“O highway I travel, do you say to me Do not leave me?
Do you say Venture not—if you leave me you are lost?
Do you say I am already prepared, I am well-beaten and undenied, adhere to me?”
-Walt Whitman
The sun’s rays came in through the window and woke me up. It must have been around 6am. I stayed a little longer in bed.
I got up later, refreshed. I got off my bunk bed while trying to decide wether it was worthwhile to stay for the 8am breakfast provided at the Salvation Army Refuge I was in. I usually like to start my hitch hiking days early but free food is always a good argument. In the end I got impatient and just got a coffee and some cookies and went on my way.
These Salvation Army Centers are definitely lifesavers especially in winter for many homeless people.
Outside the Salvation Army Centre
So out I went, walking out to the main street (which I forget the name now). The sidewalk was quite icy as was the wind. I walked for maybe 2 km till I reached the intersection with the Loop. It seemed like a good spot with adequate space for cars to pullover. The air was chilly but I was quite stoked about the day. After a few minutes I noticed a guy approaching, he was holding a large cup of coffee. ‘Here’, he said handing me the cup, ‘I didn’t have cash on me so I brought you this coffee, the morning is quite chilly!’ I thanked him and we each went on with our days.
Happy Coffee
The minutes went by and nobody stopped. At one point a truck stopped, he said he was going to Winnipeg…on Sunday. So no luck. After maybe 1 1/2 – 2 hrs a police car stopped and told me not to hitch hike in the city. So I started walking for maybe another 1km and a half till I reached the end of the city. I stopped right at the last traffic light and stood there. Here because I lacked the protection of the city buildings the wind was much stronger and the cold was more intense. I thought maybe the cold weather would help me get a ride faster. Alas! I was wrong. People passed by and waved at me, or pitied me out in the cold, but they would not stop. I reached the record waiting time here in Regina: 3 1/2 hours. Finally I got a short ride about 20km up the road, enough to warm up a bit. The guy who gave me a ride dropped me off at an intersection and told me I could probably get a free coffee and pastry at the restaurant in the corner.
My cardboard sign I had made in BC was getting torn up because of the wind, so it was time for a new one. Remember, a sharpie is part of the essential equipment of a hitch hiker! So I went in the restaurant and asked for some cardboard to make some signs, and I got a free coffee as well.
I walked back across the highway and stood again, hoping not to wait another 3 hours. Soon enough an SUV stopped and picked me up. He wasn’t going exactly east through the No.1 Highway but rather north east toward Yorkton. Being tired of waiting all morning I agreed, it was about an hour ride. Ron owns a farm in the area and is active in Organic Farming. He recommended me the following sites for travelers interested in working for some periods of organic farms or volunteering in a variety of settings (www.wwoof.net and http://www.helpx.net). I invite you guys to check it out it seems like an awesome way to save on lodging when travelling, plus you get the satisfation of working and you get to know the locals by being hosted.
Anyways so we chatted along for an hour till we arrived at the intersection of the No.17 trans-canada that runs between Saskatoon and Winnipeg. The highway seemed fairly busy, unfortunately most of the traffic was either big trucks (which hardly ever stop to pick up hitch hikers) or really local traffic going from one town to the next. Still I did’t have to wait more than half an hour before being picked up by a young guy going home from work. He was just going up ahead a few towns, but every kilometer counts especially after having such a crappy morning freezing out and waiting for most of the day. When he dropped me off he was kind enough to give me a $20 bill. “Next time a see a descent place to eat I’m getting something” I thought. It was the middle of the afternoon already and I hadn’t eaten anything since the 7.30am cookies. The prairies really are flat. As they joke here ‘it is so flat that if your dog ran away you could still see him running after two days’.
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- Waiting for some love
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- Flat Saskatchewan
Here I must have waited at least an hour before being given another ride, this time a lady on her way home from work. She was going up the road only one town away, but in the end she decided to bring me over to Russell in Manitoba (about 30km farther down, so thats 60km extra just for me!). I must say, in spite of the very slow progress the people that gave me rides today have been exceptional! Arrived in town (around 6pm) she even gave me a tour of the town showing me the places I might be able to spend the night for cheap in case I didn’t find a ride later on. At the gas station where she dropped me off there was a subway restaurant so I finally went and bought a meal. I was famished. Still, I couldn’t get myself to each all of my subway quietly while sitting down. There wasn’t much daylight left and as long as there was light I had to be out there with my thumb up. So I ate only half my subway then went out to the highway, muching on my meal while hoping for a miracle to get me to Winnipeg. The day before I got my last and longest ride of the day around 7pm, so I didn’t lose hope yet.
About an hour later I saw this red car try to stop but because of the traffic behind it enden up not stopping. Why do people do this? I thought. But a few minutes later I see this same car coming back and turning around and this time it stopped. It was an aged woman, probably close to 80 years old. Grandmothers have a heart. I guess they imagine I could be their grandson and would love someone to pick him up, so they do. I was very thankful. She wasn’t going east, but south. Back to No.1 Highway. I figured this was probably a good thing to do to get a ride tomorrow. So we chatted along for about an hour. The sun was coming down. We saw many deer in the fields. I had never seen so many deer together like this in the open, I must have seen over 50 deer in one field and twice smaller groups of about 20 or 30. Over in Quebec I had never seen more than 5 at a time.
By the time we got to the No.1 the sun was setting below the horizon, I had just about 30 minutes of daylight left. Unfortunately she was now going west toward her hometown and the closest town towards the east was the town of Virden, about 6 or 7km up the road. So I started walking. There was a train to the right, I walked over to it to check out the crew wagon to see if I could get a warm place to spend the night, but it was all locked up. So I kept walking on the highway. Soon the darkness came over. The temperature dropped, but as long as I walked I wouln’t get cold. After maybe 40minutes of walking I could see the welcome sign out in the distance, about one more kilometer and I would be there, hoping to find something open 24 hours. A bad day overall I would say. If I had kept going on the No.1 this morning I would have advanced about less than 300km. And now I was there walking at night hoping to find a place covered from the wind in this desolate prairie.
But then, it all changed, as life on the road always does.
A small Tercel car stopped. I had stopped asking for rides because at night it is difficult for people to see your face, therefore they are much less prone to stopping. But this guy stopped, I ran to the car and happily put my pack in the trunk. I got in the car and was asked wherabouts I was headed, I answered Winnipeg since that was my goal for the day. Mark, the friendly stranger who picked me up, said well I am going all the way to Montreal. I couldn’t believe my luck! Not many people travel across Canada this time of the year, and after spending the day in detours and mostly freezing outside, now at 9pm I get across this guy going all the way. I was so happy and he was also glad to have someone for company. Right there, in my mind, my trip was over, it was just a matter of time before arriving.
That night after passing Winnipeg we crossed the geografical center of Canada, we were now officially in the East. We drove all night for lack of finding an open motel. Since we are crossing about 4 time zones we didn’t exactly figure out what time it was and most likely by the time we started looking for a place to sleep they were all closed, so we drove.
Sunrise on the road. Going East.
In the morning we reached the city of Thunder Bay on the coast of Lake Superior. Lake superior is over 1000km long. In any other part of the world this is called a sea. It is the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface. From Thunder Bay on we had a 700km drive just on the shores of the lake. But first we stopped to make the oil changed on the car and to eat something. Then we continued.
part of Lake Superior
The province of Ontario is a really long drive. We would take turns driving every couple of hours. And along this road it is mostly rural with the scenery basically looking alike for 2 days. Obviously in summer this is a popular tourist destination aas you can enjoy camping or hotels on the lake shore and all kinds of activities. Now it was just cold, and the lake was actually still frozen. Thankfully the weather was nice all day. In the evening we arrived to Sault-St-Marie, where we stopped to eat. It was dark when we continued our way, but we only advanced about 70km till we arrived to a small motel by the roadside in the town of Bruce Mines. Finally some rest. A good warm shower and then we hit the sack. The next morning we left around 9am. It was snowing. The rest of the day was just a long drive. We listened to the whole collection of audio cassettes Mark had in the car, reliving the 90s. Here you measure distances by the time it gets to get from one Tim Horton’s to the next.
long drive
Of course we talked alot, we both have interesting family histories. Mark was originally from montreal with a colourful family background being an Anglo from Franco-Ontarian and Italian ancestry.
After a long drive we finally arrived to Ottawa, the nation’s capital around 6 or 7pm. We stopped to get a coffee at Bridgehead coffee house. Reputed to be Canada’s best.
About an hour and a half more of driving we finally made it to Montreal. Mark dropped me off close to a metro station. I said goodbye to my new friend Mark. Spending two days with a stranger you either get to hate him or you get along great. I really got along with Mark and enjoyed our drive across. Half of my trans-canadian trip I did with Mark, so I owe a big thank you to him, for his kindness and good humour. Obviously without all the other people who gave me a ride I wouln’t have made it either. They are the faces of my trip.
I bought a ticket, called my brother and went on the metro till the Longeuil station where my brother picked me up. Only 250km left before arriving home. Since my parents moved since last time I was around I had only a sketchy idea of where they lived. So the next day I just waited for my brother to get out of classes and then we drove over with his friend to my parent’s place.
I travel alot, and I generally feel at home anywhere, but there is nothing like getting home, being welcomed into your mother’s arms…and fresh home made pizzas.
So this is how my trans-canada trip ended. Unexpectedly faster than I thought.
About 5000km, 7 days of travel (only!) and total of 11 days from my landing at Vancouver and arrival to Quebec city, most time spent waiting: 3 1/2 hours (Regina), shortest time waiting: probably 5 minutes (twice, once in Boston Bar, BC and once in Kamloops, BC), shortest ride: about 5km in Surrey, BC, longest ride: 2,851km from Virden, MB to Montreal, Qc. Average travel distance per day: for the first 4 days: around 700km per day, then from Ontario on about 1,200km per day. Total cost: about $140 of which $60 were given to me.
So you see, it is not so expensive to travel if travelling is what you want. Go out and adventure out into life. Even if you don’t try out hitch hiking or extreme things, go out. Take that job opportunity in Asia, or that student exchange program in Europe, go on that trip of a lifetime you have been thinking about, take that invitation from your Latin American friends to visit them, they will be delighted and so will you. The thing is to go out, out of that imagined comfort zone. You will experience many wonderful things out there. It is not more dangerous to travel than to commute to your workplace day in and day out. Let me tell you what is dangerous: to regret the things you never had the courage to do. You have one life, don’t waste it living in a box, be free.
Musings of the road 