We were headed north from Edmonton, and had just decided to go to Yellowknife the night prior. It was after another night of sleeping in the car, this time in the parking lot of a Tim Hortons/random hotel. Literally it was like we pulled out my laptop and said “where do we want to go on the top of the world”. Some might say that’s reckless and random. I’ll call it freedom.
We saw a dead guy on the side of the road underneath a bison crossing sign, just north of the town of High Level on the Mackenzie Highway. He was just sprawled, head almost laying a few inches into the highway. We had seen some shady looking people recently, an infamous Machete lookalike, so we just called Canada’s version of 911 and got the fuck out of there. I’m sorry this person ended up like that on such a desolate stretch of road. That’s the only dead body I’ve ever seen.
At that point we had been to more of Canada than most Canadians. Looking at a map and seeing how far from Florida we were was something unfathomable. Like I couldn’t stare at it too long because it just didn’t seem real. This was the last drivable stretch of wilderness in North America and damn did it feel fresh and relieving to be on that road. None of my problems were on my mind and it felt good to be free.
