Maybe it's encoded in the Canadian experience from our history of couriers des bois and explorers like David Thompson, Peter Fidler, and Anthony Henday. Or maybe it's a result of trips in the family Volkswagen camper van when I was growing up. Or perhaps I should blame my misspent youth playing country music in bars and roadhouses across the country from Ontario to Alberta. Whatever the reason, I find there is something primal and satisfying in travelling for days over the long stretches of the Trans-Canada Highway.
The reason: daughter number one lives in Ottawa. We live in Alberta. Daughter number one wants to come home. But she doesn't want to fly over the country from 30,000 feet; she wants to see it at ground level. I offer to drive out to pick her up. And she thinks it would be great to go on a road trip across the country with her dad.
Heart surgery? Pah! What's a little thing heart surgery to stop a man from a good drive?
It was a great trip. The car was wonderful (its first long trip), the highway was good without too many delays for construction, traffic was not too bad (most of the summer holiday crush of trailers, motorhomes, and overloaded cars had disappeared), the truckers were well-behaved and professional, the weather was perfect, the scenery spectacular, and the company outstanding.
The only worry about the trip I had was how it would affect my circulation. I wasn't particularly concerned about driving or having to stay awake from boredom. But during my recovery I'd been used to walking a bit every day. Plus my usual day to day activities involved moving around. I wasn't used to sitting in one place, like a car, for 8 to 10 hours in a row.
A doctor my wife knows suggested that I should stop every hour and walk for just 3 minutes. I adjusted that to stop every 100 to 200 kms and to walk and stretch for 5 or 10 minutes. It made all the difference. I didn't become fatigued (or, as fatigued) and I had no circulation problems at all. I was tired by the time I stopped for the evening but, after a good night's sleep, I was refreshed and ready to go the next day. It's a good technique. I'd probably use it whether or not I'd just had heart surgery.
The best part of the trip was spending three and a half days with my daughter, enjoying the tunes we listened to, watching our country's spectacular scenery, and being there with her as she learned more about the land and the road that threads across it through the forests and prairies.
And the moose is an old friend of her mother's and mine ... we just had to set up the camera for a photo.
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