My good friend Shannon (Craig), his girlfriend Carey and I were out flying the Millenium Falcon for the first time at Kitsilano Park in Vancouver. Despite some technical difficulties with the kite, it reminded me of something… (if you want to hear a cool story, read on.)
It’s been 6 yearssince Craig and I sold almost all of our earthly possessions and relegated ourselves to the West Coast of Canada…Vancouver, BC to be precise. We had only met and become friends 6 months before but we were both feeling tired of Windsor, Ontario. Craig, who had gone to school for acting was debating quiting his job and I had already done so. I had been suffering from a major nervous breakdown after spending 2 years in a dead-end job with a strangely shady organization. It was my job to make videos and promo materials for an employer who had ADHD and could never remember what he had asked me to do even a day before. A common response was “I didn’t ask you to do that, why did you take all that time to do such a thing?”. It made me insane…for real.
Craig and I made a goal, a pact; In 2 months we would be leaving in Craig’s 2002 Volkswagen Jetta TDI (Turbo Diesel) straight through Canada for the wild western frontier of the Rockies and the Pacific Coastline. Just a week after our first discussion about moving on and out, Craig’s place of work informed him that he was being laid off – I guess that removed any hesitation about it. We were both out of work and broke. Nonetheless we would make it happen. We set out as planned on October 1rst 2004. It was scary. I was scared at least and we were both excited as hell. We had managed to ween our possessions down to a full car with car-top carrier and bike rack on sale from Canadian Tire.) After 6 hours of packing things as tightly and efficiently as possible, we trekked the longest part of the trip escaping Ontario in the first 2 days.
We stopped in Grand Bend, Ontario (photo above) where we had taken a “test” camping trip to see how we got along in travel. That’s a whole other story but suffice to say we got along just fine.
“Saddle up partner.”
Getting out of Ontario takes a long time because you have to drive all the way to the top of the province to get around the Great Lakes in order to then get over to Manitoba. So we made sure to have some fun while we were at it.
“I will hold back the waters.”
Northern Ontario is simply beautiful, we rested in Marathon for a bit after Craig almost fell asleep at the wheel after 14 hours of straight driving. Note to people making any long trip: get sleep and take breaks.
Before departing our province of origin we wanted to leave our mark so we made our own distinctive Inukshuk on the cliff top along the highway leaving Thunder Bay so as to leave a permanent guardian in our place (below: yes we made this thing without glue or props).
I could tell you about the long drive through Winnipeg and Saskatchewan but I could sum it up simply by telling you that we listened to David Bowie‘s “Earthling” [♫] on repeat ALL THE WAY through. The Jetta has a real nice BOSE stereo system that just rocked our world. Other selections featured the Music of ZoD “West Coast Dream” [♫] , my father’s solo music.
HOWEVER, there is one thing worth noting besides the amazing beauty of the endless rolling wheat fields in Saskatchewan; we stopped at a gas station as we went north to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. (You might be wondering why we went north to Saskatoon; Craig had family there to visit.
We were in shorts (it was hot in Ontario and Winnipeg), it was snowing in Saskatoon. We had just run out of gas driving in the endless darkness. Some people at a pub (a converted church) in a very remote town called Winyard had informed us of a nearby gas station which apparently stocked Diesel for our hungry TDI. Thank Heaven. Later at the station, the attendant was laughing at us as we scooted around the car freezing in our shorts… but this wasn’t the funny thing. You see, her face went white when she noticed that we had put Diesel fuel in our Jetta. “Do you know that you just put Diesel in your car?!” said she with horror. “Yeah it takes Diesel.” we say, “That thing takes Diesel? Where did you get it?!!!”. “Um, the dealership.” She also thought I was an assassin because I carried a Pocket PC -something about Days of Our Lives. I guess they don’t get out too much in Winyard, nice folk though.
FAST FORWARD to Edmonton. Oh! Look it’s the West Edmonton Mall. This mall is huge, seriously. 104 football fields huge as a matter of fact. 4 major city exits long, an indoor water park, submarine rides, roller coaster, full-sized ice rink…yeah it was worth stopping for at least once.
Fun for the whole family.
Yeah, whoever decided to make this mall was very serious about it.
Food court. Predictably large.
Okay, so we get to Jasper, Alberta right at the edge before British Columbia. HOT springs was our focus before reaching the town. Turn your electric kettle on (don’t actually do this please) and at about 3/4 to boil put your hand in it. That’s how hot it is. Please see Craig below…
We continue to the town and arrive around dinner time…nice. I recommend the Town of Jasper, check it out. It’s a beautiful spot in the Rockies with a lovely touristy area featuring tasty food, cafes, a sky ride and Elk hanging out all over the place.
We take a picture of our fine German chariot once again, with the beautiful Rocky Mountain range behind it.. and enter BC for the first time. Neither of us had actually ever been, we just had a feeling like it was the place to be, so we dropped everything and went. Hell, if we didn’t like it we could move back.
Throughout the trip the Jetta had been a formidable vehicle. Through snowy windstorms to climbing massive mountains, all with our luggage packed inside up to the roof, a full car-top carrier and a bike rack… the Jetta just went and never gave up. Not only that, we made the 3000 mile trip on 4 tanks of Diesel fuel totaling us at under $200 in fuel. I believe we spent more money on Tim Horton’s, Eat-More bars and Charleston Chews.
and then…
WE MADE IT. HELLO, BC.
We crossed into the Robson mountain range and camped in Valemount for the evening. It was October and apparently in it’s winter at this time in Northern BC. We slept in the snow inside our tent with the Coleman lantern hanging above us (not so safe to do unless you’re in a pinch) to keep our blood warm enough to ensure we reach Vancouver eventually…alive.
We traveled the next day down through the Rocky Mountains to our future home of Vancouver, BC.
As we entered the city area no word of a lie, we were concerned that all the clouds we saw hanging around the mountains were actually pollution clouds – we were so used to seeing such things in Windsor. As it turned out they were real clouds and fresh air, mountains and ocean. My God it was great.
We drove down Kingsway Ave We were in shorts with the car’s air conditioning on, they were in pants. Why? Turns out that weather is quite a bit more fair in this part of the world. No -40C winters? No +40C summers? Really? Wow, this is going to be a breeze. It was and is, people complain about weather in Vancouver but I laugh to this day whenever I hear it. “Boy you ain’t never been to Ontario have you?”
this photo is from http://inklake.wordpress.com
We had a collective $200 left when we arrived. We had secured a place to stay at his Aunt’s for 1 week, we had no idea we would have to leave her place so soon but that’s how it went. Through a series of incredible synchronicities and a boat load of luck (which we are both gifted with) we managed to situate ourselves in a proper home and jobs in the film industry doing background acting, we scraped the bucket for months but never gave up. What happened from there as they say is history. There has been so much since. I might tell you about it sometime.
Back to the present
We’re here. We live in Paradise, both of us doing our own thing and living in lovely homes that we really enjoy. Craig is acting and I am being my usual rogue artist random self, seeing what inspiration and desire brings me next. We’ve both seen and lived so many wonderfully awesome adventures since we’ve been here. Met new friends, spent many hours hiking around and exploring this wonderful province. We love it. Craig went back to Ontario for a short time and returned again, happily. I never left and won’t – besides for the purpose of more travelling and maybe a few extra living spaces, I will always have a home here.
It was 6 years ago,
Two Windsor boys had a dream. We took a risk and we won big.
“She’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs” – Han Solo
Hope this inspires you as much as it does me.
Thanks for reading…