Prince Rupert (2019)

After hopping off the train last night in torrential rain, I set up camp in an empty storage container for a few hours on RR property, until it calmed to a mist, to start hoofing it into town. Walking in the dead of night on Ridley Island Road scared me more than I imagined it would. My heart pumped erratically erasing the chills of my saturated state as I marched up the slick asphalt road, vigilant to every crunching branch or thrash of water, watching yellow eyes peep at me through the black of night. But I was delirious, hungry, seeing things.

It's interesting how with sleep deprivation, little food, and the misery of the clouds firing hell upon you, you learn that the mind is more powerful than your strongest muscle, capable of much anguish and discomfort. It almost puts you into survival mode where you just keep going, your mind is a blank slate, your blood is flowing like the Nile, and you have nowhere to be, but everywhere in those cold moments of melancholy. So I just kept goin'.

I tried not to think much and hoped I would not encounter a bear or other wildlife as I wandered down the pitch black road vaguely seeing a pinch of light in the distance. Was I seeing things? I didn't know until a half hours time when I stumbled upon a construction site where I set up camp behind the collossus of heavy equipment machinery, the paver.

I slept for just a few hours and woke early that morning to truck horns, the clank of an access gate and construction workers chattering.

I didn't mind hanging out for a few more hours until the rain sequestered to a pitter of mist. Then I casually snuck out of there, wandering back down the road to get to the 16. After a few KM, it poured in torrents of rain with high winds, further drenching me to a feverish state, but I kept goin'. In the distance, I saw a tramp wandering the opposite way, a hitchhiker, soaked, walking barefoot on the asphalt with a pant leg torn from his knee to his ankle.

We talked briefly, both smiling and getting clobbered by Mother Nature. I'll never forget what he said, "Enjoy the rain my friend and safe travels." I wished him luck.

Moments later I hitched a ride with police into PR. Now I wait.