island pond to montreal

after another wonderful experience with the twelve tribes commonwealth community i was off hitch-biking again, headed for montreal. i rode a little ways out of island pond to a place i though ti was likely to catch a ride. there were not many cars out on this road on this late sunday morning, so my usual worries were hightened. but a car came by soon enough and it was this guy bruce who is a friend of the twelve tribes! his house, which he bought from them, was pointed out to me the previous evening. "a nice guy lives there now." is what i was told. i'm glad i got to get first hand experience of this.

after the ride from bruce i spent a couple of rather uncomfortable hours on an ugly stretch of road near to highway 91, trying to catch someone going up into canada there. i began going up to people with canada plates at the gas station and asking them. many people only spoke french. one guy told me that he would love to help me but had been caught in a mess once when a hitch-hiker had stuffed some drugs under the seat... and i got the idea i might have a hard time finding a ride across the border.
so i proceeded through newport and then hitched a ride up to the border. i found a great deal on celtic sea salt at the little natural food store in newport!

2nd ride: a nice young family man who had a bike rack on the back of the car. he moved asside his fishing poles to make room for my bags in the back seat. we related over the vision of positive change for humanity.

right as i was passing through the border there was a huge downpour, so i lingered for a while under the shelter there. a guy with a motorcycle was also lingering to wait out the worst of the rain. he said if i had trouble finding a ride i could come find him in the nearby town of Brome and stay the night at his place. gave me his phone number. he told me he had riden the route vert up to quebec city and back on his horse once. sounds nice.

3rd ride: Jean-Philippe Brouillette and Laurainne Grandmaison

the rain let up and i soon caught a ride with some nice folks headed towards, but not all the way, to montreal. we drove through some SUPER-heavy rain! this young couple said they are working all the time now, saving money to buy a place. they were on the way back from a couple days of vacation, off hiking i think. jean was turning 29 the following day! they dropped me off near the big highway that leads to montreal, and i took shelter at a gas station there while another downpour came and went. i enjoyed watching and listening to the people at the gas station. mostly french. the guy working the pumps was a very pleasant character and we had a positive exchange.

4th ride: Paul Rozon
this pleasant man was a jehova's whitness, so maybe you can imagine we had a lot to talk about. he appreciated the mission that i am on, spreading the hope for positive change in humanity through choosing love. it is basically what he is all about too. he was able to help me understand the jehova's whitness folks from a new perspective.

5th ride: martin

i considered just riding the rest of the way into montreal, which was about ten miles perhaps, but then decided to give hitching a shot first. glad i did because i met this amazing guy, who was a huge confirmation of my vision for humanity.
he told me that about six years ago he had had a kind of shift, or awakening in his life. he had gone on a trip across canada to the west and then down the west coast of the U.S. he said that it felt like, "everything that happened was part of a plan." he shared his thoughts about how interconnected everything is and that, "nothing happens for nothing." you know... everything happens for a reason. like me happening to be there hitching a ride just when he was coming by.
"i think there are more and more people starting to think like that... it's good." he said. and i felt overjoyed to hear it. there lies my hope for humanity. he told me he beileves in unity!
he said, "every time i see people that are not too ... strange, i stop and pick them up."
as we crossed over the bridge into montreal he mused about when he passes this way before and after work, he sees the beauty of it and is grateful for all the blessings in his life.

i was dropped off near downtown and rode the rest of the way to the apartment of my couchsurfing host, elise. the sun was setting as i headed west, and i hoped to catch a good view, but i had to be satisfied with the colors on the clouds peeking above the buildings. i was feeling pretty elated, as i usually do arriving in a new city. i played with the hula hoop as i rode, showing off a little for people on the street. i can spin it around my right wrist and am working on some other simple tricks.

elise was full of positive energy to receive me with and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner on her front balcony.