Rolling Through Northern Ontario
Freedom Convoy from western Canada regroups as it approaches Ottawa.
read Part 1 of this series here: Fireworks & Applause previous installment: The Whirlwind Gathers
AUTHOR NOTE: When I initially published this material about Jake & Lynnette, trucker & wife from Saskatoon, they were out-of-the-country. I wasn’t certain if the videos on which I was basing my research were backed up, and worried they might get censored by Facebook. I therefore assigned this couple the pseudonyms Ted & Sally. After they returned, they backed up their videos & consented to the use of their real names.
It’s noon on Friday, January 28th, 2022. In a few hours, truckers and their supporters will begin pouring into Ottawa in earnest, transforming the downtown core of that city.
The western arm of the Freedom Convoy is still hundreds of miles away, having split into two parts 24 hours earlier. Saskatoon residents Ted and Sally (not their real names) have been on the road since Monday. On a livestream video recorded by Sally, we overhear Ted talking to their adult daughter as he drives south on Highway 11. He’s up near the front, with 10 kilometers of big rigs behind him. Beyond that, there’s another four kilometers of smaller, flag-bedecked Convoy vehicles. Pickup trucks. Campers. Cars.
Ted tells his daughter that, when they fueled up near Thunder Bay, the woman in charge of the gas station instructed the cashier to “knock off five cents a litre.” That same night, he says, they feasted on free hamburgers, soup, perogies, cabbage rolls, mashed potatoes, chili, and cinnamon buns. At the end of the meal, Ted reports, many drivers ended up bringing whole pizzas back to their trucks.
Welcomed into a private home the following evening by lovely people in Cochrane, after they’d “had a shower and stuff” Ted says they stayed up visiting until three in the morning. Before rising at 7 am. “Is this trip ever tiring.”
He continues:
Never in a million years would I have thought this ride would have been this heartwarming and overwhelming…I just got a new windshield put in, but from the looks of it, it’s always blurry. It’s just because of the tears in your eyes. We got veterans standing here and they’re saluting as you drive by.
And old people, like seniors 80, 90 years old. Minus 30-stinking-1 out there, and they’re standing beside the roadway with a flag. It’s just mind-blowing what’s happening out here.
When they depart Cochrane that morning, the intent is to rejoin the other part of the western Convoy in North Bay, stay there overnight, and begin the final leg of the journey into Ottawa early Saturday. Over the trucker radio, drivers are advised rooms are still available at the Best Western in North Bay, which has space for ten trucks in its parking lot.
Thirty minutes after that update, however, Farmer Stu - the trucker handle/ID for the chap in the lead truck - tells everyone plans have changed:
It’s Farmer Stu here to all these guys that left Cochrane this morning. We are rendezvousing with the guys from [Highway] 17 at North Bay and we are continuing on to Antrim…Final destination tonight Antrim.
When someone asks how far Antrim (near Arnprior) is from North Bay, frazzled Farmer Stu replies
Get on Google maps and look it up. We got so much on the go here, I don’t know.
Another trucker says his backup driver in the passenger seat is doing just that. Soon, a voice announces over the radio: “Antrim is 564k from here.”
In other words, an additional three-and-a-half hours of driving (best-case scenario) has just been added to their day’s itinerary. In the cab of their truck, Sally deflates as she realizes that their plans to spend the night with a friend-of-a-friend in North Bay have now been scuttled.
Analysis: I was raised in northern Ontario. Unlike the truckers from western Canada, I’m therefore familiar with the geography involved that day. Watching these videos and listening to the radio chatter a year later, it’s clear to me the Convoy was battling some serious ‘fog of war.’
Cochrane to North Bay, under optimum driving conditions and at normal highway speeds, should theoretically have taken 4.5 hours. But in order to keep that extensive line of trucks together, the Convoy took almost twice as long to get anywhere. Every time it approached a small town, things slowed down. By the time the last of the Convoy had cleared town and the speed had once again increased, there’d often be a new reason to “drop her down to 30” kilometers (20 miles) per hour.
The twin section of the Convoy, which departed from Sault Ste. Marie that same morning, faced a 5-hour drive to North Bay. But we’re talking the best-case scenario, at full highway speeds, with no pit stops. A stop was scheduled, however, and a welcoming party awaited. In Sudbury - 90 minutes short of North Bay.
Given these realities, there were compelling reasons to have followed the original plan. The day would have been more manageable. The western Canada drivers would have been better rested ahead of their historic arrival in Ottawa.
next installment: The Night Before Ottawa read Part 1 of this series here: Fireworks & Applause
I wonder how many people followed “Sally’s” live stream? So frustrating to think how difficult it is to convey this true story. So glad you are writing your book Donna. Along with your Substack, and numerous others who are dedicated to searching for the truth, there is at least a written record.