Extreme Kindness

Erik's Journal

Date: November the 28th 2002. Time to head home.

Geography: A snowstorm on the Rock.

Point form day: Left first thing in the morning -gassed up -drove for 12 hours or so stopping only in Corner Brook to get some food -arrived in Port Aux Basque -went for a run by myself, at 11:00pm, in a snowstorm, in an foreign land, in shorts -had an ice cold shower at the ferry terminal -slept seated in the drivers seat until 6:00 am when we finally boarded the '12:00' boat -slept on the dash.

Highlight of the day: My run through Port Aux Basque. I was all alone on empty snow swept streets. It was just what I needed after spending the day packed in the RV. I ran up a local hill and crawled up a TV tower to get a view of the town, then set out into the small winding roads. The town was empty but it felt to me like everyone tucked away in the houses knew that I was there. I had a wonderful hour and a half run and as I was heading back to the ferry terminal I was shocked to see two other runners, bundled up, heading in the same direction! I thought I was the only one insane enough to go running at this hour, in these conditions. Turns out it was Mark Luttell and Chris Bratseth. We headed back to the ferry terminal and I hustled into the terminal to have a nice hot shower. No such luck. Cold shower. Ouch.

Most inspiring moment: Just heading home.

Shout outs: Mark Luttrell, thanks for being a bro. Thanks to all the people who sent us off.

Classic quote: "It feels like we've just hit light speed" - a comment made while driving about 50km/h. All you could see was the snow coming at the windshield and about 5 meters of the road in front of you.

My crux: Not moving around. It drives me nuts.

Physically speaking: Mark skinned his knee while running in the snow.v Mental stimulation: Trying to focus on the road while driving. I ended up driving for at least 6hrs.

Big laughs: Mark and I had some great laughs talking our youths. We were reminiscing about how, when you were a kid, you would find treasure that was actually garbage and nobody else really appreciated it.

When I finished writing this I was: Loving the song "Sorry signs on cash machines" by Mason Jennings.