Tuesday 24 September 2013

Sunday, September 22nd, 2013

Let’s See

Edmonton, Alberta

Well, I’ve been there before – at the cut-off point.  Cold turkey is a term when you abruptly axe yourself from an addiction, if that’s possible.

The addiction referred to is walking.  This leg of the walk, the 4th, saw me through the southern part of Manitoba and then southern Saskatchewan and then well into southern Alberta.  You can easily get psychologically affected.  A doctor said withdrawal symptoms could arise when you marathon and then suddenly come to a halt.  Let’s see what happens.

Daruka and I headed north for two speaking engagements in Edmonton.  As we moved along on Highway 2 towards our destination, I had a hard look at the feet while in the passenger’s seat.  We’re looking at healthy, relaxed calves, but at feet, have had some challenges.  Cracks on the heels, dead warts skin at the toes’ ends, and some slight inflammation on the tiny toes are all symptomatic of some hard walking.  What true warrior wouldn’t have some scars. Fortunately the knee joints aren’t the least bit agitated.

The other day Daruka and I met Tyrell, a chap from Saint Albert near Edmonton.  His grandparents apparently walked the country coast to coast.  They are missionaries.  I would love to make a connection with them, share some of the road experiences, let’s see.

As we plied along at a good clip in Daruka’s Grand Prix, I had another look at a map of Alberta and then peered outside the window to view the towns we passed by in correspondence to the map.  I could see that this Highway 2 which runs north/south has an ample quantity of towns and villages, places that are off the beaten path.  My heart did not exactly palpitate, but a cloud of dreams did suddenly pop into my presence.  “What if?” I thought, “Just what if I tread the path of north/south, even if east/west roads don’t juncture here?”  The thought did excite. Generally the direction taken to accomplish the goal of walking the entire country is latitudinally, at least for Canada, but that means that you miss umpteen, if not hundreds of places that are on the longitudinal grid.

In the future strategizing of trekking the whole stretch of Canada, what about trying to cover every town and village?  Let’s see.

Dream away, Swami.

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