THE EXPEDITION Chapter 18: Printing Presses, Pie, Pretty Great Music……..and Pikachu (Sec
- Ann Cognito
- Jun 1, 2022
- 6 min read
In which creepy Pikachu man shows up again, and this is a problem Date: June 24 2019
Portage la Prairie to Creekside Campground 14 km
The radio station wasn’t too far and I was a little early for the interview. When the reporter came out to meet me, I realized – as he’d already known – that he was one of the friendly folks we’d met at the campground bluegrass festival near Sidney the other day.
On the way out of town after the interview, which was really more like a nice chat with lots of information, I had one more stop.
Mr Myrtle was down to only three boots, and there’s just too many sharp things and ticks for barefoot highway hiking. A friend was sending a set to an address in Winnipeg where we could get them, but that was a long way yet. There was a pet shop here though, and it turned out they had exactly one set of dog boots. One of the dear people still following us on facebook had asked the shop to hold them till we got there. Unbelievably, they fit. Those boots – both sets – were among the most heartfelt and appreciated gifts of the whole journey… and he’s still wearing both sets (they dry slow, so spares are important).
We finally got going. The next campground was 14 kilometres and it was a pretty nice day; we’d make it even with such a late start. We made it in record time… because I kept looking over my shoulder for the Pikachu guy. I’d been so busy while in Portage la Prairie, I hadn’t thought more about him, But on the road again… it was hard not to be wary. Actually, I was pretty creeped out.
Date: June 25 2019 Creekside Campground
The campground felt good, though. It was full of trees and space and beautiful walks, and turtles… lots of turtles. I stayed an extra night, to calm down.
Date: June 26 2019
Creekside Campground to Elie 25km
Elie would be 25 kilometres. I wasn’t sure where we’d stay, but there seemed to be a motel, a bed and breakfast, and possibly a community league or something. On the highway at the turnoff is a gas station with a Tim Hortons, where I stopped to figure the evening out. It turned out the hotel and B&B were full – if there’s road work going on, the crews often book those places solid when you’re in between big places, and that’s what was the case here. As I was pondering what to do, I got talking with a cyclist crossing the country
– and then over his shoulder, the Pikachu man walked in.
He saw me – he stopped and stared. He walked back and forth a few times, looking a little more upset each time and still staring at me. He finally went into the bathroom, and I interrupted the cyclist (or would have, if he hadn’t already stopped talking because of the look on my face). I explained as quick as I could that I’d had a weird incident with someone who seemed like someone to worry about, and told him what had just happened. He asked me to describe the man’s car, and ran out to the parking lot to try to get the license plate number. It was too dirty, and blocked by an awkward trailer-towing rig, though, and as he was trying, the man returned to his car and the cyclist figured he’d better not look suspicious. He did get the first half of the plate as Mr Pikachu pulled out, and came back to give those to me.
I was now thoroughly creeped out and dealing with CPTSD triggering. I took Mr Myrtle into the adjacent convenience store aisles while Pikachu had been in the bathroom; it was busier there, with tall shelves at skewed angles, so I could stay out of sight, but I wanted to see him leave and wanted to see my cyclist friend return. Pikachu hunted around for me for a few very long minutes before leaving while Mr Myrtle and I ducked down and edged around shelves.
The cyclist seemed like a sensible person and had done many bike trips, so he probably had a pretty good perspective on road weirdness. He was at least as disturbed as I was, and the cashiers all said they didn’t recall him as a local, and had all felt uncomfortable around him. They’d also been disturbed by how he’d been looking at, and for, me. I called the RCMP, figuring if they had someone disturbing out there, they ought to know, in case anything happened to anyone.
They didn’t give a hoot. They couldn’t have cared less about a creepy stalker with a car crammed full of childrens’ toys, and got quite annoyed at me for wasting their time. I may have yelled at them for being irresponsible and told them if anything happened, it would be their fault. I was pretty frustrated, and it was a bit of a minor scene, which didn’t make me many friends among the customers, but the staff were jut plain concerned. Meanwhile, there wasn’t anywhere to stay and I certainly wasn’t just pitching the tent wherever with Pikachu wandering around.
I knew three people in Winnipeg, none of whom were able to come this far.
Tim’s wasn’t one of the all-night branches… they’d close at 11:00pm. I asked if they’d let me sit in the space between the double doorways, but that wasn’t possible. There’s probably a hundred insurance, security, and health related reasons, all in fine print, none of which the late night staff were in a position to make exception to.
So I sat on the curb under the light all night. I figured if the traffic slowed down I’d sit somewhere less obvious, but as long as the vehicles kept streaming by – which they did all night, it turned out – I’d make sure they could all see us. I posted about what had happened on the Walk facebook page, and reposted it several places. Then, with some of the folks on the page and in the messaging support group, we decided I’d post every hour through the night, so we could all worry a bit less. I ate too much, to keep warm and to keep busy, and walked around in circles for the same reason. I tried counting stars, and that was lovely, except it seemed wise to keep an eye at road level so I stopped that. Counting cars wasn’t nearly as pleasant, and meditating presented the same issue as stargazing. The usual roadtrip games don’t work in the dark. Ditto writing. Singing was too out of context and made it all feel like a bad movie.
Several people pulled in looking for gas and/or coffee; most asked if I was alright and were mostly quite nice, or at least polite. A few times folks parked for an hour or so before continuing – company was reassuring even if they were most likely catching a nap.
Date: June 27 2019
Elie to Winnipeg (ride) 48 km
Eventually the early morning staff started coming in. As soon as they could let us in, they gave us breakfast and coffee (well, Mr Myrtle got water). I’d been trying to figure out if I could make it into Winnipeg that day, but 48 kilometres wouldn’t have been likely (or a good idea) even if I had slept.
I was frazzled, tired, not particularly clean looking, and probably stinky. I was holding cool cloths to Mr Myrtle’s paws, which had gotten puffy from being in boots too long through the day plus overnight. We had a pile of stuff. We raised a few eyebrows, but no possibilities.
A family of Mennonite women came and sat with me, though. They were so sweet and interesting, and really nice to talk with… we talked about what I was doing, and about sustainable ways of living… we talked about gardening and preserving… they prayed with me, and for me, briefly and kindly, and asked me to now please post again about needing a ride, and then they were on their way. The next thing I knew, I was making arrangements with Evan from the Brandon road crew for a ride into the city, to the home of a woman whom I knew through the page and had talked with much. The universe is a pretty amazing place.
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