On April 1, 2005 I set off across Canada on my bicycle. Or at least I'd planned to cross Canada. These pages are an account of that trip, as told through travelogs I sent to friends. I hope you enjoy the ride!


Longing for Home

Hi Kids,
Sorry it has taken me so long to write.

Last you heard I was waiting for a pallid dog in Sault Ste. Marie, or The Soo, as it is known. Well, the dog showed up and off we rode, over the same patch of ground where a few weeks earlier I'd crashed and pretty much ended the cycling portion of this adventure.

My next stop was Winnipeg, where I wandered the streets for some hours, and visited a couple folks I'd met when I first passed through back in late July. It was a nice walk down by the Red River and around to Portage and Main.

From Winnipeg I went straight through to Calgary.

There was some comfort in those sheered brown fields rolling up to the partly clouded sky out tinted Greyhound windows. The wheat was shorn and combined, the alphalfa cut and rowed. The air clear and a little chilled by autumn's early nipping. The sun was slanted south somewhat, and the days came up short. I’ve seen and done a lot of Canada these past adversity-laden months. Can scarce believe I rode Blu to Thunder Bay, and would have gone much further. The ride with Guillaume across Ontario, Montreal, the accident, Dad, St. Catharines, The Falls and Montreal again -- this trip of stumbling down the main streets of Ottawa, The Soo, Winnipeg, is all a swirling mass of memories still not settled in my brain.

In Calgary I hooked up with my old gal pal Becky. Now Becky is one of the brave characters I know in this life. She comes for a culturally rich American family with roots on both sides of the Mason Dixon. It is a family I've been welcomed into, and one known for its affection for orphans and wanderers. With all the nonsense with my blood kin still fresh in my consciousness, it was nice to pull in among people who actually treat me like family.

So I stayed a day and hung out with the kids, I've known them all since they were gleams in Momma's eye. All growed up they are now, active, lively critters getting involved in all sort of things. They've grown too, not just is size but number, and have adopted many of their friends into the family.

One of the new members, a young girl I last knew when she was about three years old, causing all sorts of ruckus in her high chair, is now a young woman out in the working world. It was a hoot for me to get to spend time with this fellow stray, and to feel so at home at the same time. Two orphans in from the cold.

Becky, whose most recent big adventure led her to run as a candidate against Alberta's most famous red neck preimier yet, King Ralph, was busy as usual. She's a childcare expert and advocate, so we didn't get to pass much time. Still, I was glad to have a little time with her and some with the kids.

From Calgary, thanks to the help of a lot of people, I finally made it home:

Here’s some poetry from the road:

ready to go home

been six months on the road, ready to go home
altho i have no home to go to
but there's a place up in the Selkirk Mountains
they call the Kootenay
there's a place up in the Selkirk Mountains
i was a stranger when i first went there
i'm no stranger now

rolling on a Greyhound, left Calgary at dawn
rolling through the Rockies in an early autumn rain
fresh snow in the forest but the sun is breaking thru
and though i have no house to live in
i feel like i'm going home

my brothers and sisters, never knew them well
it's friends who matter more to me
its just the way i am
it doesn't matter what your name is
it only matters who you are
and i am just a wanderer ready to go home

and as the Greyhound hums past Moyie Lake
and the flats of Yahk come into view
we round the bend to where the big lake opens up
and i feel like i'm going home,
though i have no home to go to

been six months on the road, i’m ready to go home





I got into town with ten bucks left to my name. It had been a jittery ride. After the accidents and all, I'm still a little freaked out by automobile travel.


its all a bunch of psycho babble

some sort of cosmic haze
that rests upon my shoulders
and fogs my brain
to think that i need company
to survive the driving rain

but the rumble of those engines
when they roll up close and tight
sends panic through my bloodstream
and fear right down my spine


However it felt good to step off the bus and into a familiar landscape. It was still summer, almost. I was tired and a little beat up, my foot still unable to take my weight.

Like all things in my world this day, home was not as I imagined. Went by one pal's house to ask to stay the night, I got in late. He wasn't into company, but loaned me the extra I needed for a room at the Dancing Bear Hostel. I stayed one night, then moved out to Kokanee Creek Provincial Park, and there, as the leaves began to change in earnest, and an autumn rain built in the sky, this year's big adventure finally came to an end.

It's been a great ride. The only things that got in my way were economics and semi trucks. I got by one and pretty nearly got schmucked by the other. I wouldn't have missed it for the world though. Best thing I've ever done since last year.

The jury will remain out on the whole issue with my family. I will at some point return to Quebec for Blu and BoB and take them on out to the east coast. At least that's the plan, and one I'm sure will be completed.

For now though, I must turn to the chore of ridding myself of the personal debts this big show has created. It's not bad really, about $1000. Piece by piece I'll knock it down and start building again for the next big adventure.

Before we're through I want to take a few lines to thank everyone who stayed in touch and wrote to me during the ride.

Thanks, you guys kept me from getting lonely out there. I also want to say a special thank you to those of you who responded to my financial distress, especially Mary Ellen, Peter, Darryl, and Emma, whose help was not only helpful, but saved the adventure from ending too soon. Also, special thanks to Guillaume. You are character people Guill, and I'm glad to know you.

I also want to thank Mike and Cindy at Karma Coffee in Coombs. Thanks to all of you and to anyone I've missed.

For those of you who've just read the logs and enjoyed the ride. I hope you've enjoyed yourself, but next time, let me know you're there, and remember, the ride ain't free. Help some traveller along the way.

Well kids, that's it. See you all next time.
Will

PS: I didn't stay at home! Too restless. Got my other bike, Goldie, out of storage and took off. Now I'm in the Okanagan Valley with autumn nestling into the hills like a fruit picker into a big comfy couch after a hard day's work. Had hoped to earn a little dough to pay down my debts but I missed the grapes and can't really lift the apples, which are also done. Still sort of lost out here and not sure what to do, a part of me just wants to keep on going.



 

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