2016 Hitchhiking #1

I hitchhiked last week. Not very far and not for very long, but considering how my hitchhiking adventures ended last fall (see On the Road Again 2015 #35 -10/8/15)- I needed to make sure that something had not happened to either my powers to attract drivers or to drivers in general. I am glad to report that people are as nice as ever and at least my ever greying beard does not appear to act as a deterrent to those drivers stopping.

Of course I was on Salt Spring for part of the trip and one could argue legitimately that it is easy to get rides on Salt Spring. Although as I have noted elsewhere, sometimes getting a ride on Salt Spring is difficult - the newest residents with their unnecessarily large SUVs  appear to be less inclined to participate in all aspects of Salt Springs culture. None-the-less I was on the Island and needed to get from the Vesuvius ferry terminal to Isabella Point and back again. And I did so efficiently using the bus system and the goodwill of 4-5 drivers.

I sometimes forget how much I enjoy meeting people and in particular, how the conversations evolve. I think all of my discussions started with some brief comment about the weather - but they all evolved in completely different directions. For one driver the rain was about the fact that his roof fed cistern system that he uses to water his orchard and vegetable garden all summer was full. We spent the rest of the short drive talking about how the gravity system worked and how silly and wasteful it was when people used large over head spraying systems to irrigate their crops.

For another driver my same comment about the grey skies brought forth the comment "but at least we don't have to shovel it" - which led to me talking about my decisions to move to Vancouver Island. The driver, like many people who hear that my choice was between Sudbury and Duncan assumed that there was, in fact, no decision - the answer was obvious. They are always surprised to hear that it was really a matter of economics. I could live cheaper month to month in Duncan than Sudbury. When I told him how much I paid for the mobile home - his comment was " why am I paying $10,000 a year in taxes when I could live where you do?" I suspect that he, a very long term resident of the Island, has a much larger and nicer place than mine.

On Vancouver Island going from Crofton to Duncan on the way back,  I got picked up by someone who worked at a gardening centre. They were already getting in bedding plants in preparation for the gardening season. I think she saw the rain as just one of the seasonal milestones that meant that spring was coming and her place of work was going to get busy.

My final ride of the day was a short one the last 11 kilometres into Duncan. It had gotten cold on the highway and when I got into the backseat of the SUV it was nice and warm. I mentioned to my driver and his wife how glad I was that they had the heat on and that it was getting cool out there. That started a whole conversation about the fact that the heater, in spite of spending a lot of money on the problem didn't work properly and just stopped and started whenever it felt like it. The on/off switch did nothing. We talked about cars in general and how hard they are to repair.

Four conversations that started by a mention of the weather - all different - all highly enjoyable. I love hitchhiking and if the only real benefit of my move is that I get to do sooner in the year and more often - the move just may have been worth it!