Trip Back to the Border, Chris leaves and my Hitchhiker

It was a sad day last Sunday October 7th. Chris and I had spent the past two weeks together...making fun of each other for calling our girlfriends, talking about our respective penis', sulking over the Phillies lost, complaining about things and just ripping on each other for anything possible. The Saturday before we left, I talked to Chris about how he felt knowing he would be going on his adventure and related my own personal feelings with what he was going through.

Not many people know the feeling I am speaking of. Prior to a major hitchhiking trip, their is this weird sense of urgency running through your mind and body. Nothing makes much sense, things just seem weird and awkward and you really do not know what the hell to expect because there are no plans and no guidelines. Hitchhiking is the greatest form of travel, plain and simple...nothing beats it. This feeling is similar to the feeling that athletes have before a big competition or musicians have before an important show, it is all the same. I was discussing this with Chris and realized how jealous I was that he was going on his trip. I told him that it is unreal and you know you can back out at any moment but when the person (for Chris it was me, for me in Canada it was Kevin, me in the US it was Chris and for Brooks it was Tim) drops you off and leaves you alone, far away from home, you cannot help but get giddy and laugh at what is actually happening in your life. I was so excited for Chris.

Anyway, he and I headed to the border on a long, winding drive through very nice country in southwestern British Columbia. We even past a rather strange looking lake that was spotted and looked frozen over. Well, I investigated it on the way home and found the lake to be called Spotted Lake. Here is a link to show that it is not frozen over but salted over and has an unusually high mineral content within the lake and is sacred to the natives here. It is interesting. http://www.syilx.org/history-spottedlake.php We got to the border and I was quite nervous to talk with the US border, knowing that he would give me a hard time. This really annoys me, I feel like I should not get nervous to enter back into my own country. I explained that Chris and I were heading to Oroville and I had a bunch of stuff in my car because I was moving into an apartment that evening in Kamloops. After many questions, me being frustrated and Anton barking, we were "allowed" into our native land and continued to drive for Oroville. We found a spot to drop Chris off and I was nervous for him and I could tell he was nervous. I really enjoyed dropping him off and helping him on his adventure and it was awesome to have him along with me and help me settle into Kamloops. Sure as shit, Chris' first statement when he got out of the car was that it was the weirdest feeling he ever had and his legs were shaking...I wondered if his legs were shaking from the feeling or from his overly packed bag, haha. Anyway, I threw him the hook and off I was, headed back to the Canadian border, leaving him behind.

I arrived at the border with a sort of arrogance. I no longer was afraid since I deposited my hitchhiker friend Chris and knew that I would be fine getting back into Canada since I had all of my paper work, passport and everything else legal. Of course, there was a fairly long line and then they were suspicious because I was only in the US for an hour. Needless to say, they searched my car and I was quite annoyed...yeah well. What can ya do, eh?

So, I was off for Kamloops. About 3 hours from the border. I was heading home, thinking things through, knowing that Chris was off by himself and I too was adjusting to being all alone for the first time in Kamloops. I was hoping I would find a hitcher on the way back and sure enough, right around Merritt I found a 22 year old guy heading for Kamloops. I picked him up and noticed he had a digeradoo, one of those Native instruments from Australia. They are neat sounding. The first thing the kid said was, "Can I put my cd in your car." No hello, nothing really, just that. So, I was like, "Well, I am listening to stuffy but whatever." He sits down and continues to put his cd in and turn the volume up as high as possible and talk about himself. The next hour was me listening to everything he is into and him occasionally asking me a question, hearing my answer and then immediately blabbing about himself. He was quite selfish. I understand that you may get lonely on the road but he had only been out for a day and was a very annoying person. He reminded of a good friend of mine who has a rather selfish and immature sister. This is what he was like. All he did was talk about himself and then he began talking about religion and the cosmos and was as vague as possible yet still attempting to sound intellectual. The other annoying part is that he smelled bad. I understand that hitchers may be out and cannot shower too often, or they may not be into wearing deodorant but I really feel like when you smell bad, it is an immediate turn off to anyone. You could have some of the most unique ideas but people will still come away and say, "That guy smelled like shit," and they will still be turned off to you. I wish people would smell good so as not to turn off the public who may not know or be into these things. Also, the kids music was awful, his songwriting was bad and he just talked about how he loved to freestyle and rap with his "didge." This would not bother me if someone was actually good and not a selfish assclown. Anyway, I dropped him off in town and it was off to my apartment.