Hi folks and welcome to my Canarail journal. This trip has been in the works ever since my Uncle Joe first mentioned how cheap it is to get a pass and traverse the country. I would like to thank APS for all time off I get per year for making this all possible.
Today I woke up to a dark, gloomy, and wet sky. So nothing out of the ordinary. Normally I would think "Why am I such an idiot for staying in this god forsaken rain soaked city...", but then I realized that I'm out of here for 4 weeks. See ya rain! Today really snuck up on me, I was buying luggage last night at 8 in the evening.
I headed straight to the train station after work. Everything seemed to be going on schedule when Lisa pointed out that I was exiting the office to Ben Kweller's Penny on the Train Track. As I waved goodbye I also wiped the tears... err rain from my eyes on my way to the depot.
Everything really seemed to go my way when I found out that George Dubya saved me $50. I was picking up tickets for my 2nd and 3rd legs of the journey when I found out that I would be arriving in Biggar Saskatchewan at 11:20pm and not 12:30am which I had initially thought. This saved me a day of travel time on my pass which means I don't have to fork over an extra $50 of hard earned CBC income to pay for a 13th day of travel. And who wants to travel for 13 days anyways? That's just bad luck.
Feeling good about how smooth everything is going, the first knock against my good feelings hits me. The clouds start breaking and rays of sunshine start peeking out between the clouds as I EXIT the city... typical. Is this a sore throat I feel coming on too? Ack!
My first worthy site on this trip was the trainwash. Someone needs to redo the Rose Royce song now.
5 minutes later I understand the need for the trainwash as we go through the "Corridor of Filth". You know those overpasses on Victoria, Clark, and Broadway that go over the corridor where the Millennium Line lives? Well, even below the skytrain is VIA rail where all the garbage gets funneled down to.
My first meeting of the trip happens very quick. Two of us were hunting for electrical outlets so we can ruin this scenic ride with the ambient light of modern LCD screens. Upon finding said outlets an exchange of awkward small talk ensues. I sit beside him and we discuss how to allocate the vital socket. I learn that his name is Bob (name hidden so he doesn't find this via Google). A few moments of smalltalk later I discover that Bob is a traveler, but no ordinary traveler. He's a Super Traveler. He's on a similar journey as myself, but he's coming from California and decided to do a quick jaunt into Canada before he returns to the USA to cross eastward to NYC. He's been traveling for 5 days so far and has seen 5 cities. He's a Super Traveler because of his amazing thirst for quantity over quality. He's on his way to Jasper right now. He told me "I think I'll hang out there for 4 hours and then head right back out". Four hours in Jasper? Are you kidding me? I asked how long he stayed in Vancouver for to which he replied "About 18 hours. I didn't go too far, just a little ways around the train station". Now I know why he travels alone. Sorry Bob, I'm glad we created our resource treaty on the outlets, but man you need to soak in a little more of your surroundings... and I thought I was stretching things a bit thin by only staying a couple nights in each city. Good luck Bob the Super Traveler.
After our little talk he broke the awkwardness by discovering the seats across the aisle from us were not being occupied so he moved over. We're still socket buddies though.
After finishing my book (Robin Hobb) and doing a little coding my stomach started to rumble. I made my first venture to the dining car to see if I'll be riding hungry the rest of the way. To my surprise I enjoyed a fine "Canadian Pot Roast" along with a beer and a coffee for twenty bucks! I was expecting the pot roast to be dry and microwavish but it was a fine tender piece of meat with tasty gravy, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, beans, and a whole wheat bun. Looks like I won't be losing any weight on this trip.
For some reason I had a hard time sleeping on the train. I kept on getting a cramp and would wake up. I ended up having breakfast at 7:30AM. It was good that I was up that early because we were starting to hit the Rocky Mountains. I managed to snap a few decent pictures, meanwhile the Super Traveler slept through the whole scenic part of the trip. You can see pictures of this leg of the journey in my gallery.
I've now checked into my hotel in Edmonton. It looks like the train ride has taken its toll on my laptop. It won't run off the battery anymore. I guess I know where my tax return will be going towards now. Actually, I'm sort of happy because it gives me a reasonable excuse to get a new lappy.
Time to figure out how to allocate my time in the "City of Champions".