On the Road Again 2015 #18

I have stood at the Darcy turnoff a number of times. This spot has always been interesting in that there are usually lots of hitchhikers looking for rides. Virtually all of them have been local residents of the First Nation community. They get rides easily, I usually have to spend a number of hours standing there before I get picked up. It is also a place where in the past I have seen bears, had to sleep out in a field and at least on one occasion decided to walk a long distance. The shoulder, except at the turn does not exist. There is nowhere else for miles for a car to stop safely.

Just before I got out of my previous ride, I had noticed (something I had never seen before although I am sure it has always been there) a motel and a restaurant just before the turnoff. While it was not nearly late enough to consider stopping for the night, I decided that if I couldn't get a ride - that was where I was staying. I was too wet and cold to sleep outside. I had initially planned on walking along the road until, a few miles down it, there was another hitchhiking spot. Two years I had got picked up there and so I thought I would try it again. But it was raining, the narrow verge on the side of the road had puddles on it, my feet were getting wetter and wetter. Every time a car passed me, I was reminded that I really needed to be on the other side of the road, walking facing the oncoming traffic. I decided to walk back to the corner.

The good news was that there was a bus shelter for me to stand under. It blocked a bit of the wind and at least I was no longer standing in the rain. I kept a careful watch out for cars turning. I needed to get of the shelter quickly so that I did not shock anyone by just popping out of nowhere. The corner was not as busy as usual. I suspect the local folks had more brains than me and had decided that that day was not a good day to travel. An older woman and a younger man walked by. We chatted for a few minutes and then kept on going to hitch a bit further down. I suggested that they stay in the shelter with me - they said "no - they were use to the rain". Before she left the woman offered me a peach from a bag she was carrying. It was not the best peach I had ever tasted but it was pretty damn good.

 Finally after being there for almost two hours a car stopped. He was going almost to Cache Creek. It was not the long ride that I had been hoping for but it was a pretty good start. One of the first things my driver told me as we (actually just me) were complaining about the weather was that by the time I got out, we would be in the desert and a lot warmer. He was right about the temperature and the lessening of rain.

 

I learn at least one thing from all of my drivers. Everyone I meet has a point of view or a particular bit of knowledge that either fascinates me or adds to my repertoire of knowledge. I am frequently surprised when, as part of a conversation with someone, a fact learnt on some lonely highway pops into the conversation - adding a critical piece to the dialogue. I take some pride in the fact that, while my basic values have remained unchanged, I look at least at some aspects of life from a different perspective because of my drivers. This is no more true than my next driver.

He was a forester by profession, which meant that he did a fair amount of traveling as he helped determine which forest were ready to be clear cut. He was a defender of cutting down forests. He believed that if the forest is managed properly, that within ten years of being cut, things are back to normal again. He was also a father of three young girls, two of whom were in school - enrolled in French immersion. He and his wife had taken the girls on a trip to Quebec this summer so that they would realize that French was a living language - not just something that they studied in school. As interesting as all of that was - what grabbed my attention was that he had meet his Russian bride on-line.

Immediately my mind flashed to lurid tales of mail order brides, of men agreeing to marrying someone they have never met because they were so desperate, and of the brides leaving them as soon as they had citizenship. Although I didn't say any of that, I think my driver was use to all of those reactions. But as we talked about it and the amount of dialogue they had before she immigrated, it started to make sense. As my driver said - many Canadian couples meet in a bar or somewhere similar, like each other, go to bed and eventually marry while their hormones are still raging. There has been little time for that couple to get to know each other, to explore values and beliefs without the sex getting in the way. He argued that because they wrote and talked for so long (I think it was for months) before they met, they had had the time to get to know each other before the temptations of sex influenced their feelings. He argued that his marriage was on a much firmer base than most. The conversation naturally flowed into arranged marriages and internet dating in general. I am not too sure if I would ever have considered marrying someone from another country that I meet on the internet...... but I certainly have changed my mind on whether or not it is a viable option.

Towards the end, he started to ask some strange questions about conspiracy theories. I think he believed in some of them and was perhaps disappointed that I didn't. He had left the questions until we were almost at the point where he was turning off and I would be getting out. I don't know if that was intentional or not.

He let me out about eight miles from Cache Creek and the road to Kamloops. Just before he drove away, he offered me an apple. Again not the best apple I have ever eaten, but I appreciated the gesture. It felt somehow as this simple gift was in some small way, recognition that it had been as good of a drive for him as it had been for me.

I was substantially drier than I had been when I got into the car, and the air was warmer. It was cloudy but not raining. The wind however had picked up and the dry sand beat against my face.