Part II- June 12, 2002
Subject:
Trenchcoats, towels, travelling light
Hello all.
Well, now I'm in Regina, Saskatchewan, and I'll probably
be heading for Winnipeg tomorrow.
The trip so far has been great. When I started out
in Abbotsford on Saturday morning, it was rainy and
miserable. I was expecting to take a long time getting
out of the Fraser Valley (it usually takes a while
to find people who are going for a long haul from
there). However, I soon got a ride with a young woman
who was going all the way to Kamloops. It was interesting
because after talking for about fifteen minutes, we
realized that she was good friends with two of my
cousins. Small world.
For the rest of the day most of my rides were fairly
short. One woman who picked me up in Enderby was in
the process of getting herself drunk as she drove,
because she was gonna party with a gang of bikers
that night. The man who took me to Revelstoke was
telling me about his neighbor, who was killed in a
landslide out there last week. In Revelstoke it was
cold and threatened to rain, and I had to wait for
a while before anyone took me further. I was worried
about getting sick, because when you're on the road
your eating and sleeping habits aren't that great,
and rain doesn't help the immune system either. But
I got a ride with a businessman who took me all the
way to Canmore, where I stayed with friends. Here
my sleeping habits did not improve, as I had to stay
up to watch some soccer games and so forth. Then I
spent a night in Calgary. I was worried about hitch
hiking out of there, because the rides are usually
very slow in "redneck country". But I did
make it to Regina before midnight. The last half of
the stretch was with two guys who were smoking weed
until they got drowsy, and then they asked me to drive
the rest of the way.
Every time I set out on one of these trips, I tell
myself I will travel light. But every time I end up
with a backpack that is so heavy it's probably a threat
to my health. But I have learned some ways to reduce
unnecessary weight:
-a bar of Ivory soap doubles as shampoo and laundry
detergent. It can also be used as a weapon, flotation
device, parachute, and spellchecker. In fact, next
time I'll forget about the backpack and just travel
with a bar of soap.
-a long trenchcoat is good because it's big, heavy,
and has lots of pockets. You don't want to wear it
much, though, because it gets hot in there and people
don't trust men in trenchcoats (you could hide anything
in there. Shotguns, Bibles, piano benches... anything).
So you probably need an extra travel bag for your
trenchcoat.
-a bright red poncho is a good thing. It's hard to
overlook a guy in a bright red poncho. And it keeps
you warm at night.
-a towel is unnecessary weight. The Hitch Hiker's
Guide to the Galaxy may say that a towel is the most
useful thing a hitch hiker can carry along, but I've
learned otherwise. If you get wet, shake the water
off. You need no towel.
-people who pretend to stop for you, then drive away
as you approach them, are very funny.
So, with these indispensable tips for your survival,
I'll sign off until next time.
Marco
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