The Kindness of Strangers

From our first stops at Provincial and community information centers we've been impressed with how helpful the (usually) young women have been. Their friendliness and obviously genuine desire to help has been refreshing. Perhaps we've been accustomed to phone help and have been away from places where you actually interact face to face with help givers. Or, maybe Canadians are a bit different in their approach to helping others. At any rate information folks, servers at restaurants and even the guys and girls who pump gas have been delightful. Susie the waitress (and future teacher) at the Family Cafe in Russell delighted in telling us about how the Russell Arches came to be and how when it was discovered that the arches which were originally designed to support the INSIDE on a hockey rink were deteriorating the city maintenance crews had to varnish them and the varnish made an unpleasant smell outside the restaurant for several days. She and the restaurant owner seemed to see the humor in the incident and not the inconvenience. The two women also took pleasure in educating two yanks in the names of the one and two dollar coins (loonies and toonies).

At campgrounds and gas stations and restaurants we get questions about where we're from and where we're headed. There are always thank yous for held doors and pleasant greeting in parking lots and stores. At one campsite a college group was examining the campsite we had just reserved, it was next to a friend's site and I think they had planned to go back to the check-in booth to take it themselves... no problem, just a friendly comment that it was a great site. The man came back in few moments with a plastic bag to pick up some poop their dog left behind.

In Upsala, ON where we nearly ran out of gas (the first time) we were parked at the pumps when a trailerless semi tractor came rolling in, the driver was waving something out the window and almost before Tomto could recognize the object, without stopping, the driver tossed him the Eddie Bauer cooler bag that had dropped off his bike some miles back. The driver had stopped to pick it up and caught up with us. His truck just rolled back on the road and he was gone.

At Williamson Provincial Park in Alberta Carla walked into our campsite with a plate of six warm battered, walleye filets the best fish I think I've tasted... her kids had caught more than the family could eat that day and she was sharing with the neighbors. Later in the evening she came by with her two sons and one of their friends each with an armload of dry firewood, "We brought you some smaller pieces because we didn't know id had an ax," she said. We learned that she and her husband Don live just 15 minutes away but bring their trailer and more or less live at the park for two weeks at a time fishing and enjoying the beach. As we were waiting for the rain to abate the next morning she sent Brandon over to invite us for coffee and shelter. We discussed our quest to ride in all the states and she mentioned the movie The Bucket List which Loretta had told me on the phone just the previous night that she was watching with her friends Marlene and Kim... coincidence? Who knows. Anyhow, I told how the Quest came to be after my bome marrow tranplant and how my good friend Tomto has pledged to ride too.

I don't tell the whole story often and this chance encounter felt like a right time to share and celebrate good fortune and a friendship. Carla took our email addresses and the blog address... I hope she reads this.