Hitchhiking Dream

I  had a hitchhiking dream a few nights ago. That I had such dream is not unusual. I have , as long term readers of this blog know, had dreams of being on the road for at east the past fifteen years. Usually in the dark cold days of February, when the possibility of long, bright, warm sunny days are only a remote, barely possible fantasy, I start to dream of standing on the side of the road with my thumb out. I dream of the myriad of spots that I have stood before, some of them ten or more times; I dream of getting the perfect ride; I dream of the conversations I have had/will have; I dream of spots that I will sleep at, of Husky gas stations where I will grab a quick sandwich and some more water. I dream of that sudden excitement as I round that one corner somewhere just west of Calgary and the first of the mountains show their peaks, or when I first glimpse the shores of Vancouver Island. These dreams are what have sustained me in those cold dark nights and they are what have made me delightfully vulnerable to a sudden attack of spring fever on the first day of near spring. But what was unusual about having this dream was that it happened the second week of April. The dream was two months late!

When I woke up from that first dream, I was puzzled, perhaps even concerned as opposed to being excited. I wondered what it meant having the dream so late. I wondered if meant that I was no longer as enthusiastic about hitchhiking. Was that part of my life over? Was I, all of a sudden, too old to even dream of being on that wonderful, sometimes seemingly endless road? Had last summer's trip home taken something out of me that could not be replaced?  For so long, ever since my first trip out west, I had defined myself at least in part as a hitchhiker. What was I now? Is there such a thing as a retired hitchhiker?

By the end of the day I had come to the realization that I was being more than a little bit silly. The simple reason why I had not had  been dreaming of hitchhiking was that I had already been hitchhiking. Yes - they were short trips - just to and from Salt Spring Island  - but by the beginning of April I had had ten or twelve rides. By the beginning of April, I had no need (although I miss it) of that sudden surge of energy that come from spring fever.It had been spring (albeit a very wet and cool one) on the west coast for the past month.I had had less of a need to dream because I was already immerse full time in one.

I also realized that I was getting older, that the trip late last summer had taken some of the enthusiasm out of hitchhiking and that not this year, but some time soon I would probably retire from hitchhiking. In fact this year, other that the short hops around the islands, I am only planning one trip this summer - Winnipeg to Nanaimo .

Although there is still that trip to the Yukon .............