that night, across the highway there is a little park with washrooms that looked to have some good sleeping spots. I had not been at this spot very long when a pick-up truck stopped and the guy offered me a newly purchased McDonald's hamburger along with some fries and a large pop. The driver had seen me walking through town and had gone and bought me a meal!! I didn't know what to do. I finally had to tell him that while I really really appreciate his gesture, I didn't need it. The concept of someone not eating meat seemed to be outside of his experience. In hindsight, I should have taken it - just because he clearly was a very caring guy and one needs to encourage folks like that.

A little while a almost brand new, mid-sized car pulled up and offered me a ride. We got my pack stuffed into the trunk and away we went. The car was from New Brunswick so after saying thank you, I asked my driver what part of the province he was from. He said that I wouldn't know it. I answered back that I might as I had spent two years going to UNB. He slowed the car down reached out to shake my hand and said that he had three degrees from UNB!! I knew we would have lots to talk about.