The Journey of Change

It is said that the open country can make you loose yourself. It is also said that the open road has its own appeal. It calls to us at some primitive level. But we have taught ourselves to ignore this call so that we can get on with our lives. This allows us to be stable and lead a settled life.

I have just been on a journey across Canada. Changing four buses and covering around 2500 kms over a 40 hour period. This has to be the longest journey of my life. I have never spent such a long period on the road or travelled such a long distance by road that too continuously. This journey changed me. Earlier I thought that I was alone here in Vancouver. Now I truly am alone and I am loving it!
Travelling through the wild Canadian countryside, passing through towns having total population of '5'. The extreme remoteness of this region can only be felt by travelling through it. It made me realise life is too big. Our emotions have no place in nature. Our emotions tend to confuse us and disconnect us from nature.
Finally it made me realise that I we are always alone. In our hearts we are always alone. The open road always calls us... and that call is very personal. The call is not for a crowd. It is for the individual explorer.
A crowd spoils nature. Tourism kills the individual.

The journey:
Part 1: Vancouver -> Edmonton via Jasper
Duration: 17 hours

Part 2: Edmonton -> Peace River via Slave Lake
Duration: 6.5 hours

Part 3: Peace River -> Enterprise via High Level
Duration: 7.5 hours

Part 4: Enterprise -> Yellowknife via Rae
Duration: 6 hours

The most amazing thing about this journey was that we were delayed by 2 hours because the bus from Edmonton to Peace River broke down, but we managed to reach Yellowknife 15 minutes before time. The breaks in between (about 1hr 15min each) took the strain of the delay.

Anyway I will post pics from the journey next.