#36 Winnipeg, MB: Half Way The-ere, Oo-oo, Drivin' On a Prayer

In our twelve years living in Mongolia, we developed a saying that comforted us on many road trips: Every journey eventually ends.  The only time I remember hitchhiking in Mongolia, a small Russian jeep stopped to pick me up.  I counted the grown men as they were disgorged from the back seat.  3 .. 4 .. 5 .. 6 .. 7!!  And now I was offered the chance to become part of this 3-D jigsaw puzzle as they continued down the road.  It was winter and any extra space was filled with bulky clothes.  You'd think that despite the heater not working, there would be enough body heat to keep us warm.  All I remember was how cold my feet were and I couldn't move them 1 millimeter to try to get circulation going.  But, as I kept repeating to myself, every journey eventually ends.

Our five-and-a-half week loop around Eastern Canada has been so much more comfortable than that.  The roads were rough at times but nothing like Mongolia.  It has been very rich and joy-filled and purposeful.  That said, it has also been very intense and, at times, emotionally exhausting.  When we turned onto Red River Road in Thunder Bay, there was a wave of anticipation of home.  That was repeated when we saw the 'Red River Co-op' sign in Dryden.  Obviously we filled up at this, the furthest east gas station where I could get membership points.  Our final stop was at my Mom's place in Oak Bank. She has stood behind us through every bend of the road and now had some home-cooked Pacific Potluck and Watergate salad ready for us.  


The broad smiles and big hugs that greeted us at church the next day kind of completed the odyssey for me.  It was this church that, an eternity ago, promised to pray for us, signed our banner and sent us on our way.  The journey had eventually come to an end.  Well, at least the first half.  There is still Western Canada, but we have at least a year to be renewed before then.  If you've been following this blog and want to continue as we head west, send me an e-mail at sonsofdoerk@gmail.com  I'll be sure to let you know when we hit the road again.

A Few Stats

- Distance. We travelled 11,985 km by road and 653 km by water on 6 ferries for a total of 12,638 km.  We averaged 2297 km per week. (My plan had been 2000.)

- Fuel. We filled up with gas 27 times for a total of $4909. (I had budgeted $6000.)  Gas ranged from $1.15 (at a First Nation in southern Ontario) to $2.57 per litre (on the Labrador - Baie Comeau highway.) Some of you have helped out with a tank of gas and that's been hugely encouraging!

- Rest.  We had 5 days total with no travel but rarely pure rest. (I had planned on resting Sundays and one other day a week for a total of 11 days.) We had to keep up the pace to complete the journey in the time I was allotted away from work.

- Route.  Even before we started we had abandoned my original idea of taking every little jog and dirt road to keep as close to the perimeter of the country as possible.  It just seemed burdensome and would have added weeks to the journey and taken years of life off poor old Vincent.  That said, we did hug the edge pretty tightly for the most part and took some wildly remote roads.


- Loop.  The obsessive side of me wanted to figure out how to make a perfect loop around Eastern Canada without any eastbound / westbound overlap.  Sadly for my OCD, there are two places - near Thunder Bay and near Kenora - where there just aren't any options.  We cheated on the Kenora one by dipping out of Canada to go around the bottom end of Lake of the Woods.  At Thunder Bay, even if we had taken every tiny little logging road, there would still have been a 20 km stretch of bottleneck.

- Territory covered.  Counting Manitoba we travelled through all seven eastern provinces and got as close as roads would take us to the territory of Nunavut - about 30 km from where we parked.  We drove as far south as possible (Pelee Island on Lake Erie) and as far east (Cape Spear, Newfoundland).  It was a special thrill for me to camp at both of those places overnight. 


Someone told me along the way that we could have saved a lot of miles by just praying over a map.  My head tells me that's true but not my heart.  It seemed that there was something significant - a declaration of the Creator's Lordship and an addressing of old wrongs - in putting feet and wheels on the ground.  In my spirit I felt an assurance which I haven't known before that God was giving us, and acting upon, some very big prayers.  Transforming Canada.  I've sensed how much He loves this place.

Maybe the biggest thing that made me believe that this journey was crafted by a Larger Hand was the awareness of the large team that was taking this on with us.  Frequent texts of encouragement, spiritual pictures and scriptures.  People along the way falling in with cheers and blessings and gifts.  Reports of people praying along with us as they read Patty's Sea to Sea to Sea Facebook page or this blog.  

We'll await God's confirmation for the western loop.  And if He'll go before us, I hope the rest of you are called again as well.

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