Day 02 - On with the show

Date: May 2, 2002

Location: Laurie Park (Closed) North of Wellington Nova Scotia

Distance Traveled: 26 km (41 km)

"On with the show"

This entry was probly the hardest one to write, being the first day on the road and the first evening alone in a strange province. I was quite terrified. Roberta made a point of reading this one out loud at our wedding reception so everyone would know of the fear I felt that night.

I didn't sleep well at all. The cold was biting from all sides, especially the ground. I had made a lousy camp and was suffering for it. But the worst was not the cold from the outside, it was the cold which claimed my thoughts. I was so scared, I wanted to just die. It took me a long hour of shivering and crying to finally get out of the tent. It may have been my cold breakfast, the morning fog or even just moving freely that kind of brought my senses about.

I gritted my teeth, still sore from chattering, and broke camp. Yesterday, while still in town, I passed an outdoors discount warehouse and purchased a thing called a kidney belt, to replace the garbage I was using already. This may be the first saving point of my adventure for I'm sure I would still be in Bedford, crying to mother for a ticket home. But as it is I decided to carry my guitar seperate from my pack, alleiviating the stress on my back if not my feet. I popped some calcium and vitamin c, then continued on into Bedford.

I'm starting to think that perhaps I should have purchased a seperate atlas for each of the provinces instead of a full Canadian atlas. I've asked directions a number of times, but the people here don't seem to use the same soncept of Highway numbers as we do in ontario. If a road connects two towns, the chances are it will have the same name in each, and what the procince designates in between is of no consequence to the people who actually live there. Even the local sherrif's had a hard time understanding that I'm looking for Hwy #2 and not Rocky Lake Rd. In Belleville ON, we always refered to Dundas as Hwy #2 even when we're standing on Dundas in the middle of town. Everyone in my area knows all the major Hwy's as 62, 33, 49, 37, 7 & 2.

Outside of Bedford, past the quarry a bit. I snapped a photo of a large hawk or eagle nest at the top of a telephone pole. I would say it was a hawk, but I'm not sure. It seemed bigger. I will just have to wait until I see the photo's again.

Now's the time for congratulations. I would like to thank constable Eric Jeanson of the R.C.M.P. rescently transfered from Amherst NS for being the first person who stopped and asked about my quest. Though we didn't talk long, he was a charismatic person and left me his card if I needed anything while I was in his juristiction. That reminds me of Ken. For some reason, I want to call hime Follet, but he never told me his last name. He met up with me twice today. We joked about people who are all gung-ho and talk about walking Europe or travelling anywhere and when it gets right down to it, they back out citing numerous excuses why they can't.

Then I met Kevin and his girlfriend. They offered me a ride, and I, of course had to decline. But they knew this camp ground I was deading for and asked if I was sticking around for awhile. By this time it had started to rain. So I mentioned that if it was still raining tomorrow, I may just hang around and rest a bit before I left again.

I set up camp in the rain. I'm very sorry Anna, but I am really not going to walk 100 meters back to my pack, hoisted 10 meters in the air every time I forget something. Instead, I tied the bag about 1 meter off the ground, to the trunk of a tree and set the tent right next to it. It's about this time that I discovered my need for seam sealer. The rain isn't quite going straight through the walls, but it may as well be.