Funding for Post

Ok, I am still feeling slightly overwhelmed by the whole trip. And my bank account is even more overwhelmed. That last month of traveling was made possible by VISA, and now they want their money back. So I’ve gone back to work at a local post-production house for a while to pay off this debt and replenish the piggy bank for my own post-production. I’m a scanner assistant, and I got assigned to Smallville which just happened to start filming again as I got rehired, so I get to be on the series from the beginning of season 6. After the day’s shooting, they drop their film off at the lab downstairs where it gets processed. We take it up to the telecine, where it gets transferred from the negative to HD. My big job is to make sure it’s in sync. I also write out the paperwork on the takes we transfer, the timecode, and problems with the negative. The downside to it all is I don’t start work until 1 or 2 am. So it’s going to take a bit of getting used to.

Some stats on the trip

We’re just taking a look at the last five months. Here are a few stats we're using to get our heads around what we've done and where we've been:

2 filmmakers
1 HDV camera
2 microphones
10 provinces
2 territories (sorry Nunavut!)
30,000 km covered
130 hours of footage
200+ people interviewed
3 languages (French, Inuktitut and English)

Happy Canada Day!

We’re home. Got in last night, just before our bus passes ran out. I feel like I could sleep for a week. The whole journey was so big and all-encompassing, it’s hard to really process. It’s hard to remember what I was like before I started the trip, so it’s hard to say how I’ve changed. I know so much more about Canada, and yet, I feel like it was only the tip of the iceberg. There were so many towns that we passed by on the bus. So many places there wasn’t time (or energy) to visit. But I think we did as much as we could. I feel Canada’s borders a little better, a little easier. I think before I didn’t know what Canada was physically. Having grown up on Vancouver Island, and visited family in Saskatchewan, I knew that the west ended with the ocean, and the east trailed out somewhere beyond the endless fields. Now that I’ve gotten past the last field, seen the Canadian Shield, the St. Lawrence, the Atlantic from the Maritimes, it’s no longer just a line on a map. And, more importantly, the people are no longer just news stories and statistics.

A lot of people helped us get across Canada and back again. So many people were willing to open their homes to a couple of weary strangers with not much to offer besides a jar of jam or a story or two. So many people were willing to go on camera and answer all our personal questions about why they existed, what was important, what life meant to them. I hope this film will belong to all of you. It is your story as much, or more so, than it is ours.

Calgary to Coquitlam - homeward bound

We're heading home. It's kind of fitting that it's an overnight trip, cause we've spent so much time sleeping on buses. I think I've finally stopped beating myself up for not writing more about the trip and the people. I've been trying to think of more insightful things to say about Canada and all the people we've met and how much we've learned, but I'm just always so bloody tired. It's all I can do to make sure the camera's still in my pocket and I've got my bus pass, and I know where we're going next and the phone number for whoever we're meeting, or the address of the next interview. The scheduling has taken over my life. I've found myself longing more than once for the tranquility of that fishing boat. Or the couple of times when interviews just fell into our laps - due to the work of people in the area. Becky in Thompson and Ewan in Fredericton - and if I start listing, I will probably go on forever. We met so many incredible people who were willing to open their homes and lives to us, and take on our project for the brief period we were there. I wish we could have stayed longer in everyplace we stopped.

Calgary included! The guys were staying with are taking innertubes down the Bow River, which runs through the city. Man, if the passes didn't run out today, we'd still be there. I must admit, we took it easy in Calgary. Did a couple of interviews at the house, met up with a couchsurfer and did a really cool interview with her, and then hooked up with Max from Hamilton and hung out with him for a while. And even took some time to sit outside a cafe and have a frappe. That is rare.

Soon we'll be home. It's weird to think I can sleep in my own bed tonight and wake up and not go anywhere. We've been travelling long enough that the thought is kinda relieving, but I know I'll have the travel itch again before long.

Yellowknife to Calgary

Happy Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day!

We had an interview in Quebec (seems like another lifetime ago already) and our interviewee suggested that we might find more unity if Canadians everywhere celebrated French things as well as English things. Like Saint Patrick's Day and Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day. Do we really need an excuse to head out to the pub for a drink or two? Instead of green beer, drink blue beer today!

Anyway, we're celebrating by taking another long bus ride, this time down to Calgary. We've been on the bus about 12 hours. Only 17 or so more to go. I hope Darcy doesn't mind if we get to his place and just crash. I find it's easy to sleep on the bus, but when I wake up, I'm still tired.

The interviews and performances in Yellowknife for the rest of the festival were amazing. And we got so many musicians willing to let us use their music for the film. And they're so diverse. Art Napoleon www.artnapoleon.com & Wajjo - West African drummers with Scottish pipers www.telusplanet.net/public/wajjo/index.html and Michelle Boudreau www.michelleboudreau.ca plus the throatsingers. And finally, William Greenland, a Gwich’in Radio Broadcaster, who struck me first because he shares his name with our high school film and video teacher. Small world.

And we met some awesome artists who were working the festival. Martin Goodliffe, first off, who was making incredibly intricate jewelery in a tee pee. I wish I'd had some of my stones for you. Dan the Balloon Man www.dantheballoonman.ca who can make ANYTHING out of balloons in under 2.4 seconds. Zee Artiste www3.telus.net/public/woodbury/zee.html who drew a very cool caricature of me while I was interviewing him and mosquitoes were eating him alive. And Snickerdoodles www.wonderstuff.ca who kept many rambunctious children happy with her face painting magic. We had a really cool conversation about this documentary and its goals. She mentioned it had prompted a discussion with her daughter about success and what's important in life, and it made me realize that that's my success right there.

Yellowknife and the Solstice Festival

Happy Aboriginal Day and Happy Summer Solstice!

Yellowknife and Whitehorse are the two most northern points we've been to on this trip, and we've seen them both during two opposite seasons, with major festivals. Whitehorse was the Rendezvous, here it's the Solstice Festival, with Aboriginal Day celebrations today. www.solsticefestival.ca/index.htm They were broadcasting the performances today on CBC, and there were some awesome musicians. I was really excited to see the throat singers, which Ewan in Fredericton had told us about. I'm not really sure how they produce the sounds, two women faced each other and made rhythmic sounds back and forth and got faster and faster until one of them laughed or lost their breath. It was as much a game or competition as a performance. Check out www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/inuit.htm or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_throat_singing for more on throat singing. Anyway, we filmed that and the rest ceremonies, and then booked the rest of the week pretty much solid with interviews.

We did find some time when we first got up here to take a tour of the town. I have an aunt and uncle up here who are putting us up (or putting up with us :) for the week, and we got a tour of the town and pilot's monument. Great view. It's really beautiful up here, and the landscape actually reminds me of parts of Newfoundland. Most of the land is rocky with thin trees. I'd love to make it farther north, but it won't happen on this trip. Too busy.

Though we lucked out with our timing here. We went to eat lunch down by the water, I think at Oldtown Landing, and the Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, was just leaving. She was speaking to some of the employees there as she passed by us, but her husband gave us a big smile.

Edmonton to Yellowknife

I really felt like an Oilers fan this weekend. I felt like a hockey fan. I don't think I'd ever watched an entire NHL game (at least not by choice) before Game 6, but hanging out in a pub just off Whyte Ave was about the best way to get properly introduced. The game itself rocked (Oilers creamed Carolina for anyone who spent the game in a cave) and the party afterward was insane. Whyte was just jammed with people, and yet the street wasn't blocked off, so cars were crawling by and honking and people were screaming and hollering and everyone wanted to smack everyone else's hand, no matter what was in the way. It's probably one of the few times I've been in a city and the people are actually acknowledging there are other people around them, and in fact seem to be happy about that. We only feel connected in times of shared happiness and excitement.

Some people were lined up to get into pubs or buy hotdogs, or ice cream or whatever, and the rest just seemed to keep circling around up one side of the street and down the other. Cops lined the sidewalks, keeping people crushed together, so there were intersections where we just couldn’t move once we’d crossed the street, waiting for the swarm of people to inch its way forward. I’m glad I don’t have claustrophobia. I actually enjoy being in the middle of huge towering crowd, having to move with the tide or be shoved over. There’s a lot of power in numbers, you can really feel it when you’re in the middle of it.

So that was our personal encounter with Edmonton. Very cool. But while Game 6 kinda dominated our stay, we also managed some cool interviews with Marshall, the guy who put us up on his couches, and his girlfriend, Stephanie, both of whom are going to university to become teachers. And Neil has been thinking of that path himself, and he’s back considering it again.

We also managed to hook up with Frank at the 11th hour. Frank started up the 5 Days for the Homeless campaign with a friend while they were business students. They spent 5 days homeless, unable to leave the campus, sleeping outdoors with only sleeping bags, with no money or food except what was given to them during the five days, and this was done in Edmonton in March. Not the warmest time of year. They also had to attend all classes during the 5 days. No bed, no showers, no shelter. By the time all was said and done, over $5000 had been raised and presented to YESS – the Youth Emergency Shelter Society. They even managed to get one of the professors to hunker down with them for three nights. We got a great interview with Frank – he is a really inspiring guy, and I hope that the campaign finds students who are willing to take over now that these guys have graduated. I wish it would spread to the rest of Canada’s universities . . .

Now we're back on the bus. One of the longest rides of the trip - 23 hours - and we get in late tonight, so it will be our first chance to see the midnight sun!

I must admit, I slept through most of northern Alberta, though I remember Peace River was really pretty. We were in there for an hour and a half for breakfast at about 6:30. So I fell back asleep once we were on the bus again. We stopped again not long after we entered NWT, and my first impression - the bugs are big. REALLY big. When people say the bugs are huge up here, they aren't exaggerating. And the crows are huge, too, but they didn't divebomb us like the bugs did, so I didn't mind them.

The coolest thing so far has been getting off the Fort Providence ferry and being greeted by a bison. Granted it wasn't nearly as impressed seeing us, it just kinda munched away at the side of the road. But it was a real, wild bison.

Grande Prairie to Edmonton

Ok, first off, Grande Prairie is neck-in-neck with Fredericton for biggest party. Perhaps that was just good timing on our part.

We got in to Grande Prairie and our couchsurfing host, Veronica, graciously picked us up at the bus station. It turned out she was having a birthday party at her place the next night, and told us we should stick around an extra night. How could we say no? And she still found time to give us a tour of Grande Prairie yesterday morning. She gave us the rundown on how the oil boom was affecting her part of Alberta. Similar story that we’d heard, expensive housing, and not enough of it, but relatively huge wages for what would normally be minimum wage jobs. So you don’t have to go as far as Fort McMurray.

Last night we got to meet a bunch of her friends while they were all getting ready to go out. They started off the evening with pedicures, and we interviewed people in between. I hate to admit how much we suck, but by the time they were heading out to the club, it was midnight, and Neil and I were just too tired to go along. I’m blaming it all on the traveling – it sucks the life out of me. And maybe the filming too, I get so focused on the interview. After a bunch in a row, it was getting late, and I just wanted to fall unconscious. So Veronica, sorry again that we bailed, but we’ll catch you next time!

And thanks again for the lift to the bus station this morning. Everyone was understandably hung-over, but we still got to the bus on time. And now we’re heading for Edmonton . . .

Spirit River to Grande Prairie

Neil's extended family has been very good to us this trip. We stayed with Ernie and Cora, his great uncle and aunt for our time in Spirit River. It was a really cool experience.

Spirit River has about 1000 people (including the farmsteads), has one real main street, and an extensive museum for such a small town. It's one of the oldest communities in the area, so I guess it's not too surprising.

We spent the first day catching our breath. Since leaving the Charlottes, we hadn't had much of a break, and the slow pace of Spirit River was beckoning. The next day, Ernie drove us around the area. Got some beauty shots of the fields, some oil pumps, fenced-in bison, and a couple of wild deer. We also got to take a drive up to Dunvegan, the site of an old fort, with a couple of original buildings and a gorgeous view of the Peace River.

That evening, we met and interviewed a couple of longtime residents, Gerard and Eugénie, and this morning we got to interview the mayor, Theresa Sandul. It was awesome that we had so much time there – it really gave us a better appreciation for small towns to be able to sit with someone for a few hours and just talk about how they see life. And we had the chance to take a guided tour through the museum. They had several buildings – including a one room schoolhouse, blacksmith’s, cabin, and a homestead house, all done up in original or period accessories.

And now we’re on to Grande Prairie. It’s a quick bus ride, so we’re almost there now.

Prince George to Spirit River

I've never seen Prince George the way Goji showed it to us. I didn't know that side of the city existed.

Actually, before visiting Prince George (or most of the cities and towns on this trip) I didn't know much about the place. It's in "the north," it doesn't make the news very often, I might have heard something about the forestry industry, probably something about layoffs. It was far too easy to just stay contained in my own little world between Coquitlam and Vancouver, and I didn't really hear much about the rest of BC, especially the Prince George area and points north and west and east.

Goji brought the place alive. He picked us up at the bus station on his pedal cab. I felt really bad, cause we have these two huge packs, plus another backpack that makes up for its smaller size with weight, plus Neil and I sitting on the back. But Goji managed to pedal us uphill while entertaining us with the history of the area and the story of how he's gotten the nickname "Jesus" because of his all-natural lifestyle, pacifist ways, vegan diet and his striking resemblance to the long-haired, peace-seeking deity. The response to the pedal cab, and to Goji himself, was amazing. I'm used to people walking around with blinders on in cities - pedestrians don't look anyone in the face, and drivers rarely acknowledge there's anyone else on the road, unless an accident is emminent, or they have the opportunity to yell at someone. Here, people were waving, making appreciative comments about the bike - even the cabbies were considerate.

We got in fairly late that night though, so we didn't have much time before we crashed. The next day, Goji took us on a tour of Prince George, with our first stop at a local naturopathic store. We got some cool interviews in there with the employees, and an unsuspecting customer or two. Then we met up with one of his friends for an interview. Anita Hotty, who described herself as a super sexy socialist. Actually, that might be the best way to describe her right now. Wait for the documentary, then you can meet her in person :)

and we got to interview Goji's housemate, and in the middle there somewhere, found some time to interview Goji as well. And got to stop for ice cream. And then ended up flagging down a woman who drove past in her van, and interviewed her as well. It was a really cool day for meeting people. I was sad to leave, but we had to keep pushing on, so we were back at the bus station last night at 11:00 or so.

Today we're still on the bus - this is the 15 hour ride to Spirit River, Alberta. I was hoping we might be able to stop for a night in Chetwynd or Dawson Creek, but it's really difficult co-ordinating interviews and getting stuff done if you're only in a place for an afternoon and evening. So we're gonna spend a couple days in Spirit River and get a good feel for the place instead.

Prince Rupert to Prince George

Well, we're off our schedule, but we got to see Prince Rupert with the SeaFest going on, which was pretty cool. We even got to catch a performance by some Haida dancers. It was really quite cool they way they began - there were some drummers on stage, and very slowly, all around us, this singing became apparent. It sounded like the audience was singing. The performers appeared from behind us, and made their procession down to the stage. I'd been to performances with that sort of entrance before, but this was really effective.

We also got to check out the old cannery - which even has a hotel in it, if you want an authentic old-timers northern BC experience. And we went wandering through the brush above the beach, checking out the World War II underground bunkers and tunnels that were built in case of an attack. That was kinda creepy. They're all overgrown and partially filled with water, so we couldn't go in very far, but far enough to get the picture.

I would have loved to stay longer - exploring more of the bunkers, and seeing the rest of the SeaFest - but we have to get going. So we're on our way to Prince George. At this point I'd like to put in a word about the various bus drivers across the country. They are, for the most part, extremely cool. I remember being on a night bus heading across Ontario the first time. We'd just switched drivers, and I was sitting in the front row, slumped up against the window, attempting to sleep. The driver brought his satellite radio on, and turned it on very softly, and Ozzy was on with Crazy Train. I love that song, and you can't not get into that intro. So I was leaning closer to hear it better, and I mentioned that it was a pity it was so late and he couldn't blast it, the way it was meant to be played. He told me it was being fed through the system, and I could put my headphones on and listen to it there. It rocked! I was up all night, and it was absolutely awesome.

And the drivers in northern BC, time and again, are the funniest group. Sorry to generalize, but heading up to Prince George the first time, as we were pulling in, the driver thanked us for choosing Greyhound over all our other options. This time, we have a new driver, who's learning while watching another driver work. And as we continued down the highway, we switched drivers, but the first guy stayed on. So there are three of them, cracking jokes, enjoying their job. It's really quite cool. I wish all bus rides were like this one.

Queen Charlotte City to Prince Rupert

We pulled into Queen Charlotte City just as Monday was turning into Tuesday. Paul docked the ship for the night, so we were able to spend one more night on board. And got to interview him and Johnny before heading onto land in the morning. It was a strange feeling, climbing up the ladder to the dock, the sun still low in the sky, the village still sleeping. (Don't let the name fool you, Queen Charlotte City is very small - it was actually incorporated as the "Village of Queen Charlotte" last year, but QCC just sticks.) We watched the boat pull away,then headed up to the main street.

Just off the dock, there was a small convenience store. Just up from that, there were two cafes across the street from each other, where most people seemed to be grabbing their morning coffees. Further up, a pub on the left (still closed) and on the right the fishing and tackle and general store. We kept going to the highway (two lane road that travels most of the island) and headed along it to the hostel. We probably looked drunk, cause we still had our sealegs, and the ground seemed to be teetertottering back and forth.

We got settled and decided to take it easy - checked out the local supermarket, bought some lunch, went back to the hostel, slept a bit. Being on the water for that long had been really tiring, and that first day was kinda a write off. But we met two women, one from Germany, the other from Japan but currently living in Vancouver, who were also staying at the hostel and we had a barbeque with them that night. They'd been WWOOFing on a local farm for the past couple of weeks or so. WWOOF is Willing Workers on Organic Farms, or World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Basically if you want to travel and work, you can volunteer on an organic farm, and you get meals and accommodation in return. And the cultural exchange - chance to meet people in the local area, chance to "live" in the local area for a while. Check out the Canadian website: http://www.wwoof.ca/canada/homecanada.html

The next day we got our butts into gear and did some interviews in QCC and then hitchhiked to Skidigate and got a couple of interviews there. Yeah, I swore I'd never hitchhike again, but Skidigate is fairly close, within a couple hours' walk, and as there is no bus service, everyone hitchhikes. So we were quite successful. Maybe mainly cause we'd already met the guy, so he offered us a lift, and he was a minister, but our other hitchhiking attempts were also successful.

Anyway, Skidigate was really pretty. We popped into the pub, interviewed the bartender, and then met with one of Noelle's friends for a bit. She took us down to the main beach, where there was a Longhouse, which houses the Haida language school. I really wanted to get some interviews in the Haida native language, but it just didn't work out this time around. Maybe if I could head up there in the fall . . . it's not that far away.

Anyway, this morning we got going early and headed down to the coffee shops. There's a really nice outdoor area in front of The Purple Onion Deli, and we interviewed a bunch of the customers over coffee and sandwiches.

And now we're on the ferry heading back to Prince Rupert. It's a bit strange looking out over the Hecate Straight, having spent so much time in it in the fishing boat, and now plowing through it in (relatively) no time. Everything is relative.

Prince Rupert to Queen Charlotte City

Man, it's been really easy to lose track of days.

We spent a night in Prince Rupert at Noella and Paul's. Noella took us on a bit of a tour the next day, and then we got on Paul's fishing boat that evening. He offered to take us across to the Queen Charlotte Islands, cause he's heading out there anyway doing some crab testing for the Department of Oceans and Fisheries. So we should be docking in Queen Charlotte City tonight.

The boat's really cool, all decked with a fully stocked kitchen, and a tv and dvd player and a large selection of movies. We've eaten really well, a huge roast one night, a slab of ribs the next. The guys working on the boat need it though, they work hard. Long hours, fairly repetitive work. Bring up the trap, unload it, keep the good crabs, toss away the small ones, the fish, the starfish, rebait the trap, wrap it up, stack it, move on to the next on. They took a bunch of crabs aboard to test them - size, sex, shell hardiness, injuries. I've shot a lot of footage of them working, but didn't get much of a chance to do interviews unfortunately. The engine was too loud and by the time it got shut off, the guys were exhausted.

I spent some time talking with Paul in the cockpit though. He's got some stories to tell about problems with sports fishing - the overfishing, or at least the lack of record keeping. He's been fishing over 40 years and says there's more salmon now than there was back in the hayday. He also has issues with farmed salmon - there's no regulations, no organic farming, and the fish are pumped full of chemicals. Mmm, I think I'll keep a look out for wild salmon next time I'm shopping . . .

Neil's jumped into the life of a fisherman. He's been out back sometimes helping the guys, sometimes just trying to stay out of their way. But he's having fun.

And I've been sitting on the deck, journal in hand, doing some writing, doing more thinking. What I am looking for, where am headed - both physically and metaphysically . . . heh, you think being on a bus gives you time to think, try three days on a boat. At least on the road, the scenery is always changing, here it's just endless water, and far off mountains. It's gorgeous, but maybe I'm just too antsy and worried about not filming enough stuff, I can't really relax and enjoy it and appreciate it. In two months, I'm gonna wish I was back here. Right in this moment. I should enjoy it now.

Coquitlam to Prince Rupert

So we're heading out on the final leg of our trip (excluding any pick-ups that may come later this year or next). I decided we've had a long enough break, we can do 23 hrs straight to Prince Rupert no problem.

Neil started off the trip hungry. Always an ill omen . . . but we got all stocked up on granola and trail mix before we left.

The bus is pretty full, and everyone seems to be decked out in shorts and sandles. These are the first major signs that we no longer have to worry about winter travelling and getting stuck in a snow drift.

We left Coquitlam on a night bus, and I faded in and out of sleep all through the darkness, and most of the morning. We had a bit of a stopover in Prince George, but it wasn't even really worth it to leave the bus station, it was so short and we were so tired.

Now we're on the Highway of Tears. There are a lot of crosses along the side of the road. And rain clouds hug the mountain peaks like a mourning veil. It's breathtaking scenery, but somber.

We've passed through Smithers (stopped for A&W burgers), New Hazelton, and several other towns. We're coming into Terrace now. I've been kinda semiconscious for it all, but I was awake enough to spot the black bear on the side of the road as we were coming out of Prince George. I think I'm gonna fade off again and stare out the window. They say it's especially gorgeous between Terrace and Prince Rupert, and I think they're right.

Saskatoon to Coquitlam

Well, we are home for a quick stop. My best friend Susy is getting married in two weeks and I'm her maid of honor. So I'm afraid this documentary will be put on hold for the most part (not including the scrambled planning for June's travels that still need to be done).

The trip from Saskatoon was not too eventful. We stopped in Edmonton again, met a woman from Australia who's travelling across Canada as well. I slept through most of the trip through the Rockies, though I do remember my nightmare come to life - the crying baby. Though even that wasn't too bad. It's amazing what you can learn to sleep through.

But it is nice to be home for a bit. Sleep horizontally in my own bed. It's the little things in life.

Winnipeg to Saskatoon

Well this is a very pleasant surprise for me. I've only ever visited Saskatchewan when they're hip-deep in snow in the middle of a deep freeze (like last time) or melting from the heat. I tend to be here at Christmas or in August. But the weather is awesome right now. Warm, but not scorching, and the grass is green, not brown. I like it.

And how Canadian of me to talk about the weather, eh?

So we're back at my aunt and uncle's farm. We'd hoped to get down to Regina, but discovered that there's a bus to Regina from Winnipeg, and a bus to Saskatoon from Winnipeg, and nothing in between. At least nothing that our Canada Pass is valid for, and we're running out of money. Fear not, Regina, I smell pick-ups in the future, so we'll make it down your way someday. Besides, I really want to get an interview with Brent Butt. (Heh, might not have to wait, I just noticed he's going on tour this fall http://www.brentbutt.com/brnews.htm )

Anyway, I'm getting the opportunity to take the same shots I did before in a completely different season. And we headed out to North Battleford for a day to visit some more family. And cause we actually had a car to use, I took some of the back roads back to Saskatoon. Neil’s never been out here before, so it’s a bit of a treat experiencing it all through him. Saskatchewan has always felt a bit like a second home, and now I get to see it like it’s new. And the change in weather helps.

Hamilton to Winnipeg

It amazes me how big Ontario is. Even the second time doing this route - I coulda sworn it didn't take that long the first time. But it's about 36 hours or more to cross the province. And the weather continues to be crazy, too.

Toronto was warm, Niagara Falls was hot, Hamilton was hot. Most of Ontario seemed to be imitating summer pretty well. I fell asleep Thursday night looking out over clear "northern" Ontario, and woke up Friday morning to a fresh snowfall. And it was sticking, too.

Happily it didn't last too long. It was gone by the time we paused in Kenora, and sunny again as we came into Manitoba.

Two women were travelling with a kid from Toronto to Langley on the bus, and when we got off in Winnipeg, they still had a couple more days to go. The kid was a dream to travel with though. My worst nightmare is a long bus ride with a screaming kid. I don't normally like kids. This one was cute.

We're staying with Rod in Winnipeg. I was hoping to catch up with Carolyn again, but her parents are in town this weekend, so her place is kinda full. I've tried calling, but haven't gotten a hold of her yet. Hopefully we'll meet up yet.

But Rod will be a really interesting interview. When he goes on vacation, he hops trains. I knew a guy in junior high who used to do that, but I didn't realize it was so widespread still. It's like there's a whole sub-culture of train hoppers. He's also an activist, primarily for squeegee kids, and has been fighting in Winnipeg for their right to exist for years.

But before that, we're going to do a bit of sightseeing and get some beauty shots of Winnipeg down at the Forks and the Exchange District.

Hamilton to Niagara Falls and back

Ok, we had to go to Niagara Falls. It's a national landmark, part of our Canadian identity, and too many people have asked me when I've travelled if Niagara Falls is all it's cracked up to be.

We grabbed the bus and ended up in the town or Niagara Falls. We walked down to the main street, and it was like a ghost town. A few tourists, but most things were closed. We found one of the only open diners and had a bit of brunch. But it felt like the whole place had fallen on hard times.

Then we walked out to the falls. This is where all the money is going apparently. Huge hotels, and a market, and walkways, and souvenir shops. Manicured gardens and beautiful flowerbeds. A very different sight from the town proper.

We spent some time running around trying to find some allergy pills. Neil has never had hay fever, but he was allergic to something. His eyes were running, and he was sneezing constantly and generally rather unhappy about everything.

So I dragged him on the Maid of the Mists boat tour, and that seemed to cure his allergies for a bit. The boat goes close enough to the falls that the mist is no longer a mist but a torrential rain. We had the camera rolling inside a plastic bag the whole time. Can't wait to see how that footage turned out. The camera stayed amazingly dry while we got completely soaked. The plastic poncho they gave us only helped so much. I couldn't keep my eyes open through it, and all I could do was fight to keep the poncho from flying off. And the falls are roaring all around you. It's an absolutely awesome experience. The best thing about visiting the falls.

And once we were off the boat, it was hot enough that we were dry pretty fast. We walked down further so we could stand right next to the falls, and got some shots. But time was marching on, and we had to catch the bus back to Hamilton. And we were running late. Happily, we managed to be in the right place at the right time when a local bus stopped, and the lady let us on even though we didn't have tickets. When we told her the bus we were trying to catch, she just laughed at us and said good luck. But she did manage to get us to the bridge stop in about 10 minutes, and after a quick run we actually made it to the bus station with a minute or two to spare. We still haven't missed a bus yet!

Perth to Hamilton

I am never hitch-hiking again. Well, the hitching is ok, the hiking sucks.

We weren't really sure we were gonna hitch-hike, we were still considering just staying an extra night in Perth and taking the bus on Sunday. Or maybe trying to get to the VIA rail station at Smith Falls, about 20 minutes away. However, when I tried to call VIA, they didn't know if our bus passes would be good for the train (apparently the Canada Pass is good for some VIA rail routes, and VIA is supposed to know which ones, but they don't). She didn't even know how much it would cost to get to Peterborough or Toronto if our passes weren't good. And the next train didn't come for another 4 hours or so. Instead, we went to the highway (if you can call a little two-lane road a highway) and stuck our thumbs out. We weren't out there two minutes when a guy pulled over. I figured luck was finally on our side.

The guy was only going about 20 minutes down the road, and he let us out at the start of Silver Lake. We ended up walking all the way to the convenience store. Anyone reading this who lives out that way will have a better idea of how far we walked, I just know it took about 3 hours, which felt more like 6. The sun was beating down, but when we finally found a bit of shade that crossed the gravel shoulder, the little black flies (which were up until that point only annoying) would swarm and become absolutely maddening. I breathed one in through my nose and it bothered me for the next 18 hours. Yeah, this is a long story.

Most of the cars flying past us carried either elderly couples or young single women, the least likely categories to pick up weird people at the side of the road. At one point a guy in a U-Haul with Arizona plates pulled over, and we hurried up to him just to find that he didn't actually have any room. He'd picked up a hitchhiker a ways back, so the cab was full. He was gonna let us ride in the back, but he didn't know the combination to the lock. Looking back, that sounds a bit odd, but at the time, I woulda offered to try to pick the lock if I thought it woulda worked. So we thanked him for at least stopping, and then continued the trek.

We finally found the convenience store (after a bunch of roadside signs that mocked us with distances) and bought some water - priority number 1 at that point. Don't hitchhike without water. We told our tale to the guy behind the counter, then asked about a taxi service. There was none, but the guy said he'd be leaving in a couple minutes, and he'd take us down the road a bit. So we got a 10 minute ride closer to Peterborough. We got walking, watching the sun get lower. It was about 8 by this time. We started to get to this marshy area where we'd seen beaver dams from the bus. I stopped to try to look around the marsh and saw something moving through the water. It turned out to be a beaver, first one I've seen in the wild. It was hard to tell in the light, but it looked like just the tip of its snout and the tail, the rest underwater. I scrambled for the camera, and Neil was getting really annoyed, and then the thing went underwater, and then came back up for air, and I was still waiting for the stupid camera to turn on, and then it vanished again. Grrr. After waiting around, it didn't show again, and we started walking.

The light was really fading fast at this point. We bridged a small hill and started to turn a corner. Two cars were flying up behind us, and I started thinking we were screwed, we weren't going to get picked up, and we would have to be careful not to get hit. Then one of the cars was braking, and we were running after it, and I had this one moment where I thought it was gonna just pull away like some cruel joke, and then the guy was clearing room for us. And he was going all the way to Peterborough. It seemed perfect, we could grab the express bus to Toronto when we got there.

The guy who’d picked us up was really cool, too. He’d just graduated from a police foundations course a couple days before, and he wanted to get a job with the OPP eventually. He talked a lot about the training he’d gone through, and some of the differences between the OPP and the RCMP. I didn’t realize that the RCMP is actually part of the military.

Anyway, we got to Peterborough at about 10. The guy dropped us off at the bus station, which was closed. We managed to call Greyhound, and discovered the next bus didn’t come by til 4 am. I was ready to find a motel room and catch a bus later in the morning. Unfortunately, the first place we stopped at told us every place in town was booked except the Rock Haven. The guy there said it was a long walk, but we figured it couldn’t be that bad after how far we’d already walked. It probably wouldn’t have been too bad, but we walked down one of the main drags, and then made a left when we shoulda made a right. We passed the arena where the local hockey game had just let out. We passed over some bypass, and felt like we were heading out of town suddenly. Then we came across a Best Western and stopped in. They were full, and they told us we’d been walking the last 20 minutes in the wrong direction. Now I was ready to get a cab. Unfortunately, what with the game just gotten out, there was a 30+ min wait. By this time it was almost midnight. We’d left Perth at 4 (we’d probably eaten around 2 – the usual fair junk: ice cream, maple taffy, other nutritious stuff), and we’d had a couple of bottles of water since then. We decided to skip the motel, find a 24 hr restaurant, and wait for the 4 am bus.

We ended up in a pub – the aptly named Thirsty Canadian – and had caesar salads and nachos. At about 1 am we wandered over to Tim Horton’s. Here’s another Canadian constant – if there’s anything that’s open 24 hrs, it’s gonna be Tim’s. From Whitehorse to Peterborough. At 3:15 we started our saunter over to the bus station, and by 4 a small crowd had gathered. I was kinda surprised at how many people were getting on such an early bus. I was even more surprised at how many people were already on it. When everyone had gotten on from Peterborough, it was completely full.

We got into Toronto at about 6 am. That was actually really cool, and worth all the trouble. We got some footage of the sun rising over a sleeping Younge Street. Well, the taxis were awake. Every time I stepped onto the road to get a shot of the empty street, a swarm of them would converge on me. Neil would stand behind me trying to wave them off. He has many jobs on this film 

Anyway, we went for breakfast, killed some time, then went to Lyle’s place to pick up our packs. We didn’t want to get there too early. But he was up, and all was well, and we ended up back at the bus station and then headed toward Hamilton.

For some strange reason, we unpacked everything before taking showers and going to bed. And then when I finally was lying in bed, I couldn’t sleep. Just stared at the ceiling. But when I finally did fall asleep, I got about 17 hrs worth. Now that was nice.

And today is all about relaxing. I did some packing, did some laundry, did some writing.

Toronto to Perth

While we're out here, we had to hit a Maple Festival. It seems to be a staple for Ontario and Quebec this time of year, just not in the areas we've been in up to this point. So I had to make a point of getting to Perth's Festival of the Maples, the last festival I could find. And sandwiched between Toronto and Ottawa, Perth seemed like a good place to stop and try to find some small-town life off what one might think is the busiest route in Canada.

We ended up out here last night, and found a motel. There are a few bed and breakfasts, but anything affordable on our budget is booked or closed this weekend. This morning we headed down to the festival, the bulk of which runs along the main street. Besides the various maple producers, they've got booths for Green Party and some local social causes. We ended up talking to Jackie Seaton, a potter who creates and donates stoneware bowls to the Empty Bowls program to promote awareness of hunger and child poverty in the community. www.emptybowls.ca You can buy a bowl of gourmet soup and take the bowl home, and money goes towards the Perth Food Bank. It's a nice example of people putting their talents to good use.

So after getting some footage of Ukrainian dancers, Scottish pipers, crowds of people, and a quick lesson in tapping maple trees, we're going to try to make our way back to Toronto, where we've left our packs with Lyle, Neil's second cousin, and then on to Hamilton. There is no bus running today though, so wish us luck . . .