After I dropped off the report of my research project, organized everything and sold or packed my remaining stuff respectively, it is time for a goodbye party. So I invite for a BBQ garden party at my apartment and a lot of people show up, who I might not see in years.

It is a great party that runs long into the night.

June 29^th 2001

Today is the day I go on a big trip. It is my aim to hitch hike to Lynn Lake, Manitoba, where I'm going to visit Rob, who is collecting samples and data for his master thesis in geology.

5:00am my alarm rings. I get up a have a quick look, if Christoph is willing to give a lift to the Highway that early. The message he left in the early morning hours sounds more 9:00am and so I give myself some more hours of sleep.  At 8:00am I get up and have a quick and tiny breakfast. The recent months were dominated by the work for my research project, now being out of work is an odd feeling, but quite nice ;-)) I haul my backpack, that couldn't fit all that stuff but already weighs about 35kg, into Christoph's car and here we go.

Some time later I stand at the ramp of the 401 eastbound and say goodbye the Christoph. No 10 minutes later I get my first ride. I am being dropped of close to Hamilton, but here the eastbound traffic has to take a left-turn lane, pretty bad for hitch hiking. I am lucky and after 20 minutes two girls ask me, if I need to get a lift northwards. Sure, I say, on highway 400. They take me all the way along to Barrie, crossing the highway interception of 401 and 400, which is a bad spot for hitch hiking. After only 7 hours I am in Sudbury, where Marten Engren, a Sudbury born ice hockey player, who is member of the L.A. Ice Dogz, drops me off.

The next guy only gives me a short ride, just long enough to offer me a blowjob. I just tell him that I'm not interested and we talk for a bit. After another few rides I get to Thessalon at the time the sun is already setting. At a nearby bay of Lake Superior it set up my camp on a rock.

I have a hot soup for dinner and read a bit before I fall asleep.

June 30^th, 2001

The next morning is cloudy, it already rained a few drops.  After breakfast I get back to the highway thumb up. Unfortunately this is a bad spot again, in a curve, not place to stop. Meanwhile the sky is gotten dark and first faint rumble gets louder and louder. Then a car stops, in it a guy who is on the way to his best friends wedding in Sault St. Marie. Comfortably I get through the thunder storm and dropped off at a gas station. My next ride I get is with Marc from Montreal, who is on his way to Regina to a language course to improve his bad English. He is glad to have someone to talk to, to switch drivers and to talk to in English. We drive the whole day and through half of the night until we reach Winnipeg. There we try to sleep in his car before he brings me to the northbound highway 6 in the early morning hours.

July 1^st, 2001

It is indeed very early in the morning, but a wonderful day is dawning. Sky is blue, landscape's green and flat. I mean absolutely flat. From here it's only another 768 km to Thompson (and about 1070 km to Lynn Lake). The first 15 km an afro Canadian soccer fan takes me along on his way to his Sunday golf game. He drops me off at a gas station and drives on. Minutes later I can still see and hear his car, but no other one. The gas station is closed and so I get the newspaper from the delivery woman. After 30 minutes just about 5 cars passed me and I decide to have breakfast first.

About an hour later a car rushes past, but comes back 2 minutes later. He wanted to have a look at me first, the driver tells me, smiling. We drive on for 1,5 hours and have a great talk. L. Boyd Sweetser is his name and he works for Agriculture Canada. I get a lift to another gas station close to Mulvihill, somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

Here I have lunch as there might no be a chance to get something to eat in the next hours. Later I have to wait three hours in the hot sun. There is no lack of passing cars, but well...they pass me and stare at me as if I was from another planet. Finally a driver stops, who was in a similar situation before and couldn't get a ride that time. He takes me all the way along to Wabowden.

During the 550 km drive the landscape doesn't change a lot, sometimes there is a power line alongside the highway, sometimes there isn't. Pretty much in the middle there is a gas station, nothing else.

It is already dawning by the time I am on the highway again. I have to walk back and forth, just to get rid of the nasty black flies. I am lucky and get a last ride that brings me right into Thompson, where Neill, Chief of equipment of the base camp Thompson, picks me up and drives me to Chris, where I can stay for the night. With Chris and his room mate Karl I watch the fireworks for Canada Day that evening.

July 2^nd, 2001

The next morning I spend with Karl, who gives me a tour to his favourite breakfast place "Roadside", through Thompson and to the local mining museum and birch bark canoe workshop. In the evening we go for some cool beers and pizza.

July 3^rd, 2001

In the morning hours Rob and I drop off Bruno, Rob's boss, at the airport and drive to Lynn Lake afterwards. From Thompson it's about 300 km though pure wilderness, where a 100 km are just gravel road.

On the way up there we pass areas where a gigantic forest fire destroyed many square miles only few weeks ago, but no one really cares. Presumably, because there is incredible much left.

As we reach Lynn Lake we are informed about the dangers that we were exposed on our way up here ;-))

A couple of years ago Lynn Lake was home for about 5000 people, but since all three local mines were shut down many have left and so population is down to about 700. It is an odd feeling driving through a ghost town, where only a few houses (which one can make out by the way the garden looks). For about $5000 one can buy ground with a house, completely furnished. Just behind Lynn Lake the road ends and after that there is only wilderness.

Rob shows me around a bit and we have a look at the mining areas before we go for a BBQ and some beers at the house of the workgroup.

July 4^th, 2001

In the morning hours we get some food and load the truck with a zodiac and fishing equipment. Cartwright Lake is where we are heading...

Here we unload our stuff and inflate the boat. An hour later we are good to go. We head for the southern end of the lake, where we set up out camp and get back into the zodiac for some fishing.

Rob just wants to show me quickly, how to cast and already catches a big pike. Well, it's that easy, I can do THAT! We catch a lot of pikes, but rather go for pickerel.

So we free the pikes and let them back again. One of the pikes fights a lot and finally rips of the leader and the hook. Wait, I tell Rob, that we gonna get that one back on the hook sooner or later. And - who would believe that - we DO catch this pike again. But it didn't just bite again, the 1,5mm small ring of the leader somehow found its way around our new hook...

The lake is that rich of fish, that I cast four times and catch four pikes in a row. Until the evening we have caught two of the more rare pickerel and a lot of appetite.

As the moon rises we light a fire and prepare the fish with some bacon. Additionally we have foil potatoes and carrots. We talk for a long time, until deep in the night.

July 5^th, 2001

For breakfast we have fried eggs and bacon, then pancakes with brown sugar. Later that morning we head back to the truck. Unfortunately the propeller has taken some hits on the way in, so we are much slower now. We put up a big tarp and sail home, using the motor for steering only.

After we put up the deflated boat for drying we go for video evening.

July 5^th, 2001

For today we planned a visit to another shut down mine, BT. For being able to have a look around (well, and to have some fun, too, I guess) we take along the quads.

It is pure fun to push the quads through the woods, over rocks, logs and gravel.

At a lookout point we have a short break and then head back. The mud holes we could pass easily on the way here are much more difficult to cross now. More than once we have to winch the four-wheelers out of the mud. Finally we step into the mud, clear the logs and try to pass it again, this time full throttle (which increased the fun factor once more) ;-))

As we get back to the truck about 4 hours later we are just done. One can argue whether this trip was making sense ecologically, but there is no need for that. However, we had a lot of fun and I am looking forward to do it again.

In the evening we have another BBQ and a video, just relaxing ;-))

July 7^th, 2001

Today we want to take a look at Fox mine. As this mine was shut down nobody thought about filling out the carved out spaces under the surface. These filled up with water and when the ceiling came down it was pressed through the ventilation system. Blocks made of tons of concrete, which covered the ventilation openings, were thrown through the air, the outflow brought up tons of toxic material which now covers square miles of ground forming a moonlike landscape. It looks really awful and one shouldn't stay to long and clean ones shoes before getting back into the car.

July 8^th, 2001

We get started rather slowly and have a big breakfast. Around noon Rob brings me to the highway, from where I want to hitch hike back to Winnipeg.

After we say goodbye I have to wait two hours before I get a lift. A guy of Indian heritage who is working for a logging company takes me all the way down to Thompson. On the way we stop a couple of times to have short talks with some colleagues and friends (one is a Indian chief). It is quite interesting.

I spend the evening with Karl and sleep in his apartment again.

July 9^th, 2001

At 4:30am I get up to have breakfast with Karl. We go to Roadside once more. Breakfast is really delicious, but some ten minutes later I stand in the rain, trying to get a lift again. I just have to 5 minutes to get a ride, it's a logging company's worker again. He knows and tells a lot of stories before he drops me off in Wabowden. From here Kevin, a road worker, picks me up an brings me to Ponton, where the highway 6 runs southwards, an intersection in the middle of nowhere...

Some time later I get a ride with a youth group. They are on their way to Winnipeg airport and so we spend the day together. The goodbye is surprisingly sweet. One of them brings me to the Winnipeg cargo railway station, from where I try to catch a train to Calgary.

Unfortunately railway police kicks me off their ground (very friendly, really). So I have to spend the night in Winnipeg and do have some time to see the city. By bus (I get my ticket for free as the driver is very interested in my story) I get to a backpackers. The evening I stroll around in downtown, where I find a nice street café with live jazz.