Regina
Unbeknownst to me, since I was practically sleepwalking when I entered the hotel at 2:30 a.m. in the morning, I missed a truly exciting moment when we were informed that the only available room for the boys at the Days Inn Regina was the Spiderman room. I had wondered why Mich had continued bursting out in spontaneous fits of laughter well after we had FINALLY gotten ourselves to bed that night.
And when I had a chance to observe these digs first hand the next morning, I understood why… We’re not talking a couple of Spiderman posters or doormats, but rather the full meal-deal. Complete with bunk beds. Spiderman towels. Spiderman soap dispenser. And – wait for it - Spiderman sofas. Yes indeed – iddy, biddy, kiddy, mini Spiderman sofas. Somehow Toast managed to squeeze his butt into one. It got stuck. We all thought it was really funny, but we caved and helped pull it off. What is it with the ongoing occurrence of uncannily fitting, yet quite absurd events that we are faced with on a daily basis on this trip?
Heading out that morning to the RCMP Heritage Museum that morning, we were all a little delirious from a lack of sleep. As we took Dola to meet the lovely building, we passed at least five RCMP vehicles. But alas… Still no police incident. I mean, they like, SMILE at us. All we want them to do is make our day and pull us over. Purely for video content, of course. No such luck for today.
Pulling the hours on the road that we are means covering a huge cross-section of towns, and there is a noticeable difference in the type of person who resides in each. There is, however, one common factor: they’re all nice and they all saw us on Canada AM. Canadians are just great people, all-round. And they love our Dola…
Setting out into the prairies that morning, we had our Eddie Vedder Into the Wild cd gently humming in the background, and it felt quite appropriate. It has become a form of therapy for us, as when it’s playing, it has the mysterious effect of creating peace and quite in Gus. In this instanace, we jolt back into reality when Dave switches back to our regular Reggae station; we also jolt to the reality that the next town it 60kms away. And we do so precisely as we are simultaneously running out of gas. In the prariries.
Hummidahummida… They could have given us some better content than a few fences and endless fields of golden grass! But, looking on the bright-side, at least we have cell coverage. We amuse ourselves, but it got a little much when Toaster started eating grass.
Two hours later, and we were on the road again. This unfortunate mishap put us behind schedule for our Calgary arrival, however, and it was inevitably going to be another post-10pm arrival…
Spending all this time together, we have – of course – gotten to know each other pretty darn well. Idiosyncrasies and all, and some of which would be better left undiscovered. Toaster’s animal noises being one. Dave now thinks it’s really funny to pipe up and join in during these sessions, leaving Mich and I to honestly believe we would rather be riding on top of Dola, than be subjected to such insanity. Toast, we love you, but - articulation? Well, it’s simply just not one of your strengths…
