In other years, Winnipeg has been a bit of watershed place
for me. Not only is it where I start off when heading west, but geographically,
at least in my mind, it is the place where I transition from the west to the
east. It is also a city that has caused me significant problems getting
through it. More often than not I have been lucky and I have got a ride right
around Winnipeg and have not had to deal with the complexities of getting to the
other side. Other times I have stayed either in the city at a hostel or slept
outside at the Flying J and then travelled through the city the next day. The
problem with passing through the city is that while the bus system is great for
getting to the west end of the city and the Trans-Canada, it is terrible on the
east side. The bus gets one fairly close to the ring road (which technically is
the Trans-Canada), but it is nowhere near where highway turns east to Kenora.
Until one gets to that point, 90% of the traffic is all local and it is
difficult to get a ride. The walk is noisy and dirty. There are long stretches
over overpasses etc. where it is impossible to hitchhike. It may be my least
favourite hike of the whole trip.
It was far too early to stop traveling for the day. However
if I spent time taking the bus through the city, by the time I got to the other
side, I would have wasted most of the daylight. I was also starting to feel
some time pressure as I had medical/dental appointments coming up and I was
still a long way from home. I decided to gamble and try to hitch from the
corner of the road leaving the Flying J and the Trans-Canada. The set of
traffic lights would, I hoped, slow down some of the traffic; trucks and cars
leaving the Flying J would have ample opportunity to see me and I was only
fifty feet away from the ramp onto the ring road. Anyone turning on to it would
be in the lane closes to me. It was hot, humid and busy. There were a number of
different traffic flows that were created depending upon whether or not
vehicles were turning or going straight. It took me a while to understand the
pattern of traffic light changes as the traffic light changes were connected to
oncoming traffic, but after twenty or so minutes I had mastered it. It felt as
if I there were lots of rides potentially available at least in part because I
was getting quite a few passengers waving at me, smiling and pointing. While I
would have preferred them to stop and offer me a ride, at least it felt as if
they were cheering for me. What a change from Regina!
After about 45 minutes, a large, new looking pick-up truck stop.
The guy asked me to put my pack in the back. I didn't mind doing that except
for the fact that the truck had such big tyres, I was not sure if I would be
able to retrieve my pack at the end of the ride. My newest driver was just
going 2/3 of the way around the ring road but it was a start. He apologize for
not having the air conditioning on but he had just bought the truck at a
vehicle auction and the AC didn't work. I had never known anyone who had bought
a vehicle an auction so I had lots of questions. One of the things that
surprised me the most was the fact that no one can take the vehicles for a test
ride. They get started, they can look at the engine - but whether it actually
steers or has breaks is a bit of a gamble. However my driver (who was older)
was an expert. He was a car salesman and knew what to look for. He was just
driving the truck to the dealership where they would tune it up and then put it
on the lot. I didn't ask how much he had paid for it. My guess is that they
would make a fair amount of money on it when they got the AC working. I had
lots more questions to ask, but before I knew it - the ride was over.
There are
some rides that make little sense to me. This driver did not strike me as
someone who would normally pick up hitchhikers. I think he just did it on a
whim or perhaps he wanted to show off the truck that he bought. For whatever
reason - I was happy that I had made it at least part of the way around
Winnipeg.
He let me off at a spot I had been at before. It had worked
out well for me last time so I was optimistic about getting a ride fairly
quickly. But the spot was dirty. The wind had picked up and there was some road
construction happening across the highway which meant that there was a lot of
dust blowing around. There was a lot of traffic and in fact it was a bit scary
as cars were either moving fairly quickly, or jockeying for positions as drivers
tried to get past the dump trucks before the next set of lights. There were
also cars turning on to the highway. I don't think any of those drivers ever
had seen someone hitchhiking on the shoulder of the road because a number of
them used the shoulder to pass cars. Some of them came far too close to me for
my comfort. I really don't think they saw me as they were more concerned as to
whether or not they could merge into the traffic. I was glad that I was not
there too long.
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