The wheels are on the brink of a roll

My time in Stephanie's cozy apartment is ticking to it's end. I had a great time here in Calgary, just yesterday I was reunited with my spirited ERS classmate, as she was nice enough to have Catherine and I along to Canmore to get our first glimpse of the Alberta Rockie Mountains. As expected they were majestically ever present - as Catherine, myself, Kristy and her friendly down to earth Mom walked through the streets of the trendy resort-esk town, and hiked along the Bow river at the base of the mountains. We ate some hot soup then at a small local cafe-bistro reminiscent of the Kitchener Vincenzo's. It was a day finished in fellowship as well, as Catherine, Stephanie and I shared a meal out at a nice Calgary restaurant. Today, I laid the groundwork for the rest of my summer by visiting a travel agent and booking my flights! More details on these later... I paid a visit to the 'Green Monster' and got my self some tire tubes and a tire patch kit as well. Catherine and I shopped at the Community Market grocery store - a delicious natural foods grocer and buffet lunch spot (I was in food heaven) and made the three of us a yummy last supper in Stephanie's apartment.

A highlight of the day was when Catherine and I spotted the Otesha hybrid car outside the Community Market. We yelped when we saw the car - this being the second time we have seen it in the city over the past few days, and we left the unknowing drivers and training week planners a friendly note under the wiper, that we were excited to meet them, and eat the food they were purchasing from the organic locally based grocer!

Although I am slightly anxious and nervous and excited for tomorrow, to meet my new 'family' members for the next two months, and start our training week, I am content being here, now, with my long time friends, with a sense of warmth all around me.

building bikes in bus terminals.

I'm in the province of Alberta, with my trusty panniers full of my things for the next two months, and my beautiful bicycle well put together (by moi dans le Greyhound terminal!) So now let me tell you about the trip on the Greyhound.

Ontario is a huge province, so much of it's beauty is well undiscovered by the populations of Southern Ontario. The minerals making up the Canadian shield of Ontario are stunning, the abrupt end to the shield and beginning of the prairies to the East of Winnipeg is just as stunning. The prairies of Manitoba and Saskatchewan seem rather dull. I hate to subject these areas to the typical stereotype they so often receive, but the prairies seem yellow, empty and lifeless. Perhaps this has much to do with the time of year, the early spring that has not yet yielded green to the fields or seed for wildlife. Perhaps I am not experiencing the area; instead I am drawing conclusions from visual interpretations made from the confines of a container that is the bus. Regardless, I'm sure the prairie lands of our country offer their own unique fruits and pleasures, I just didn't get the change to live them. I will get to live Alberta and BC, from Calgary to Vancouver, as I will dwell within my surroundings from the seat of my bike, rather then by the extended television that vehicle windows are.

I'm not sure I would want to extend the bus ride much beyond the two and a half day length that it already was, but in all, the ride was not so bad at all. People cringed when I reported I was hopping on this long bus ride, but now I can confirm now, it's not horrible. You meet some interesting characters, young tree planters, middle aged adventure seekers, senile old men venturing all the way across the country for a political convention. And unlike the sterile, stuffy regulations that are normal on airplane flights, here, on the bus, the group is smaller, and the 'captain' someone you can actually speak with. Ultimately, I would encourage others who have the time to travel by bus, to do so to look out the window at our beautiful (and huge) country, to save some money and to save some energy, as the efficiency of road travel compared to air travel deserves recognition.

Now is a time for some last minute preparations, some visiting with old friends prior to meeting my new friends. Until next time, Namaste!

Reason to Dream

So, here we are. Another chapter begins, and I am hoping that you will venture down the pathway that this chapter represents.

As I wrote during my time in Inuvik, it is very difficult to close a chapter of your life that is progressing so nicely, but at the same time, it is thrilling in the best sense of the word. Back then, I was leaving the unique Inuvik to come back to Waterloo, and finish my last year of University. Now, I have completed that chapter as well, and I am entering a new and very different one. I have completed my formal university education! Throughout university I learned about myself, and the intricate environment in which humans dwell. My eyes were opened, wide, to the extraordinary variety of life as I experienced new things. Now, my passion for the natural world that has been simmering throughout my life is at a rolling boil. I am so excited to exude this passion during the coming months. "Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end" and the end to university that I am experiencing now, pushes me to look into the future: the unpredictable, the scary, the thrilling, the intriguing. Although it only might exist, the world has told me I should have a plan, and a plan I do have.

In just one short week I will be hopping on a Greyhound, with my panniers packed, and my beautiful touring bike in a sad confined box. When I arrive in Calgary, I will put this beauty back together (a process I have yet to learn...) and I will meet the 13 other people that I will be spending all of my time with over the following two months, on an Otesha Cycling and Preforming Tour. And during these two months as I bicycle from Calgary to Vancouver, I will spread a message about how to live more sustainably: How to reflect on your needs; How to respect your fellow human brothers and sisters by selecting socially just options to consumerism; How to conserve energy and water, a luxury that so many go without; How to avoid the influence that our label-ridden society so negatively forces upon us; How to eat food with awareness and knowledge of it's source; How to save our planet, one very small action at a time.

Every single one of us has the ability to remove our blinders, showing the world the many problems that are afflicting the world as a result of our over consumptive society. You can also hold up the mirror, and recognize the role that YOU play in creating many of these problems. You, and I, can empower others, showing that just as our actions have the potential to do harm, they also have the potential to do incredible good. And we will ACT. There are innumerable ideas for fun, easy, world changing actions that anyone can take, to work towards a healthful world. [Thank you Otesha, for the well thought out words in this paragraph].

So come along with me this summer, and learn with me as I experience the difficulties and joys of long distance cycling, the excitement of empowering others, and the thrill of travelling abroad. I leave from Toronto on April 25. I will cycle and preform from May 1 until June 25. I will explore the west coast, and meet up with my sister to broaden my worldview and experience new cultures in Southeast Asia. All the while, I will dream, reflect, inspire, and realize that I can be the change...