On the Road Again 2016 # 11

When I sit back and reflect, now almost three weeks since my brief hitchhiking trip, I still marvel how far one person can travel in a day if the hitchhiking Gods are kind. As I got into what would be my last ride of the day, my new driver said that he was going all the way to Calgary and I was excited. I knew I would be getting into that city very late, and at the back of my mind was the slight worry about where I was going to sleep. But sleeping was six or seven hours away and I was ready for another ride where my primary function was to keep my driver awake.

My driver was driving a large pick-up truck. While at other times,  some drivers makes an attempt to clear of a seat for my pack, there was far too much stuff this time so I threw my pack in the back, hoping that I would be able to fish it out when the ride was finished. In some of the newer trucks with the slightly over sized tires it is a long reach down into the bed to grab the pack. As I age and lose a bit of flexibility, it is getting more and more difficult for me to get the pack out. Normally if I have a choice, I prefer to have the pack in the vehicle where I can see it. I am not afraid of the pack flying out of the truck, nor was I afraid of any rain - I just like to be able to see my pack.

My driver was from Transylvania. It was really hard to resist all of the silly vampire jokes that flitted into my mind. However the only time we talked at all about that country was when I asked what language they spoke (answer was Romanian).

It was a quiet conversation, with short spells of nothing being said. Those intermissions were not because we had disagreed or because there was nothing left to talk about, they were just quiet times of relaxing and enjoying the drive. Unlike my first drive of the trip, we made no attempt to discuss how to change the world or even to find a bridge between our two different cultures. At the end of the trip, neither of us knew that much more about each either than when we started out together. We talked about the usual things that strangers do, but for some reason we never got much past that. Maybe it was because it had already been a long day for me, or that I was not as skilled/pushy at prying as at other times- but our conversation while enjoyable and it certainly filled the six or seven hours we spent together - was superficial.

We got into Calgary about 3:00 in the morning. What does one do at 3:00 AM in any city? We had talked about it a few times and I had discussed my various options - sleeping outside, getting a motel, finding a hostel - but all of the choices seemed like more work than I wanted to do. All of the choices would have delayed the next day's start. I asked my driver to drop me off at a 24 hour Tim Horton's. He thought he knew where there was a 24 hour McDonald's that was right near a C train station.  The plan evolved without me doing any thinking or planning. I would spend an hour or so at McDonald's, use the bathroom, buy some tea and then get on the train that hopefully would connect me to the bus heading out towards the Calgary Olympic Park. From there I would start on the last leg of my trip to the Pacific Ocean.

The weather in Calgary  was a lot colder than it had been in Regina just half a day before. It was cold enough that I put on my fleece and just wet enough to put on my rain jacket. Across the street from the McDonald's there was some major construction occurring - the workers being in a rush to complete the night's work before rush hour started. Using the restaurant were a number of the road crew, a bored police officer who had spent the night in her car, with the lights flashing, making sure that drivers in the area were aware that there were some big trucks etc on the road, and a couple of young people who appeared to have spent at least part of the night there. I didn't feel out of place or unwanted. In fact no one paid me any attention.

I did speak to one gentleman who knew the area well. He both confirmed where the C train station was and wished me good luck.

At 4:30 I walked to the nearest station, spent 10 minutes reading the map to figure out which train to take and half an hour later I was in downtown Calgary.

On the Road Again 2016 #10

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.