Pierre the Dream Walker

Regina, Saskatchewan

The prairies are deep.  The winters are like a deep freeze and the summers like a deep fryer.  But, having said that, they do have a beauty of their own.   Today I rode past immense canola fields that stretched as far as the eye could see.  Perfect oil for deep-frying.

Perhaps I am not getting enough carbs…

As I rode today I kept thinking over and over again just how large Canada is.   That was probably a function of being able to see to the horizon in all four directions.  It truly was awe-inspiring.

And fatiguing.

You ride and ride and you could swear that that stalk of wheat is the same one you have been seeing all day. The horizon is no closer and it appears not to have changed.  On the other hand, I could see Regina on the horizon when I was fifteen kilometers away.

Today I saw a cyclist ahead of me who appeared to be heavily loaded.  As I caught up to him I realized that he was walking and pushing a baby stroller.    His name was Pierre from Quebec and he was walking across the county starting from Tofino. In the baby stroller were his possessions. He had already walked from Vancouver to Acapulco, Mexico and from there to Quito, Ecuador.  This was his fourth time across Canada.   We chatted for quite a while and I asked him if he was doing it for charity but he said no, that he had gotten his pension and this is what he liked to do.   He did not want to go into Regina because there were too many people.  That got me to thinking that he would have to be very comfortable with his own company to walk those distances alone.  He seemed eager to chat and he told me he was writing book called “The Dream Walker” and he wanted to know my name.  As I left, I told him I hoped to see him in St.John’s. He smiled and agreed.   I kind of think of him as mobile hermit with a hint of Forrest Gump.

After all the cyclists I had seen riding across the country and Pierre the walker it made me wonder what it was about Canada that made so many people want to do this pilgrimage.

Once we got to Regina I took Telen on a little tour of my old stomping grounds.   We went by the house I lived in back in the 60’s and my old high school.  The house had changed considerably but the school almost not at all.   Weird.  Mind you, that was the 60’s, so according to the old saw that “if you remember the 60’s, you weren’t there…” perhaps my memory may be faulty.

Telen spent part of day checking out Moose Jaw and decided that she could have enjoyed herself more watching the Canola grow.  She passed me on the road and pulled over to give me an ice-cold Coca Cola.  Sinful, but soooooo wonderful!  That woman is a mistress of temptation...  

Let Pierre walk by himself, I’ll take the sins and temptations!

Canola fields as far as you can see