Loretta and Marvin keep meeting people doing incredible things such as cycling or running across Canada. Others they meet have less ambitious goals, but are impressive nevertheless (especially for those of us who spend most of their days with their butts in a chair). Read on, and learn more.
Bob Zeilstra
Loretta writes:
“This a.m. [June 21] we passed a guy (circa 50s) cycling and towing a trailer loaded with camping stuff. He was in jeans, wore slippers and talked about his knowledge of the road with pride.
“He said he was from Victoria, out of work so going to Winnipeg (old home area) to look for work. He said he has done this before so knew where he could stop.”
Martin and Anne Mack
Martin and Anne Mack flew to Vancouver and were cycling back to their home in St. Johns. There were camping, and were making almost twice the progress of our heroes. As Loretta puts it: “Aaah – youth!”
They met in Gravel River Ontario.
Coyote Kevin
Coyote Kevin is running across the country. Loretta writes of their encounter:
“This morning we woke up to overcast skies and fog. We had planned an early start but decided to wait for the fog to life a bit. At breakfast, we met Coyote Kevin who is running across Canada with plans to bring in the millennium there. He was pulling a kind of cart and had quite a few sponsors advertised. Nice guy.
“Later we passed him as we were approaching a long hill which he says he walks. He is traveling alone and mostly camps. Amazing!”
When they met Coyote, he was on his 5th of 10 pairs of shoes. He hoped to hit St. Johns on New Years Eve — I guess his way of celebrating the new millennium. He talked about how much he enjoyed interacting with kids along the way, spreading his message of hope.
John Ryan
John Ryan, paraplegic cyclist from Whistler is cycling across Canada. He had set out from the Maritimes accompanied by fellow cyclists Tom and Sam, and by his father in a chase van. John had a special cycle which featured three wheels, elevated feet, and hand pedals. He was raising money for spinal chord research. Loretta and Marv were amazed and humbled by John’s saga. They took pictures, exchanging greetings, wished each other well, and set out down the hill.
Loretta writes on July 14 between Gravel River and Terrace Bay Ontario:
“At the top of Caver’s Hill we had a real high (pardon the pun). We met John Ryan, the paraplegic from Whistler who is cycling from East to West for Spinal Cord research.
“We had been hearing about him and were hoping that we’d meet him.”
The Whitfords from Parksville
Between Montreal River and Heyden, our heroes met the Whitfords — George, 78, Margaret, 70 and their son James, 48. In 1953, to mark their arrival in Canada from England, they rode from Québec City to Vancouver on a 3-speed tandem bicycle, pulling a little trailer holding their 2 year-old son. George, Margaret and James are now recreating their trip, using the same 3-speed tandem bike!
They are doing the trip again to mark the International Year of Older People.
Son and father were taking turns driving the car (mother can’t drive) and riding the bike.
They shared the road with the Whitfords for quite some time. Whitford’s chase van would pass and honk periodically, they’d pass each other resting, even stayed in the same town.
And yet more …
3 students from Alberta heading to Halifax to visit a chum, camping with state-of-the-art equipment.
7 youth from Germany doing a loop from Toronto. No names, just the fact they were German and came to cycle.
A cyclist from Calgary to Halifax.
Robert Hall, an SFU business grad from Kamloops who was doing the same ride from Victoria to St. Johns, camping all the way.
Young man from Japan who left Vancouver June 1st and was heading for Halifax. They met on the road to Pictou.
Cross Canada tour group caught up with them approaching St. John’s. They shared the ferry with the tour group.