...somewhere outside of eastman
we had been talking about getting out of town since spring break. and finally, at 6:45 on wednesday evening, we were standing on the grass next to the on-ramp to highway 10 and the champlain bridge, thumbing a ride. the sun was already getting low in the sky. it was a beautiful day.
we finally got a ride from an asian man in a van that got us across the bridge and from there, a young guy with a job in longeuil took us as far as granby. i think he was disapointed to find out that we were coming from montreal. he had a romantic view of hitchhikers and 30 minutes on the on-ramp just wasn't anecdote enough. a ride nonetheless.
it was starting to get dark when we got picked up again. some old hippie. louis. plume d'aigle.
i couldn't tell if he was anglophone and humouring our french or francophone - his radio was set to english cbc.
if you're just looking for woods you can come to my place, he said. in any case, he could bring us as far as eastman.
eastman, hey? tomoe asks. I know someone from eastman who lives 'au bord du lac' and makes chairs.
but i live au bord du lac and make chairs, our ride replied.
it took them a few minutes to put all the pieces together in bizarre coincidence. in the end we took the turn off the highway and went to his cabin in the woods.
the place was pretty amazing. a big log cabin that he had built. jeff would've shit himself had he seen the cabin and the meticulous carpenter's workshop. he seemed really happy to open his home to travellers. we ended up camping in his backyard.
next day we got to mount-orford provincial park.
probably a good place to go before the condos get built around the ski hill. we caught a ride from the highway to the park from this woman who lived at the base of the mountian. she was really upset about the planned devlopment and was showing us where all the condos would be. I imagined it was just a small ski village, but it is much bigger and uglier than that. what right does the government have to sell of provincail parkland? i own that land as much as the next person. theft of public space is becoming a predominant theme of my generation.
condo anger behind us, we climbed up the mountain. i was feeling wimpy (my new pack was still breaking me in) and wanted to take the trail. tomoe wanted to just go straight up the ski run. it is weird to be on a ski slope during the off-season. there is a weird ghost town quality to everything. anyway, tomoe won and we climbed basicaly straight up. the top was beautiful. looks a lot like anywhere in canada, i guess. we compromised and took the trail back down and eventually camped near the highway, the sound of frogs almost overwhelming the cars.
we finally got a ride from an asian man in a van that got us across the bridge and from there, a young guy with a job in longeuil took us as far as granby. i think he was disapointed to find out that we were coming from montreal. he had a romantic view of hitchhikers and 30 minutes on the on-ramp just wasn't anecdote enough. a ride nonetheless.
it was starting to get dark when we got picked up again. some old hippie. louis. plume d'aigle.
i couldn't tell if he was anglophone and humouring our french or francophone - his radio was set to english cbc.
if you're just looking for woods you can come to my place, he said. in any case, he could bring us as far as eastman.
eastman, hey? tomoe asks. I know someone from eastman who lives 'au bord du lac' and makes chairs.
but i live au bord du lac and make chairs, our ride replied.
it took them a few minutes to put all the pieces together in bizarre coincidence. in the end we took the turn off the highway and went to his cabin in the woods.
the place was pretty amazing. a big log cabin that he had built. jeff would've shit himself had he seen the cabin and the meticulous carpenter's workshop. he seemed really happy to open his home to travellers. we ended up camping in his backyard.
next day we got to mount-orford provincial park.
probably a good place to go before the condos get built around the ski hill. we caught a ride from the highway to the park from this woman who lived at the base of the mountian. she was really upset about the planned devlopment and was showing us where all the condos would be. I imagined it was just a small ski village, but it is much bigger and uglier than that. what right does the government have to sell of provincail parkland? i own that land as much as the next person. theft of public space is becoming a predominant theme of my generation.
condo anger behind us, we climbed up the mountain. i was feeling wimpy (my new pack was still breaking me in) and wanted to take the trail. tomoe wanted to just go straight up the ski run. it is weird to be on a ski slope during the off-season. there is a weird ghost town quality to everything. anyway, tomoe won and we climbed basicaly straight up. the top was beautiful. looks a lot like anywhere in canada, i guess. we compromised and took the trail back down and eventually camped near the highway, the sound of frogs almost overwhelming the cars.