Winnipeg

My first impression of Winnipeg - I got off the bus and ran into Dennis, a guy I met at the hostel in Whitehorse. He'd been to Vancouver in the time between, and just happened to be on a layover waiting for a bus to Montreal. How crazy was that. Maybe we'll hook up again in Montreal. Nothing surprises me anymore.

My second impression - the cabbie who took me to Carolyn's place was just about one of the coolest people I've ever met. He has some great ideas on government reform and achieving true democracy - something I've come across a few times so far. I'm glad I'm coming back through, he was working so an interview wouldn't have worked, but I'll catch him in May.

Also Winnipeg is a lot bigger than I thought. I hadn't quite realized that it is the largest city for a couple of provinces, and that everyone seems to feed into it. My deep knowledge of Canada basically stopped at the borders of Saskatchewan (really the borders of Saskatoon), so finding this relatively huge city with a really cool mulitcultural vibe in the prairies was kinda refreshing. And Carolyn took me to a great place for Ethiopian food, which was awesome. A long wait, but worth it in the end. Ok, maybe not worth missing the karaoke for, but there's always more karaoke somewhere :)

Anyway, I got to meet some of the very cool people at the CNIB, and managed a couple of interviews. And some sightseeing and repacking and reorganizing. It never seems to be finished. I can't wait to get to Hamilton to drop off some of the completed tapes and some of the more unnecessary stuff that I swore I needed. This travelling thing is a chore in itself.

Thompson, and the ride to Winnipeg

Ok, I came to Thompson without any expectations. Well, maybe one - I figured it would be cold. I was blown away.

First off, huge thanks to Becky and Travis. It's the people who make a trip worth travelling, and Becky and Travis made Thompson feel like home for a couple days. Becky picked me up at the bus station at 1:30 am, introduced me to her big friendly dog, and gave me her spare room, complete with big comfy bed. The next day, she skipped her class to take me on a wirlwind tour of the most interesting people in Thompson. Ten interviews in one day. We met with Crazy Pete, and a couple of people who work at the Boys and Girls Club, and some of Becky's fellow nursing students, and a couple of friends who popped over, and finally a Cree drummer, who allowed me to film his band's performance that night. I was so exhausted I couldn't think by the end of the day. Actually, I'm still trying to recover, so sorry I'm not describing more. My brain is shutting down. But the footage was gold, and Travis topped it off with a wild caribou steak dinner. I couldn't have imagined a better experience of Thompson, and I only hope my time in other cities is half as cool.

I'm heading down to Winnipeg now, which should also be really cool, cause I get to meet up with Carolyn, a friend I worked with in London. There are a lot of trees on the road to Winnipeg. That's about as insightful as I'm going to get right now.

Saskatoon to Thompson

So my schedule got thrown off again - this time due to a snowstorm that hit Saskatchewan and closed the roads to Manitoba. I took a quick side trip to North Battleford and was lucky to get back to Saskatoon cause of the storm. So I spent an extra day on my aunt and uncle's farm, trying to walk through snowdrifts that came up to my thighs. Reminds me of the snow they used to get when I was a kid. I remember winters when the tractor would be almost completely covered.

So this morning I was off to Manitoba. This is the first time I've deviated from the Greyhound routes - I wanted to head up through Swan River and The Pas so I ended up on the provincial bus system. It was worth it, got to see some different places. Though staring out at the flat prairie fly past, you lose track of where you are, and how far you've come. And I was so itching to see some kind of variation in the horizon, I coulda swore there were distant hills to the east and north as we crossed the Manitoba border. But it mighta just been my eyes.

Though I must admit I love being able to walk out into a field and see nothing but sky, it's a very humbling experience.

Travelling up to northern Manitoba makes me once again rethink the size of Canada. Maybe it's just me, but I tend to not think about the landscape past the horizon. Out of sight - out of mind. But now I'm continuously travelling through the landscape beyond, and hours go by and the sun rises and sets, and the road isn't ending, and I really have no idea where I am or where I'm going - cause the map is crammed too far into my carry-on bag for me to bother - and this is when I realize just how huge Canada is.

It is a little unnerving, arriving at 1:30 in the morning in a place I know nothing about, staying with people I've never met before. Though by the time I get there, I'll be too tired to worry.

Whitehorse to Saskatoon

So this has been my longest bus trip - 43 hours from departure to arrival, with about 36 of those hours actually on the bus. It started out fairly empty, then filled up somewhere between Fort Nelson and Dawson Creek. I had a guy next to me who had been in the bush working at a camp for the past two weeks, and he was really cool. Made the trip a little less solitary.

We passed through the mountains, and ended up in the plains of Alberta, which was a bit weird for me cause I'm so used to taking a route through the Rockies and then having the foothills. This time, it was like I blinked and suddenly it was flat. Or maybe I woke up and suddenly it was flat. Everything kinda blends together on long bus rides, and after the first 24 hours, time ceases to mean anything.

At some point I had an 18 year old who was from Germany sitting beside me. In some ways it made me feel great to see someone so young from so far away staying in some little town in Alberta, making connections with kids there. In some ways it made me feel old, that I'd waited too long to make a relatively simple trip across my own country. Ah, we're all where we're meant to be.

In Edmonton I had a 5 hour layover, and I met up with an old friend from elementary school (now that made me feel old), and I got to go for dinner with her and her husband and her adorable son. Thanks again for the tour around the city!

And now a midnight bus to Saskatoon. Watching the lights pass by, so many single lights surrounded by a void of darkness. It almost feels like there is no land beneath us. Maybe I'm just really tired again.

Whitehorse

I really didn't know what to expect of Whitehorse before getting here. I didn't know anything about it, except that there is lots of light in summer, and not so much in the winter. And that it was gonna be really, really cold, so I bought the whole spectrum of clothing layers in preparation. Well, it turned out I knew even less than the little I thought I knew.

The first thing - Whitehorse is gorgeous. The Yukon River flows beside it,and the mountains rise up around it. With the snow everywhere, and the ever-changing clouds, I could just sit and stare at the landscape forever.

After tearing myself away from the scenery, I discovered the people are also too awesome for words. I stayed at the Hide on Jekell hostel. It had a really global atmosphere, with visitors from as close as Japan and Korea, and as far away as Toronto. Oliver and Elena are running the place at the moment - he's from Germany and she's from Russia, and they are great. And we all got to celebrate the hostel's 5th birthday, complete with pasta, wine and a dip in the hot tub. And what dip in the hot tub would be complete without getting out and rolling in a snowbank and then jumping back in? That's a night I won't soon forget!

The people in town were equally fantastic. The organizers of the Rendezvous festival took me under their wing, introduced me to so many cool people, gave me rides around town when they saw me on the street, and were just generally some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. The first event I went to - a Dance Fever Night, where the Sourdough Sam and Queen contestants had to do dance numbers, and the Can Can dancers and Snowshoe Shufflers performed as well - I felt like I was at a family reunion. Everyone was welcoming, and having a great time, and getting involved. I've never seen an event so big with so many people who are unafraid to get dressed up and act crazy.

Through the Rendezvous festival, I also had the chance to enter the hairy leg contest - I think I came in last - and got a block of snow all my own to carve into something. As I can't draw, I decided to make a gigantic HI. As I got into it, I realized the back was going to say IH. With some help from one of Canada's top snow carvers - Don Watts, we got the I changed into an E on that side, so it read EH. It got some laughs, so I'll count it a success.

But it wasn't all play, I ran around with camera in hand and caught the chainsaw chuck, axe throwing, flour packing, beard growing, and professional snow carving competitions. There were others, too, but it's all blending together. I gotta go through the tapes to remember it all. You'll just have to watch the documentary to get the full story :) And in the end, it wasn't even that cold. I didn't even wear all the layers I bought. It hit -30 for a couple of days I think, but there was no wind, so I didn't even realize it was that cold. And I'm usually a wuss when it comes to that kind of thing.

So go check out Whitehorse!

Fort Nelson to Whitehorse

Julie, a woman from Nova Scotia who moved to Fort Nelson, was on the bus yesterday. She is a wonderful person, and she really loves Fort Nelson. We’d hoped to do an interview this morning at our motel, but I discovered too late that there was no one at the reception then. So if she did come by, she had no way of finding the room. Julie, if you happen by some miracle to read this, I’m really sorry I didn’t notice this earlier and I hope you weren’t too put out! Hopefully our paths will cross again!

The moon is out again, and staring out the window I get the sensation that this bus is the only thing that is left of civilization. The highway has become two snow-covered lanes, and there are no other vehicles out there. Not even a trucker to break the darkness. Earlier I caught sight of moose at the side of the road, darting into the forest as we approached. My first glimpse of them. Pictures don’t do them justice, but I will do my best. Around this area there are also wild horses, buffalo, elk, wolves, reindeer, and apparently giant porcupines. Hiding in the shadows no doubt.

Prince George to Fort Nelson

The moon is so bright, the trees cast sharp shadows on the snow. We’re on the midnight bus to Dawson Creek, and then on to Fort Nelson after a bit of breakfast. I had intended to sleep most of this ride, but it’s bright enough to see the landscape, and the shadows and snow are making faces in the trees, and I can’t tear myself away.

Most of the people on the bus are sleeping. It’s not too busy; anyone who wants two seats to themselves can have them. There are a couple of guys talking a few seats back. They started with a discussion about the differences between Halifax and Calgary and Kelowna, and where they’ve come from and where they’re going. They then moved on to talking about pot, and have since moved on to hockey. It’s all very familiar and very Canadian.

It makes me think that if our neighbors are to the south, then our family is to the north. I think we spend too much time worrying about what our neighbors are doing or thinking, and not enough time worrying about how the family is doing, how they’re getting on, if they need anything.

The two guys in back have now moved on to talk of over-fishing in Prince Rupert. Too bad it’s too late and too dark to film. This is exactly what the country should be hearing. Ah, the shot that got away . . .

Vancouver to Prince George

Vancouver to Prince George was all about sleeping. The last rush of preparations - and the lack of sleep over many nights - finally hit as we were heading into the Fraser Valley. I woke for a bit around Hell's Gate, and then drifted in and out of consciousness the rest of the trip. It felt so nice just to stare out at the passing scenery, watching the landscape change. The land becomes desert-like through the canyon, and as we traveled north the trees got thinner, and the snow began to collect on the mountaintops, and then migrated closer to our level until it seemed suddenly it was settled on the sides of the road like it had always been there.

Prince George turned out to be the perfect stopover. We stayed at Mead Manor, a local bed and breakfast. I would recommend this place a thousand times over. Laura and Bob, our hosts, were brilliant. We were picked up at the Greyhound station, given a big room with the type of beds that sleep was made for (complete with chocolates on the pillows), and a bath with jacuzzi jets. In the morning, we had a three-course breakfast, and we were allowed to hang out in the room repacking – I always have to repack most of my pack after the first night, just the way it goes – and then were driven back to the Greyhound station. Oh yeah, Bob gave us a tour of Prince George on the way, with a stop at the UNBC campus to check out the view of the city. Don’t get scared, I’m not going to plug every place we stay, but we couldn’t have imagined a better first night (and next day). It was the perfect beginning.

Itinerary

Grrr . . . I can't post this in the description (even though I swear it's under the 500 max) so here's the tentative schedule:

Vancouver – Prince George – Fort Nelson – Whitehorse – Dawson Creek – Edmonton – Saskatoon – The Pas – Thompson – Winnipeg – Sault Ste. Marie – Montréal – Mont Tremblant – Québec – Fredericton – Bay of Fundy – Charlottetown – Moncton – Halifax – Corner Brook – St. John’s – Truro – Rivière-du-Loup – Saint-Siméon – Ottawa – Toronto – Perth – Regina – Maple Creek – Calgary – Peace River – Yellowknife – Grande Prairie – Prince Rupert – Skidegate – Port Hardy – Victoria – and all the spaces between . . .

We plan to write the blogs on the bus and post when we get internet access. We're hoping at least once a week.

Leaving Vancouver in 5 hours! I'm gonna go get an hour's worth of sleep.

Two filmmakers, a camera and a bus . . .

Starting February 12, we will begin our journey across Canada to produce the documentary "The Distance Within". Covering the vast spaces of our country to find its far-flung population, we will explore the fundamentals that Canadians hold important in their lives. This film seeks to appreciate Canadian cultures, promote the beauty of the lands, and encourage Canadians to be travelers in their own country.

And we intend to blog it all the way!