Day 1 – The Journey Begins

As I lay down in my comfortably sized one man tent down by the water below the River John bridge, I take a moment to reflect. Today was full of enlightenment in many ways for me. I caught up with my uncle and aunt on the first leg of the journey as they headed west to Ottawa for the weekend and had an unexpected surprise when to my delight was picked up by the wonderful woman named Caryn Breed on the side of the road just past the Halifax Airport. Right from the get go I realized how small the world is when we started talking.

Being a woman, I was surprised as to how trusting she was of me, but quickly learned she does it all the time – especially to help out students! Since one of her first questions was am I a student, we got on to the topic of Acadia University where I have recently graduated from. Her first statement was, “you must know the Murphy boys!” I said, “you mean, Sean and Andrew Murphy??”. I was beginning to think this woman had some type of secret power in finding common ground with people, but I was right. She does. We continued to hit it off and discovered many things about each other. Sean Murphy used to actually date her daughter and Sean being one of my best friends made things quite comical. We could both relate to his serious love affair with sarcasm as she reflected on old times with me.

As I began to write my next sentence one of my newest friends gave me a call. This friendship was built over the simple act of offering to paint a person’s nose blue. Sheree Fitch and I first met on Front Street in Wolfville two weeks ago. At that moment, I was starting to collect quite a crew of eager bluenosers when she stepped out of Rosie’s. A group of cheerful women shouted out to her and encouraged her to paint her nose blue. Much to our delight, she set down her belongings and said, “let’s do it!”. As I began to paint her nose she shared her story with me about how she isn’t originally from Nova Scotia, but her father is a Maritimer! It was obvious how proud she was and upon further discussion she shared how she just left a difficult conversation with an old friend and this made her day. Only a few short weeks later, this complete stranger has invited me into her home as I backpack across Nova Scotia. I reached out to Sheree a few days ago because I want to learn more about the River John movement.

To back up a bit, her call interrupted my writing, but it was a call of concern and a total act of human kindness. I was scheduled to arrive in River John and stay with her and her husband tomorrow so I could attend the important meeting for the next steps around the hub school. However, due to the thoughtful drivers who got me here, I was well ahead of schedule. She had mentioned she had plans this evening and was going to be busy, but still offered to take me in. When I was approaching River John in my final leg of the day perched up high in a tow truck I gave her a call. Arriving unannounced and well ahead of schedule, I had to leave a message. The man driving the tow truck, Paul, dropped me off at the River John Esso and gave me directions to the best pizza spot – Mammy’s Pizza. And man was it ever good. As I thankfully took off my 40 pound backpack and rested on a nearby picnic table, I began to slowly enjoy my slice of za. Since, Sheree was not available I had some time to kill. I thought to myself, there is no better chance to explore River John like the presence and turned in the direction of where I passed the bridge lined with the kids backpacks along the River John.

The bridge is lined with backpacks for a reason and that reason brought me here in the first place. The people and community of River John are fighting to keep their hub school open. As I took a few photos, I saw a few young girls playing down by the water. I couldn’t help but notice the sign that was in my vision as I looked down, “you’re literally driving them away” it said. The sign put an unsettling thought in my head. Where will these girls be playing next year? To me it is puzzling how our province works. Hopefully, this journey will answer some of those questions for me and at the same time, you. It’s been a long day and I’m getting eaten by bugs. I look forward to my time in River John and at the community meeting tomorrow night – 6PM Salem United Church. Sheree has already promised me breakfast in the AM so I should have no problems getting through the day. Yum yum.

P.S. I apologize about the lack of updates and communication throughout the day. My phone has been rudely taken over by Siri and she will not let me go five seconds without wanting to talk to me. To say the least, I have had enough of her for one day…

The people I met today!

Drivers

Caryn – big heart, big ranch and a personality just about anyone can get along with. Had a Jeep rigged up with an extended trailer pulling a Kubota and Cub Cadet. Both in rough shape, one was so bad the man from the shop came out looking at it with his head tilted sideways to relate to the massive slant to the tractor.

Kevin – Pick up truck, owns a dry wall company. Moved out west worked on the rigs – hated it, came back and now employs 4-5 people and makes good money. Works mostly in the Truro area as well as Halifax.

Paul – tow truck driver, left for 20 years out west – military/rigs, came back and has been here for 20 years. Shared a great story with me about how his daughter shipped her bike overseas and flew solo overseas to watch the tour de France at the age of 18.