Martoons

Day 1.

Late afternoon.

Back in the wild west.

Eased back into it gently; almost seductively, entering (via driving) through Mount Robson Park and Jasper.

Why is Jasper in Alberta? It should be part of B.C. !

Jasper’s terrain, features, and geography is pure BC – the stupendous mountains, azure lakes. Here there is also brazen wildlife that lope about at the side of the road unconcerned with the human world.

Sightseeing highlight of the trip: Rearguard Falls, the northernmost point reached by the spawning salmon.

No fish today, but as I view the thunderous, rushing falls I follow the course of the rapids and imagine how I would navigate myself through them were I to fall in.

*

Hinton, Alberta.

Still day 1. Have driven about 500 km today and dusk is setting in.

Time to park, turn off the ignition and bring my legs back to life.

Objective: Locate an inn/hotel where I can cook my own food.

My main passengers in the car for this trip are two coolers of fruit, veggies and “superfoods” (actually, just healthy food – fish, pork, turkey).

If there is no hostel in a town, there’ll be no more hotels for me if they are “equipped” with only an evil microwave. A kitchenette – with a real stove, fridge (with freezer!) and a proper sink – is the only way to go.

Control of your own food is crucial to travel health and budgeting.

*

Hinton – the town. To the uninitiated and unjaded visitor, the town seems entirely laid-out along a dozen blocks of highway.

Stores. Inns.

A modern day version of the old wild west town with ranchers passing through on horseback, and the saloons on the main drag.

Gone are the horses though. The saloons?

“THE ONLY BAR IN TOWN” flashes on a hotel sign on the Hinton strip. 

And what of the “cowboys” who pass through this outpost?

They drive monstrous, aggressive (and dust-covered) pick up trucks; in tow are massive rigs with giant earth-moving equipment roll along the strip, kicking up dust.

It’s fall. No snow yet. Dust. Wind. More dust. 

These cowboys’ religion is the work ethos.

“Alberta’s workforce are the most productive in the country,” I am told, “and they earn the highest pay.”

They work and work. I see big rigs pulling out of town to begin their day as dark falls.

Yet judging from the complete lack of cultural establishments on Hinton’s strip, the modern day cowboys have no time to pursue life’s artistic angles.

An after dinner walk up and down the strip one final time ends against the wind. And the dust.

As I arrive at my inn and weave my way through the concrete pillars leading to my outside door, I can easily imagine how this wind would feel in 40 below and realize my lucky timing to have passed through at this time of the season.

Objective for day 2: Get through the prairies as fast as possible, travelling ‘sustainably’ and savoring any pockets of civilization along the way.

*

Day 2: Edson, Alberta.

Be careful what you wish for.

“No rain no rain.”

Okay, no rain. How about mud instead?

It’s everywhere – in parking lots, gas stations. Evidently a layer of dirt covers this whole town and with the rain and/or melting snow, it has turned to slime.

An explanation is offered by a young east Indian employee in one of the fast food joints: “Yes, mud everywhere. You know why? Oil.”

*

Day 2 – later.

Edmonton.

I cruise off the highway ramp into Edmonton at 2 pm on a Friday, assuming I would beat the end-of-week rush hour traffic.

Wrong.

The drive home here starts before 2. Now – insane traffic everywhere.

Every second vehicle is white, and most of them SUVs, which really make the ugly red and blue Alberta licence plates stick out.

And they are always passing me.

[end].