A bit of a rant.

 

Not a great day today.

The weather was finally sunny and warm.

The roads were really nice, for the most part.

And I found myself, for the second day in a row, concerned with someone else’s feelings, thoughts, plans, agenda, etc, etc.

In short – I felt like I spent the day on someone else’s schedule.

It is not John’s fault. Not at all. I am solely responsible for the frustrations that I felt at not stopping at a particular Timmies, or pulling over to snap that picture that I wanted to get, or taking a pee break when I needed it.

This will not happen tomorrow. I let John know this evening when we arrived in Winnipeg that he will have to make a decision tomorrow, because I plan on stopping at least every 90 minutes to hydrate. Something we only did 5 times in almost  12 hours today.

Those who know me well also know what I am like when I am hungry. When my blood-sugar gets low, I get angry. I am not very friendly, and it is best not to interact with me until after I have had something to eat.

The snickers bar at the end of todays journey came about 5 minutes too late for John’s sake. I had already fired a couple of shots and he was keeping his distance by the time my levels were back to good.

Sorry John. Won’t happen tomorrow. Because you will either be on your own, or adhering to my schedule. Problem solved.

So – a little about today. Well, for one thing, I can tell you that roadkill in northern Ontario is much, MUCH bigger than it is around home. I mean, moose-big. You have not seen highway roadkill carnage until you have seen the mess that is left after the collision of tractor-trailer and moose. At least I hope it was a tractor trailer. Anything less and the driver is likely also dead.

We also saw at least two smeared deer – one that must have been hit by every truck on the highway – nothing left but a flattened pelt and a blood-stain that was a full traffic lane wide and a hundred yards long.

Death is rarely pretty.

What was pretty though – and I mean take-my-breath-and-make-me –pause-beautiful – was the young cow moose that we saw standing about 25 yards off of the highway, staring at us as we cruised by, watching us as intently as we were watching her.

If I was riding alone, I would have stopped and snapped a pic. That was early this morning – and my supressed resentment about not getting that picture set the tone for the day.

I did get some GoPro time-lapse shots. Nothing spectacular, but you can get an idea of what the highway is like up here.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is hot and sunny. The plan is to ride to Regina Saskatchewan. We will likely separate, and hook up again in Regina. Which is not a bad thing. We both, John and I, agree that this is just the evolution of our ride together. A ride that was never meant to last beyond Calgary. A ride I am glad to have been part of, with a man I am glad to have met.

Lets see what tomorrow brings, shall we.

Sorry for the bitch-fest.

See you on the highway  - join me if you will.