It was frustrating to arrive in Winnipeg nine hours late. In
fact it had been a frustrating journey with numerous long waits, sometimes just
a few kilometres outside of a train station. The most frustrating wait was just
outside of Winnipeg. There we were. Just outside a major train station with
numerous track and we just sat there. I could have walked into Winnipeg faster.
I suppose the only good news was that the train was quite
empty and therefore we all had a lot of space to stretch out in. Of course for
VIA Rail, the near empty cars meant that they were not making a lot of money -
on the other hand fewer passengers meant that there were fewer people to
grumble and complain.
The buses were, understandably, a bit slow. It
was, after all, just after 5:00 PM on a Saturday evening by the time I got to a
bus stop. It was also windy - windy even by Winnipeg's standards; I was not
alone in having a hard time walking against the wind. I had thought about
staying in Winnipeg for the night, but I did not want to pay for a high price
hotel room, lacked the energy to figure out where the hostels were and really
did not want to be in Winnipeg on a Sunday morning when the buses, if anything,
would be even fewer. As I stood on the highway just past the exit at the Flying
J truck stop around 6:15 or so it felt like the right decision. The wind was
blowing hard but the road was clear and I was glad to be on it once again.
A fellow
hitchhiker passed me. We said "hi" but neither of us were in the mood
to talk and he was on his way. I think he was one of hitchhikers who liked to
walk and so before long he had passed out of my vision. Either that or he had
got a ride faster than me.
I had been at my spot for no more
than 20 minutes when a pick-up truck stopped and the driver offered me a drive.
Cam was a farmer from somewhere north west of Winnipeg. One of the first things
he said to me was that he did not like cities but preferred to live far away
from the crowds. He raised grass raised beef and pork, as well as some organic
chickens. He had a nice little business in selling his products to individuals
and at a farmer's market. He was proud of what he raised - meat without
chemicals, animals that were humanely treated and respected. We spent our short
trip together talking about marketing boards, how hard it was for young farmers
to get started and the dangers of factory farms. It was somewhat reassuring to
know that the values and lessons that I had learned from some of the small farms
in Ontario coincided with the opinions of a farmer who owned over 1600 acres. I
however, never told him that I did not eat meat.
He also talked, briefly about his
other job. He had been part of the Canadian Armed Forces special forces. After
he had left the army, he had worked privately for a number of organizations in
various parts of the Middle East doing training etc. I suppose he was some sort
of mercenary. His other job came up in our conversation because he had been
offered another contract. I don't think he really wanted to do it but it was
that money that allowed him to buy the farm and to continue to farm the way he
wanted to. He agreed with me when I mentioned the strange juxtaposition of running
an organic, ethical farm somewhat holistic farm and a being a soldier. Something
seems wrong when a farmer, trying to do the right thing in terms of raising
animals, needs to go to another country to teach others how to kill humans so
that he can afford to do what he wants to do.
Cam had to stop in Portage to
drop a check at the bank and then was heading up the Yellowhead Highway. As
much as I wanted to be travelling, it made no sense for me to be stuck at the
intersection of two highways as the sun was setting. He drove me to a motel and
I got out. I do wish he had been heading further west. It would have been an
interesting and enjoyable conversation.
I ended up staying in the motel that I stayed in on
my first trip west. I mentioned this to the Asian women who checked me in. She
said "Oh it is so much cleaner now". It may have been cleaner but it
was more boring. Gone was the eclectic colour scheme and the use of multiple
coloured/mismatched bathroom tiles. It may have been more colour coordinated but it was lacking in personality. I was
offered the seniors discount although she said I was looked too young - I had
to show my driver's license before she believed me.
I found a restaurant still open and had a grill
cheese sandwich and some fries.....neither were spectacular but it was nice to
eat warm food for the first time in 36 hours.
