I noticed as I walked up the road towards the Trans-Canada
that there were a couple of folks sleeping on the grass outside the McDonald's.
I don't have a clue as to where they were trying to hitchhike from. I had been
at the only really good spot and I had not seen them. Perhaps there is another
spot that I am not aware of, but they clearly were not having any better luck
than I was. I had to wonder if the folks sleeping were the people my friend
from Switzerland had been hanging out with. If so they had been too had been scared
off by the workers from the Husky. I never knew where the older gentleman
disappeared to. I am pretty sure he didn't get a ride from a trucker, but I
will never know.
It was just after 7:00 AM. The highway leading out of town
was a zoo. If I said thousands of cars, it would sound like an exaggeration,
but it certainly felt like there was an endless stream of cars and trucks
passing me by. The wind, if anything, was worse than the previous days. There
were times as big truck passed me that I was literally almost blown off my
feet. More than once I was push by the wind to take a step or two back. There
were a number of stoplights but given the volume of traffic there was no break
in the flow.
Usually, when there is the chance to do it, large trucks and
cars pull over to the far lane when they see someone on the side of the road. I
sometimes think it is because they are afraid of me jumping out at them, but in
reality, specifically for truckers - they are trying to reduce the amount of
wind directed at the hitchhiker. I am not too sure why drivers of cars do it.
In Regina - it felt as if the exact opposite was true. Cars and trucks whenever
they had the opportunity switched lanes to the inside lane right where I was.
Maybe I was taking it too personal, but it felt as if they were trying to see
how close they could get to me. I also saw some of the craziest driving I saw
on this trip or any other. Cars were switching lanes, cutting off other cars -
all the while driving at above any reasonable speed limit. All the while
looking angry or unhappy. I have never seen so many unhappy drivers. I am also not too sure if there was something
about the weather conditions that affected everyone's turn indicators or
whether folks just didn't use them - but I didn't see, in spite of the constant
lane changes, a single indicator being used.
I was there for well over an hour. In hindsight - I should
never have bothered trying to get a ride during rush hour. I would never have
believed not believe that there were that many people heading east out of
Regina. I never did figure out where they were going to. Eventually I did get a
short drive with a very interesting older man. He was not going very far but he
promised that he would get me out past most of the local traffic and that was
just fine by me.
I mentioned to him the large number of crazy drivers that I
had noticed. He agreed with me. He suggested that it was because so many of the
people in the area were use to driving on near empty roads and highways. They
had no driving manners because for most of their driving life -they didn't need
them. He argued that one never learns to share the road when there is no one
else on the road to share it with. It was as good as explanation as any other.
When I mentioned the fact that so many of the drivers looked to be in a bad
mood, he agreed with me but had explanation. Pity.
My driver of twenty minutes was as good as his word. He got
me past all of the chaos and the mad drivers. He let me off at spot with decent
shoulders, good view lines and only a handful of cars passing by every few
minutes or so. Exactly the kind of spot that I like. I could not help but
remind myself that if I had made a different decision yesterday, I could have
been at this spot or even further along yesterday afternoon. Oh well.....
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