John dropped me off at the Husky truck stop on the east end
of Regina. I had some very mixed emotions getting out there. On one hand, I had
had some great rides out of there, some fond memories of warm nights hanging
out with other hitchhikers. On the other hand, last year I had spent a fairly
miserable 10 or 12 hours there before deciding to walk to the highway. As I
stood there, just by the exit, surveying what could have been my home for the
next few hours, I decided that I did not want to be there. There were very few
trucks in the parking lot, almost no cars in front of the restaurant and the
whole place looked unused, unlived in. It was hot, windy and looked really
boring. There had to be another way to get to Calgary.
I walked for a few city blocks, saw a city bus, figured out
were the next stop was and got on it. Initially the bus driver didn't think I
should get on the bus, that I should just try to hitchhike from the side of the
bus. I tried to explain that it was futile and dangerous to try - he seemed
unconvinced that he could get me to anywhere better. But then, for some reason,
he changed his mind and said that it was a long bus ride but that he could get
me within half a kilometre or so of the Trans- Canada. I told him that was
great. It was a long ride, but he did get me within a long walk of the highway.
With a handful of exceptions, I have always managed to by-pass Regina. I am
sure that it is a fine city and that it has many interesting features. The parts
that I saw through the bus window looked like every other city that I have
driven through. Because I didn't have a map of the city, I never quite knew
where I was. When I got out and started to walk towards the highway, I was
quite surprised to realize that I knew exactly where I was. One my first or
second trip out west I had been let out of a car just west of Regina (The
driver, a Christian had decided he didn't like my arguments and had abruptly
stopped the car and told me to get out). It was getting later on in the
afternoon and I did wonder if I would have to sleep under the same underpass.
Within a fairly short time I got two rides, each only for a
short distance that helped me get to a better spot down the road. The first was
from a former trucker who had been just about everywhere. Somehow we got on to
the topic of towns and their symbols. I suspect it was because we were going by
Moose Jaw and their large statue of a moose - I mentioned one of my favourites
- Moonbeam, Ontario and their spaceship. For the second time on this trip, my
driver knew exactly what I was talking about. He did offer to let me have a closer
look at the moose but I told him that once was enough.
My next drive was seemingly hardly worth the effort of getting into the car. The
driver was a young man who was driving out to where he went to bible college.
We had very little time to talk and where he let me out was a good spot if only
because it had a Subway restaurant if I ever decided to stay the night. The
mosquitoes were getting annoying and I really didn't want to spend the night in
a place where I would have to fend off the silly little blighters. I could have
stayed at the quite posh looking Pilgrim Hotel, but it looked a little bit out
of my price range. Given the fact that I was in the middle of nowhere, I
suspected that the hotel's main attraction was being close to the bible college.
Fortunately I did not have to decide about where to sleep as I got a ride
fairly quickly, All the way to Calgary.
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