Give That Man a Hug
'He’s been lining all this stuff up for us.'
read Part 1 of this series here: Fireworks & Applause previous installment: Trucker Courtesy & Solidarity
Nipigon to Cochrane, via Highway 11, normally takes about seven hours. For the Freedom Convoy, it’s a longer drive. Black ice, high winds, blowing snow, and traffic accidents (involving non-Convoy vehicles) all contribute to the delay. More than once, the convoy comes to a complete standstill. On one occasion, it’s stationary for half an hour.
En route, over the radio, the truckers who need a mechanic in Cochrane are advised who to call and where to go. Someone responds, “Thank you.” Someone else says, “Mine probably isn’t an emergency, so whoever needs it first…”
The good news keeps coming:
Anybody still looking for a shower, we have a line on a room. They’re holding a room in the hotel. Anybody is free to shower in that room, all night long.
There’s a gap of at least five hours in the videos Sally records that day, due to weak cellphone service. When she gets back online, she tells us the wind has been so fierce one of the metal flag poles on the back of their truck has buckled, folding in half. Their Canadian flags got soaked and are now frozen solid.
Someone on the radio explains that tomorrow’s itinerary hasn’t yet been nailed down. Partly due to the lack of phone service, it’s been difficult to connect with the “Ontario contacts” and now everyone’s voicemail box seems to be full.
Sally tells us she and husband Ted (not their real names) will be billeted for the night by locals in Cochrane. After three nights in the bunk of the truck, they’ll be sleeping in a full-sized bed. “Sounds like an awesome place. It’s on the lake,” she tells us:
I get to go in a hot tub tonight, woohoo!…And getting breakfast in the morning! I haven’t had a [hot, sit-down] breakfast…Bacon. Eggs. Yum, yum.
Everywhere it goes, the Convoy encounters organic, community support. As a voice on the trucker radio puts it:
When you guys get to Cochrane, you find Jim Brown and give that man a hug…He’s been lining all this stuff up for us.
next installment: The Whirlwind Gathers
Being from Southern Ontario- I joined up with our portion at the flying J at noon on Thursday. 27 th so our exposure to all the support and gratitude shown by Freedom Loving Canadians was for a much shorter stretch of miles and time but no less intense. I said it many times to all the loving supporters who ventured up to Ottawa over the three weeks to visit us that during those cold nasty weather day and nights and listening to the lies on the local radio station and some of the signs carried past us by government employees walking to work,
we would have been discouraged and hopeless but instead I told the many visitors when they would say “thank you” to me - I would say to them “No - thank You - The Trucker convoy has provided that tiny spark (like that static spark that shocks you getting out of your car) - You supporters have provided the fuel for the flame and the Ka - Boom!!” - Wow - What A Team - my Heart Felt Thanks To All! My sincere advice is don’t give up GANG - KEEP On TRUCKING
How amazing the people in Cochrane billeted the truckers. The grassroots organizing along the way was phenomenal.. again, I feel so hopeful to know so many other Canadians did so much to support freedom..