What Could Possibly Make This Better?... Steve's Hair

The most unfortunate thing about this post is that I cannot share it with all of you immediately upon its completion (approx. time that I penned this: 3pm Pacific on Sunday, July 17). Currently, I find myself seated at the summit of Rogers Pass on the Trans-Canada Highway.
At this point, I would say that I’m a little bit less than halfway through my drive from Calgary to Kamloops, but that is beside the point. I have a quick little video to show you just exactly where I am.

My apologies for not getting up and walking around to show you more of the Summit. I thought about doing a little tour for all of you, but then I figured that would completely ruin the point of the video. Pardon the comparison, but it would have been like a stripper showing off the goods before the show has even started! Realistically, I just wanted to give you a teaser peek at how beautiful the Summit of Rogers Pass is. I seriously suggest that if you haven't been there, you put it on your bucket list because I don't think I have ever seen more beautiful views in my life.

The best and worst part about driving  a long distance on your own is that you have nothing but time on your hands, and no one to converse with but yourself. As a result, at least in my case, I often stumble upon some of (what I consider to be) my best ideas for things to share with you. Let’s just say that blogging isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do while travelling 120km/hr down the highway with semi-trucks cruising around each corner and hot shots in Mercedes flying past you at 160km/hr.

First thing is first – the key to surviving a road trip while flying solo is good music. I carry TRoc Radio with me at all times, more commonly known as an iPod. Why the dumb name, you ask? That’s simple - because it carries over 20,000 tracks on it, all hand picked by yours truly. Between Calgary and here, I did my best to remember a few of my favourite driving songs as they came across the waves in my car. Occasionally I even took a split second to scribble the song title into my notebook, conveniently open on my passenger seat. Let me state that I do not condone this sort of behaviour, nor do I encourage it. It is people like me who are the reason we are getting these new “distracted driver” laws in Alberta haha. Enough about law breaking, here in no particular order is the list I’ve thrown together so far:

1. Finding My Way by Rush
2. It’s Good To Be King by Tom Petty
3. You Don’t Know How It Feels by Tom Petty
4. Feeling This by blink-182
5. Take ‘Em Down by Dropkick Murphys
6. Bobby Jean by Bruce Springsteen
7. Littlething by Jimmy Eat World
8. Hitch A Ride by Boston
9. Best Of You by Foo Fighters
10. Lifeline (Acoustic) by Papa Roach
11. Ain’t Gonna Swallow My Pride by Trooper
12. A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off by The Magnetic Fields
13. Stone Free by Jimi Hendrix
14. The Middle (Acoustic) by We The Kings
15. Around The World by Daft Punk

 Ok so now you have your tunes. Second piece of advice I will give you while taking a solo trip – keep cool and relaxed. Those who know me might say that I have a tendency to occasionally experience what some might refer to as road rage. I prefer to call it displeasure with the human race while seated behind the wheel of a car. Anyhow, I have a new, simple but effective mantra for while I drive: “you’re gonna get there in the end, so there’s no sense rushing. Enjoy the view along the way.” I can’t tell you how much this has increased the enjoyment I find in driving on the highway. Now, I get nothing but satisfaction from watching a frustrated Land Rover driver stare me down as he finally gets the chance to pass me (my apologies to you if you own a Land Rover...unless of course you are that guy who stared me down, then I take back my apology). You’ve really just got to enjoy the simple things in life.

But here is where things simply cannot get any better. Quick flash back to... about one minute ago.  You’ve got your music and now you’ve rolled down the windows. Crank the stereo up to ten, or eleven if you’re feeling really extreme or are a fan of Spinal Tap (perhaps an extreme fan of Spinal Tap?). My stereo is always pumping at the equivalent of eleven. You can’t mess around. And now you hit the road. There is nothing better than the feeling of the crisp, fresh mountain breeze flowing through your driver side window, while your favourite songs are blasting so loud that you can barely hear yourself think.

So I’m driving the Trans-Canada Highway as I previously mentioned; music is up and windows are down. And I can’t help but think to myself that this can’t possibly be any better. But then I realize that there is possibly one way that this could be better: what if I had a head of hair like Steve Duerksen? For those of you who know Steve, you know exactly what I mean. For those of you who don’t know Steve, here is a photo for the sake of reference:

What better than to have a flowing mane of hair like that for the cool mountain breeze to rush through? I can only imagine. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I don’t have an elegant mop like Steve’s. I am stuck with what my hair dresser referred to as a “rounded crew cut”. I don’t know much about haircuts, but it sounds sorta cheap to me.

Anyhow, I guess I’ve sort of run into a wall. Not literally. I promise you I stopped driving to create this post. However, that probably means it is time for me to hit the road. Next up is gas in Revelstoke and then continuing on down the road. If I can find a wireless hotspot somewhere along the way, I will stop to try and get this posted. If not, I’ll track down a Starbucks once I hit Kamloops. They have those in Kamloops...right?

-No wireless hotspots, and had no time to track down *Bucks...I did however find some "convenient" community wireless-