2018 On the Road Again #16

As I have travelled across the country these past few years, I have noticed that it is sometimes harder to have an engaging conversation with my last driver of the year. I think sometimes it is because I am just talked out - tired of talking, tired of telling and hearing stories. Other times it is perhaps because I am anxious to get home and it becomes hard to focus on the "now". However, on this final leg of my trip - it was an interesting and unusual conversation that kept the words flowing back and forth for much of the slightly over 700 kilometres, right until the last few feet. It had been a hard trip the first 36 hours because of the wind and the rather short rides with long waits in between rides, but the trip ended in a great ride that got me exactly to where I wanted to go. One could not ask for anything better than that.

In many ways it was a deeply personal conversation where my driver shared some aspects of his life that I think he would prefer to keep private. While the odds of someone ever reading this blog and knowing whom I am writing about are exceedingly remote, I, out of respect, for this kind and generous man feel a need to be circumspect. Not that he or anyone around him had done something wrong. He was a kind man who was considerate of others and while his politics may have been more to the right than mine, nothing he said suggested that he was anything close to a racist, or a misogynist. In general he was a fairly typical young 30 something who was just trying to succeed.

Trying to succeed was the problem. Like (I think) so many other people of his age he was faced with examples of highly successful and rich people. He wanted to be like them, he was prepared to work hard to get there, to take the necessary risks, But he wanted to get there. He had one or two friends who had gotten lucky, developed an idea and done very well; he lived with his fiancé and her parents who were very well off - some perhaps would suggest obscenely so. He kept on comparing himself to those role models - forgetting that at least in the case of the parents, that they were 40 years older than him and that it had been a long slow process of wealth accumulation.

I think he had two major difficulties - one that he was worried about how his fiancé's parents perceived him and secondly he was impatient with his progress. I am always cautious about playing therapist with my drivers. I have neither the skill, nor will we ever have chance to talk again. But I could not help but point out that he was too much in a rush, that he needed to set his own goals and to not worry about what other people thought about him. While much of our conversations was fun and wide ranging - we kept on coming back to his need to succeed. I do not think it was that he simply wanted to get rich - in fact he said that he thought his fiancé's parents were foolish to be well past retirement age and still working as hard as ever - I think he just wanted to feel that he was equally as successful. Unfortunately his only definition of success was the amount of money accumulated. He clearly had a set of skills, he was prepared to work hard and he was a nice guy. He should be satisfied with that as a starting point. I think he was a competitive guy who needed to succeed - I suspect that he will.

It, for anyone who knows me, would seem just a little bit silly that I would offer business advice. It in all likelihood be even more silly for anyone to listen to that advice. But we did talk about marketing, business plans and the like.

It was a lovely day, the truck performed flawlessly, he didn't make unneeded stops and almost all too soon we were at Tsawwassen ferry terminal. My original plan had been to get out somewhere and find a bus going to Horseshoe Bay so that I could catch a ferry to Nanaimo. My driver suggested that I get on the ferry to Victoria with him and then head up island. The thought of a long city bus trip was not that appealing. Then my driver suggested that I go to Duke Point which is just south of Nanaimo. I called a friend who said she could pick me up there and drive me home.

We got to the ferry terminal just as his ferry to Victoria was loading, I jumped out, said good bye far quicker than I would have liked and he was off. I walked to the terminal, bought a ticket to Duke Point and thirty minutes later I was on my way. Perfect timing.

It had been a good trip. In spite of the fact that the VIA train had been 12 hours late, and in spite of the fact that it felt as if I had spent a lot of time along the side of the road being almost blown over by strong winds, I had done the trip (Winnipeg to the west coast) in just over 2.5 days. Not bad for an old man!

2018 On the Road Again #15

I have stayed in Golden a number of times and generally speaking I have enjoyed my time. Once one gets of the Trans-Canada it is quite charming. I have stayed at a hostel a 15 minute or so walk off of the highway a number of times and it was my intention to do the same this time. But, partially because I got a bit confused as to which direction to go (there always seems to be a newly developed/ paved road every time I pass through the town) I decided to check out a few of the motels at the east of end of town. I thought about sleeping out - but it looked like rain and I did not want to get wet.

I walked towards a motel that looked just a little bit run down hoping that something would be available and that it would be almost affordable. It was tourist season in the Rockies and I was not optimistic about the affordable part. As I got closer to the door, I saw the sign that said no vacancy and turned away. Just as I was about to leave the parking lot, a gentleman opened the door and waved me over. I told him that I was looking for a room but that I knew he was full. He then, with some hesitation said he had one room left - but that it had a small problem. The shower was not working or at least there was no hot water. I thought that a room with no hot shower was a lot better than no room at all. We talked for a bit- negotiating in a gentle way and eventually I got the room for less significantly less than I had paid for the motel room in Portage. It was a great deal.

I got to the room, it was great with two double beds, a nice clean bathroom and far enough away from the highway that it would be quiet. While I could figure out how to wash without hot water, I was more concern that there was no alarm clock in the room. I did not want to miss my ride the next morning.

Golden, like so many cities and towns in Canada is not made for pedestrians. If one is on the south side of the Trans-Canada, one needs to walk to one end of town before there is a cross walk and lights that let one cross the service roads and the highway to get to the north side. I just wanted something at the Husky restaurant, I could see it, almost across the street from me but I had to walk 15-20 minutes to get to it.

I frequently eat at a Husky restaurant when I am travelling not because the food is exceptionally good but because it is consistent, reasonable cheap and a fast. The restaurant was almost empty and in fact it was about to close in 15 minutes. However the waitress was pleasant and assured me that the kitchen was still open. I ordered my usual two eggs with toast, and took some time to relax and slow down. I was in Golden - I had a ride to Kelowna the next day. I was pretty sure that within 36 hours I would be sleeping in my own bed. It felt good to have a place to sleep and a ride the next morning.

As I was drinking my tea, a gentleman at the next table, the waitress and I had a brief conversation about travelling and Greyhound buses (see my blog of 7/10/18 - No More Greyhound Buses). I then walked back to my room, got ready for bed and fairly quickly fell asleep.

The next morning I was up in plenty of time, had sort of a quick shower - there really was no hot water - and walked down to the west end of town. I was early and I could have hung out at the Subway restaurant waiting for my ride.....but I didn't. I thought what the heck - I might even get a better ride. So I stuck out my thumb and within five minutes it felt as if the Gods of hitchhiking were punishing me...it started to rain - hard. Within seconds there were large puddles on the side of the road and I was in danger of getting soaking wet every time a car went by. Fortunately there were not that many cars.


However three cars did stop within 15-20 minutes. One was going to Kelowna - I said thanks but no thanks, one was going to Salmon Arms - again a great ride but I said no and the third was going to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal in Vancouver. I said yes and got into the truck - putting my slightly wet pack in the back of the truck.

I felt a twinge of regret for not hanging around to complete my ride with yesterday's driver and her son, but a ride to Vancouver was just too good to miss. I suspected that both of them would have liked me to travel with them and I am sorry I couldn't. Kelowna is a terrible town to hitchhike out of and I had not been looking forward to it. This ride would get me all the way to ocean, perhaps a day earlier than I had planned.