It was June 30, 1989 (assuming my recollection of my age at the time is correct). I wanted to really challenge myself. So I used highway busses to travel from Kitimat to Terrace (this was well before there were transit busses going from Kitimat to Terrace). Along the way I made notes of landmarks along the way to encourage myself on.
Finally I began a walk from Terrace to Kitimat, a distance of 56 km. A number of people recognized me and offered me rides. I declined. The walk was not without its complications. The plan was that instead of buying cans of pop in Terrace I would buy them at Lakelse Hairsprings, where I stopped for a rest that proved a bit longer than planned, in part because they had no cans of pop there. I had to drink pop from the paper cups there. So this was my entire refreshments for the trip. Also, I bought some chocolate covered peanuts, for the road, which dried my mouth further. The worse part was there was a stretch of road where I didn’t see any landmarks I had written down. As a result I began imagining myself on a Moebius strip. I started modifying commercial jingles into silly songs (well, at least one jingle).
Finally I made it inside the city Limits. Shortly after I made it to the city, someone who had seen me on the highway offered me a lift home again; this time, since I had made it to the city limits, I accepted. The walk took, if memory serves, about 9 hours. The next day I was a barricade guard for the July 1st Parade and thought I’d be in terrible shape for that. As it turns out, I felt pretty good; the walk had given me an excellent sleep. Nowadays, I’m sure, I’d be in pretty rough shape after a walk of that intensity, even if I drank more liquids along the way.
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