On the Road Again 2017 #11

One would think that by now I would realize that a night spent under the lights of a Husky truck stop will probably less than fun. But every time I get to one, I feel excited - as if something magical is about to happen. It is good to be an optimist with especially thick skin. I was about to be disappointed again.

It was a fine truck stop. The restaurant was closed but the convenience store had all kinds of junk food, juice and coffee. The two young guys working there were nice and helpful. Some of the local people stopping for gas were friendly and even some of the truck drivers gave me a polite, if disinterested nod of the head. One in fact even suggested where I would have a better chance in getting a ride. He didn't however offer to give me a ride there. But it was a bit windy, there was nowhere to sit, the view was particularly uninspiring and it was boring. When I got there somewhere around 11:00 there were a few young guys hanging around picking through the garbage cans looking for bottles ( and who may have seen me as competition) and someone else trying to charge and set up a cell phone he had just purchased - but they were not interested in talking to me. The two folks inside were polite when we talked about when the restaurant would re-open and about how which direction to go in to catch the right bus, but they saw hundreds if not thousands of people a week passing through the store. They were not at all interested in my story. So I hung around, paced looked at people and in general tried to keep myself awake until the restaurant opened at 4:30 or so.

Until well past midnight I saw the odd city bus go past. I thought about getting on one but I had nowhere to go. As boring as was the Husky, I thought that downtown Calgary at 1:00 in the morning would be no better, and perhaps much worse. So I stayed, making eye contact with the odd truck driver who passed by me, occasionally changing where I had my pack and the sign on top to what may or may not have been a better location to catch someone's eye. I don't think it mattered. It was a long few hours. I am not too sure how I filled it. But the time did pass, the restaurant did open. It was normal breakfast of toast, scrambled eggs and homefries. I was hungry enough and had been thinking about it for so long that almost anything would have been good. Shortly after I finished and then had brushed my teeth - I saw that the buses were running. It was time to get on the road again.

On the Road Again 2017 #10

It was just after 9:00 when Francois and I got to Calgary. I was frustrated at getting to the city so late. If we had not stopped to eat, we could have gotten there an hour or two earlier and maybe, just maybe I could have gotten to Canmore in time for a hostel bed or room at the municipal campground. Arriving at 9:00 PM, on a Sunday in Calgary left me with very few options. I did not know what I was going to do. Francoise debated with himself whether or not he would drop the trailer and then sleep in his rented room for the first and last time that month or if he would just sleep in his truck. I perhaps somewhat selfishly suggested that he might has well sleep in a real bed - as it would be his last chance. He had promised me that if he did drop his trailer then he would drive me to the Flying J truck stop where I could get a meal and hang out for the night. He wasn't offering me a spot in his truck for the night. Sleeping outside a warehouse was not my idea of a good plan - I needed him to sleep in his own bed that night.

He eventually decided to drop his trailer where it could be unloaded the next morning and then go to his room. Neither he or I had a clue as to where to go but with the magic of GPS he found the warehouse easily. It was somewhere close to the airport but if he had let me out there I would have been totally lost. The thought that I could catch a plane to Nanaimo certainly crossed my mind, but it didn't stay there very long. It would have been an easy but I suspect rather expensive solution to my problem of needing a place to sleep. After dropping the trailer Francoise asked me for directions to the Flying J. I did not have a clue. I was surprised that a trucker did not know of it - it is, I think, the biggest truck stop in southern Alberta. GPS again came to our rescue. Of course it was in French so I could not always follow the instructions - but then I didn't have to - I was not driving. Perhaps I should have listened more closely. We were directed to a Flying J - but it was the wrong one. We ended up at a small, un-serviced set of fuel pumps. There was no one around and I was totally lost.

I asked if he could drop me off at a Tim Horton's or somewhere like that. After a few more twists and turns I saw a Husky sign and directed him there. As we drove up the street I saw a bus stop so I knew that the next morning I had a way out of town.

I profusely thanked Francoise. While it had be a long and somewhat verbally tiring journey - he had gone out of his way to get me to a reasonably safe spot to spend the night. Driving through Calgary at night, looking for a place for a relative stranger would have been a lot to ask of anyone. For a trucker who had just spent 13 hours driving, and who, while he had dropped the trailer, was still driving a big truck - it was well beyond what I could have expected. Once again I was in awe of the generosity of strangers.

 It had been a good trip and there I was, a bit late, a bit tired but in Calgary. Once again I had made it across the Canadian Prairies in one day. All in all it felt pretty good.