Day 182 - March 31, 2006
OK, boy howdy! I'm in Manitoba. Portage la Prarie. By Sunday I'll be on Canada 16 heading for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Edmonton, Alberta. This is the biking portion of the trip. My left foot will hopefully heal by time I get to Edmonton. It's about a thousand miles to the end of the biking thing. I don't know how long it will take. If I'm lucky maybe two or three weeks at the latest. Have to get a new seat and some special underwear. I rode the bike for two hours a few days ago and my crotch went numb. Apparently they have seats with holes in them to prevent that kind of thing. Owoooooooooh!
Dan Henry from Haines and KHNS left yesterday. I'll miss him. It's so wonderful to have someone driving support each hour your on the road. If I was a gazillionaire I'd pay someone to do it....but..that's for another life. He got lots of boring stuff on tape. He thinks it's good stuff. Says he's going to do a show on KHSN about it. We'll see. He's definitely a good guy to have on your side. Thank you KHNS for sending him down.
When I was in Karlstadt, MN I met a guy named Virgil Hams. He and I sang a Dean Martin song....big pizza pie and moonlight in the Scandia Cafe. Quite a card! He's a Korean War vet and he gave me pictures of Marylin Monroe he took himself when she toured Korea in 1954. I have three of them. Now there's a cute little girl!!!!!
Crossed the border into Canada on Monday AM. Didn't walk too long that day. Went on a scouting trip and ended up in Neal Young's home town of Cypress River, MB. Pretty small place. Dan Henry just happened to have his latest release and played some of it for me. You know what? He still has one of the worst singing voices on the planet.
Got in to Winnipeg and hooked up with Ian and Tammy Jones. They and their kids used to work and live in Skagway and Juneau. I'm with them until Sunday. They have the biggest TV in the world downstairs. People from all over Canada come to see it.... They've been wonderful hosts. Ian got me on CBC Winnipeg and CBC National(show called As it Happens). Way cool. Getting some good feedback from the exposure. I'm going to miss them when I leave.
The walking part will end temporarily Sunday. I will have walked over 2,600 miles by then. I still have another thousand from Whitecourt, AB to Johnson Crossing and 200 from Norton Sound to Nome and Whitehorse to Skagway. So, if things go according to today's plan I'll end up with 3,800 walking, 1,000 biking and 2,200 river miles and maybe more if I kayak Norton Sound. Things are starting to look up for a late June put in on the Teslin.
Have my truck. The good news is I'll only have to hitchhike once a day now instead of twice. Bad news is gas is way, way expensive. I've spent over $200 on gas just in the one week I've had it. Towns and support for places to stay are fewer now. Time to sleep in the truck and start networking again. Owooooooooooooooooooooh!..BUT It feels so good to know that there are only 1,200 walking miles left. Piece of cake! I really hope the wind stops blowing while I'm on the bike. It's been fairly constant out of the north and west since hitting Manitoba. Time to run. Bye for now.
Related Links:
As It Happens - CBC Radio
(you can listen to Buckwheat)