Day 7 (Part 1)

May 19 - 0km

I met some awesome people today.

It was freezing in the morning, and I had trouble sleeping because of the cold. When I woke up, I tried pumping up my tube with my hand pump - until I broke it. No worries, I thought, I’ll just go to the gas station and pump it there. Nope, never mind; didn’t have the attachment. Honestly, at this point, everything was going wrong.

While I was at the gas station, a woman named Barb (different Barb!) saw me and offered to take me to the Home Hardware to see if they had the specific pump for my valve. They didn’t. No one had seen my valve before (I think it’s more associated with road/touring bikes), so she offered to drive me up to Clarenville as she was going there with her aunt. Again, when I have been at my lowest points, the people of Newfoundland have been there for me.

When I packed up all my stuff, we realized everything wouldn’t fit, so a taxi was the only way to go. I honestly felt a little relieved because I didn’t want to be a burden to Barb who spent her afternoon with me. Barb let me take a bath at her house (and believe me, I needed it!), but before we parted ways, she told me of someone who was RUNNING across Canada for cancer as he had lost both parents to it. He was in Clarenville, and I knew I had to talk to him.

We met at Tim’s, and Jon was a really, really cool guy - he had an adventurous spirit that I really respected. After talking to him, I realized a lot of my hardships were part of the adventure, and I would have cool things to talk about at the end of my journey. He also reminded me that the beginning is always the hardest, and by about the third week, I’d be laughing at all my worries now. He really uplifted me when I was feeling down, so thank you Jon.

Jon had a lot of cool experiences to talk about, like trekking through New Zealand, and gave me lots of advice. We realized that he might be in Ontario by the time I finish my trip, so I definitely had to show him around when he came by. He also would be going up ahead of me while I sorted out my bike stuff, so I would be seeing him again soon! We exchanged numbers, and I felt excited because I made a cool new friend.

Jon is doing something amazing for an important cause. Donate and follow along: www.jonnabbs.com. Jon, you’re an inspiration.