McLure
Made a new friend on a farm in McLure
This morning I shared a heartfelt goodbye with Jennifer and Ivan. They asked if I was excited to go. I said no. Jenifer’s cooking was too good to be excited to go. The only problem with Warmshowers is that sometimes giving up the comfort of a warm home feels more painful than not having one in the first place.
The last breakfast. Jennifer cooked another round of oatmeal, eggs, kimchi, green beans, kimchi, cilantro. It was just as terrifyingly delicious as yesterday’s blunch.
My run started, as it often does, in hell. The morning was chilly and foggy, and so was I. Huge trucks raged past me, bringing gusts of wind with them.
I’ve switched to running on the left side of the road. I think it’s safer to run against the traffic. Also I’ve noticed people are less likely to be assholes if they’ve made eye contact with me.
Finally i found some happy thoughts. The sun even started poking out.
I stopped for a break at 2 pm on the side of the highway. I’d run non-stop since 9 am and felt quite tired. As I got up to start running again, a man came over to me and asked if I was the guy he saw on Facebook running across Canada. No. It turns out there’s another bimbo running across Canada, Jon Nabbs. God bless him.
Nonetheless, the man introduced himself as Liam and offered to let me rest in his yard so I could get off the highway. I thought I should keep going but discovered my destination, a rest area, was only a kilometer away. Liam offered to let me tent camp in his yard instead, and I accepted gladly, officially ending my run.
Liam asked if I wanted to refill my water. I said yes! He brought out water and homemade chocolate log dessert snacks. I devoured them all on the spot.
We ended up spending the rest of the day together. Believe it or not Liam and his partner Rebecca moved from the Vancouver area up to this farm at the end of COVID. They are here to live sustainably and practice permaculture. They have ducks, chickens, and sheep.
He met his partner Rebecca online. On one of their first dates they went winter camping in -30° weather. On the farm, Rebecca knits wool garments from the sheep. She knit almost all the clothes Liam wore.
We got to talking about climate change and politics. Liam is heavily involved in the community: he volunteers on the first responders, fire department, and fall fest. He told me that last year 5% of British Columbia burned in forest fires. Last summer one big fire burned down a nearby town. Many residents stayed, and Liam ferried food to them by driving over old logging roads.
Liam saw 100 people line up at the fire department to volunteer when the fire hit. On one hand, it was moving to see so many people turn out to help. On the other hand, Liam argued those people should have already joined the volunteer fire department proactively if they’re the type of person to stay and fight. There’s not much the fire chief can do with a new volunteer the day of the fire.
Liam offered his homemade egg noodles and tortellini to cook for dinner. Amazing. One of the best camping runners I’ve had.
Then Liam brought out a dairy free pizza roll for me. Yum! We jammed a bit together on guitar before I went to bed. Wonderful day.
"It turns out there's another bimbo running across Canada..' That totally cracked me up!! Keep rollin', O!! xxo.