ROAD TO CANADA

To Vidhya and Anand


I painted a Canada sign and continued my journey North.
Mike, who knew the feeling of hitchhiking from the old days, took me to a rest area about 60 km North from Everett. He too was surprised I was not a smoker.
“Most people who pick up hitchhikers are smokers” said Mike.
He was not talking about tobacco.

The border was not far, but would anybody risk to take me across? Instinctively I looked for a place to camp, waiting for the next car to pass. The rest area was surrounded by a forest, so it did not seem a problem.

After forty minutes of trying to catch a ride a car stopped. A young couple was going to Vancouver, but they seemed hesitant to pick me up.

“We watched you for a little while, thought that someone would to give you a ride, none of the cars stopped. We have never really picked up hitchhikers in the United States,” said the woman.
“You are sure that this will not cause us problems,” asked the man.
“I do not think so,” I replied.
“You do not have drugs on you or anything...”
“No, definitely not!”
“Can I see your passport?”
“Sure!”
I showed him my passport with a valid visa for the U.S. I also said that as an Estonian citizen I did not need a visa for Canada.
“And where in Vancouver you want to go?”
“Wherever is fine,” I actually had not thought that far.
They were giving me a ride!

I sat in the back and we headed off. I learned that Vidhya and Anand were on a short vacation from Boston. Anand continued asking:
“Do you have a knife with you? Are you going to kill us? We have two children, so please don't kill us!”
“I do have a knife, a small Swiss knife to cut bread and vegetables.”
I handed Anand the knife, which he decided to keep for the time being.
Vidhya started asking me about my journey. The tension was almost gone as we arrived to the border. All of us hoped that the procedure of getting me across to the other side will be quick and painless. We were wrong.

I had to answer many questions and talk to four different officials.
How are you financing your trip? What will you do if there is an emergency? What do your parents think about all this? Why are you travelling? Why are you going to Alaska? Do you have an intention to work in Canada? Have you ever been refused a visa? Don't you think it is dangerous? Do you have a weapon on you? How do you protect yourself? And you, why did you decide to take a stranger across the border? Please wait here, we will call you!
The next person I talked to repeated the same questions. I think it was so far the toughest questioning I have been through on any border.

“It was like giving birth to a child,” said Vidhya after I had received my stamp that allowed me to stay six months, and a Canadian flag. Anand went back in. He also wanted a flag.

“They said that they appreciated us giving you a ride” said Anand when he returned.

Crossing the border made it feel that we had been through so much together.
Vidhya and Anand were from India, but lived in Boston. They had rented an apartment in Vancouver where they let me stay for the night. In the morning they were to drop me off at highway 99 going North.

I wrote a goodbye note, packed everything. Vidhaya let me do the laundry which I greatly appreciated and we set off.

“Lynn Valley will be on our way, if you would like, we can go together,” said Anand in the morning.

From Lynn Valley we went to Capilano, from Capilano to Stanley Park, from Stanley Park to Granville Island. It was a beautiful day of rest, great impressions and good talks.

“Whistler should not be so far from here,” said Anand after we had shared a plate of a delicious Indian meal listening to very professional street music on Granville Island. He thought of driving there after a cup of coffee and a bit of rest we were to have back in the apartment. With the days being so long in the North, we had not realised it was already quite late in the evening. It had been a long day, so Whistler became our destination for the morning. I got to stay one more night.

Beautiful road, beautiful town, beautiful people, beautiful hike in the mountain, beautiful weather. If only there had been no schedule! Vidhya and Anand had to be back in Seattle for their flight to Boston later that night, so the goodbye came sooner than any of us wanted it to.

“How are we going to leave you here?” said Vidhya.

If they had only known where my next ride brought me, I think we would have been hitchhiking together!