Mile zero, day one, May 21st, 2013. I have too much weight for the canoe cart. I had reinforced the aluminum axle but it still wasn’t strong enough. To lighten the load on the axle I have a pack on my back and packs on the bike. I also know the weight is too much for me to be able to either ride or push the bike up the steep hills. I don’t have solutions at this point but I’ve been long enough preparing and it’s time to get rolling. Much to learn and not at all sure that everything I’ve put together is going to work as planned. I did have a goal though – to make it to Inuvik, a hundred miles from the Arctic Ocean near the mouth of the Mackenzie River – and that was achieved on September 20th, 2014. Getting across to Canada’s east coast took much longer. I reached the Atlantic Ocean on August 16th, 2019 at Shediac, New Brunswick. After the covid delay, I cycled Newfoundland in 2022. That is not the end of my journey though. I am pursuing a retirement lifestyle I enjoy and intend to continue doing this for as long as I am able. My 2023 paddle is going as planned. In May I paddled west from Saguenay, Quebec to the Ottawa River. From Ottawa I returned to the Rideau and Trent Severn canal systems and they will get me to Lake Huron by the end of season. All going well in 2024 I hope to go from Jasper (VIA rail will get me there) to Fort Chipewyan, on Lake Athabasca.
Nomader, you say you’ve sold your house and you’ve rid yourself of all your homely possessions. Where will you live?
… it’s no matter?
But Nomader you have more than two hundred pounds to lug around and no vehicle.
… it’s no matter.
And Nomader you pretty much eat the same thing every day and are never certain where you’ll sleep.
… it’s no matter.
Well, Nomader what is it that drives you? What’s in a head that thinks that’s a desirable way to live?
… perhaps some would say there’s… no, matter!
Welcome to my travel journal. It doesn’t get updated on a regular basis but all the same WordPress indicates it has more than 56,000 words and 500 pictures. Welcome aboard! Take my paddle and begin your vicarious journey north to the Arctic and then east to the Atlantic.
I have not yet even completed the update of my 2022 travels, except for the map. The Newfoundland page is available but not complete. (However my Facebook posts, regarding my travels, are all public.) The menu heading, Nomader Where, has a link to my personal tracker. The menu heading Map, has a colour coded map of my journey so far. That map is done using Google Maps and Google provides the distance in kilometres for each line digitized. The table below summarizes my annual self powered travels in Canada for the eight years I’ve traveled since 2013. A total of 24,933 km.
