On the Road Again 2015 #5

The train was over four hours late getting into Winnipeg. What was most frustrating was the fact that about 30 minutes outside of Winnipeg, we had to wait for almost a hour due to "traffic congestion"! I had gotten up fairly early and was all packed and ready to go. So I sat there with my socks and shoes on, and my MP3 player and tablet put away. If I had known how long we were going to be stuck there, I would have at least listened to some music.

While I didn't knock over any old ladies in my rush to get out of the train station, anyone who looked me in the eye knew that they had better get out of my way. I think I may have been the first passenger to disembark and be out of the front door. That was certainly my goal.

The Winnipeg bus system worked as efficiently as every other time. At every bus stop in the down town core they have digital displays that tells exactly when the next bus is expected. It is a nice system. Unfortunately due to the amount of construction, the bus trip felt extra long. Of course because of the lateness of the train, any bus trip no matter how fast or how short, would have felt too long. I got out at my usual spot, walked past the used car dealership where, everytime I walk by it, I wonder what I am doing and if it would not be easier to just buy a car; crossed over the multitude of entrance and exit ramps that lead to and from the ring road and finally got to my spot. It is always a bit tricky to cross these entrances and exits. The traffic is going too fast, I run too slowly and with the pack on it is sometimes hard to turn my head around far enough to see the cars coming at me. Crossing these parts of the highway is the most dangerous part of the trip.

There are a set of lights at the entrance to the Flying J truck stop. It use to be that I got my rides around there, but gradually over the years the amount of traffic has increased and it has become harder for cars to see me, let alone stop. But I had to try. After twenty minutes of standing there with my sign, I decided to walk another quarter of a mile to just past the next set of lights in the hopes that the cars would be better spread out and therefore have a chance to see me and stop.

A word about my signs..... I carried three signs with me. One said "Calgary" on one side and "Nanaimo" on the other; the second one said "Pacific Ocean" and "Ferry", while the third had "Duncan" and "Victoria". My original thought was the first two signs would work all of the way to the West Coast. While "Calgary" seemed, as a destination, quite clear - when I was past Calgary no one ever stopped for me when I had the "Nanaimo" side showing. I had much better luck with the "Pacific Ocean" sign. If nothing else, I could see that it got people smiling as they past me by.

After being at both the spotsoutside of Winnipeg for a total of forty or so minutes, I got my first ride.