| by: | Linda |
| date: | 7 September 2009, 12:01 PM |
| preliminary remark: | I started writing email updates about my Trans-Canada journey in Sault Ste Marie, ON. This is my first update. |
Dear all,
Due to the increased amount of people who inquire my whereabouts and the practical impossibility of composing emails as I travel, I must ask your forgiveness for writing to you in a more impersonal way.
1) I decided to take a rest day in Sault Ste Marie to get everything ready before parting for Thunder Bay. It is said to be very hilly and desolate, possibly no restroom along the way. I received many helpful suggestions from other cyclists and experienced adventurers on how to keep myself warm in cold weather, how to cope with dehydration, how to maintain my energy level high, etc. If I can cycle through Northern Ontario, I should be set for the Rockies.
2) I am still not certain as to when I will reach the Rockies; I didn’t expect to be so lost and trapped by terrible traffic in Southern Ontario. By the end of September or the beginning of October I may hit some snow in the mountain. If the weather permits, I should like to visit both Banff and Jasper. I will make the decision in Calgary.
3) If I am lucky, I may meet some other cyclists along my way. I know there is one fellow from Quebec and a group of 3 cyclists (two from Toronto, one from Lithuania) heading towards Vancouver Island as I do. The former is ahead of me, the latter may still linger somewhere in the area. I was told by a cyclist couple from Texas that they are over-charged, poorly organised therefore super slow in their progress (they plan on reaching Vancouver in November!). I haven’t seen them anywhere yet, but our path may cross at some point. After cycling over so long a stretch of time, I begin to wonder how different it would be to cycle with companion, though solitary in nature I remain.
4) Yesterday I went to see the international bridge linking Canada and US. It somehow frightens me to realise that across the bridge is another country.
5) One dramatic change in my thinking is about religion: believe or not, I start visiting churches and participate their Sunday services if I can. Although I am quite certain I will not convert myself into Christianity, I become increasingly interested in learning about their values after my encounters with good Christians—what beliefs make them behave in an altruistic way to me, a mere stranger to their area? In the past I had a very harsh view on Christianity due to the many evils brought by the practitioners of religion, yet my discussions with several true Christians make me aware of how closely their ethical values correspond to mine (I am against Confucianism). I have been to Presbyterian and United churches, will be looking for good Anglican and Catholic churches in the following weeks. My short visit will not be very efficient in helping me to learn Christian faith from different perspectives but hopefully it can give me a general survey.
6) Too many people have told me how lovely Northern Ontario and BC are that I feel compelled to tell you, to this day Nova Scotia is my favourite province. I have never felt so safe and so much at home in my life before my transient passage through the province.
7) I am still trying to find my place in this world.
Linda
LINDA’S ARTWORLD 