Day 9 – O Canada

So, first day actually hitchhiking inside the borders of our northern neighbor. It definitely has fewer people, but wait times are about the same, and people are just as awesome as everywhere else I’ve been.

As usual, the first step to hitchhiking from a large city is to get to the outskirts. You want to get away the traffic that’s just going to the next exit, and get to the distance travelers. After taking the Skytrain as far as I could, I switched to a bus with a driver who knew exactly where to take hitchhikers. As soon as I walked on, he asked where I was headed, and told me to wait till the second time he crossed the freeway, as the first crossing had too much construction at the moment. He’d let me know when we were getting near, so don’t worry a bit. That’s the first time I’ve had a driver do something like that.

My first ride asked me if I’d ever had Poutine. Nope, but I wanted to. So off we went to the Costco food court, his personal favorite source. Tasty stuff! French fries with cheese curds and gravy, it’s definitely not the healthiest thing in the world, but it is pretty awesome. B----- had recommended a few really good places in Vancouver to stop buy it, and I’m hoping the next time I pass through I’ll be able to.

Hope, BC

The little town of Hope was my next destination, which happens to have been the scene of Rambo: First Blood. It’s also the world chainsaw carving capitol, home to a number of very beautiful parks, near enough to an airfield that you could see three gliders moving through the air, and has a visitor’s center staffed by a guy who thinks hitchhiking to Alaska is completely nuts. As a hitchhiker himself, he’s probably the most qualified person I’ve met of that opinion. Not that that would stop me ;)

My final driver was a tow truck driver with a car on the back. This is something new. I very rarely get rides from people who are in a work vehicle, maybe this is going to be different in Canada. That would be awesome if that’s the case, as I imagine that a lot of the distance drivers will be on the clock when they see me. I’ll find out!

Overall, it seems that hitching in Canada is very similar to doing so in the US. Good to know.

Trip Stats:
Total Distance: 128 miles
Total Time: 6 hours
# of rides: 3
Cost: $5.00