Matt Fox - The Hitchhiker Man

This is the true story of Matt Foxs hitchhiking adventure to Alaska. Everything you read happened to Matt starting in the summer of 2007, just after he graduated from Laurentian university.

Matt Fox

The difference between insanity and genius is measured only by success.

Masashi Kishimoto

To prepare for the journey that lay ahead I donated most of my stuff to the local thrift shop. Deep down inside I was aware that the memories my simple possessions triggered would be gone forever. After two weeks of clearing my stuff out I was left with only what I could fit into my backpack.

The evening before my departure my friends came over to say goodbye and the mood was sombre. We talked about where the road might take me and the misadventures that could happen along the way. A few even tried to talk me out of it, but my mind was already made up. I promised that one day I would return.

I went to bed in my empty room and nostalgia took over my thoughts. I felt alone in there, aware that only a few days earlier it had been the most comfortable place in my world. Now the space was almost entirely empty and my only possessions were my backpack and guitar. I couldnt sleep. Instead my mind raced with all the scenarios I would inevitably face on the road. Could Ryan and I actually get all the way across Canada? Would we be safe? Was this actually a really bad idea? It was hard to imagine finding happiness on the road. A life with no home seemed almost unfathomable.

On the morning of our departure I got out of bed, scared of what lay ahead. The cool morning air was ominous and uninviting. I couldnt explain even to myself why I was going that day.

The more you have, the more you are afraid to lose.

One year earlier in the summer of 2007, I had been living an average Canadian life in Sudbury, a city four hours north of Toronto. I had just graduated from Laurentian university with honours in economics and I was full of potential, drive, and determination. I had even applied for a Masters program in Natural Resource Management. Success seemed like it was waiting just around the corner.

But when a rejection letter arrived in the mail one day, my only plan for the future vanished. I considered getting a job in my field of economics, but the idea of sitting in an office seemed dull and uninviting. I thought about continuing my studies. But what for? I wondered another office job? More student debt? I had already spent twenty years of my life in school.

With no pressure on me to follow a certain path I spent my time enjoying the warm days of the summer while avoiding any real-life decisions. That is until one night when an unexpected plan for my future arrived. It was late into a night of drinking with my friend Ryan when he first mentioned his intention to hitchhike across Canada. I wondered how he could have devised such a foolish and risky plan. I didnt know a single person who had hitchhiked before and I realised that my knowledge of it was limited to what I had seen on the news. I had never picked up a hitchhiker either, as I thought the risks were too great.

The next morning I woke up with a splitting headache and a blurred memory of the night before. For some reason I felt uneasy about something. I thought long and hard until I realised that I had agreed to go hitchhiking across Canada with Ryan.

Thankfully I also remembered that the person Ryan had originally planned to go on the trip with had just bailed, so I knew it wouldnt be a big deal when I told him that I wasnt going to go either. When I finally crawled out of bed, my life seemed to be fully in order again.

With each day that passed I thought of telling Ryan that I wasnt going to go on the trip with him. But each time I was about to visit or call with my decision I was forced to consider my alternatives. I had always wondered what the rest of Canada looked like, so naturally I wondered about where Ryan would go and what he would see.

I had always thought that travelling was expensive, but for the first time in my life it seemed as if it was within my grasp. I stared at the walls of my room covered in pictures of beautiful and exciting places beaches, mountains, the tropics, and rain forests. All the places I dreamed of visiting one day and part of the reason I worked so hard in university.

The more I tried to talk myself out of the trip, the more reasons I found to go. Hitchhiking seemed like a way to make my dreams of travelling come true. With plenty of common sense, perhaps it could even be safe. I asked my friends what they thought of the adventure, but to my dismay they all thought it was a terrible idea. And I could understand why since I thought the same thing they did. It made me wonder how anybody could have a valid opinion on something they had never experienced. But I knew that I was no different from them, since I also spent my life formulating my own inexperienced opinions. It seemed as if the only way to know what would happen on the road was to travel that road. After contemplating it for some time I finally decided I was going to take the chance.

Those who speak dont know, and those who know dont speak.

Lao Tzu

I packed my toothbrush into my bag before zipping it back up one last time. I said goodbye to my sister who I had been living with. She was sad to see me go, but made no attempt to stop me. Neither one of us knew if I would return.

It was six in the morning when I walked down the steps of my townhouse on my way to Ryans place. He was already outside waiting for me when I got there. We crossed the street and walked through the mall with all our possessions on our backs. I think it was the most depressing moment of my life, but there was no turning back. I had told too many people I was going to go. Staying seemed like a failure. An inability to carry through with what I had said I was going to do. I wondered if my ego had gotten the best of me.

Ryan and I took the city bus to the outskirts of the Sudbury, the place I had spent the last five years living while studying. At the last stop the driver pulled over and looked back at us. It was my last chance to bail on the trip and the thought was very much on my mind. I could simply take the bus back to my place, have a hot shower, and get back into my comfy bed like nothing had ever happened. It was the perfect plan, but for some reason I picked up my bag and I walked off the bus.

The weight of my backpack became obvious almost immediately. The short walk to the Trans-Canada Highway seemed like a trek through the Himalayas. When we finally arrived at the edge of the highway, my shoulders ached. But we smiled and put our thumbs out, excited to begin our journey.

Countless cars drove by while the morning sun rose into the clear blue sky. I felt optimistic, but as each hour passed my optimism began to fade. The pavement absorbed the suns heat and radiated it back up at us. By the time it was at its peak we were both drenched in sweat. I looked back at the city shimmering in the heat haze, the place where we had come from just six hours earlier. Even if we didnt get a ride, I decided that I wasnt going back there. I didnt want to walk through the same door in my life that I had just closed.

At first I felt as if the people driving by were my fellow motorists, my fellow humans. The ones that I shared the road with daily. Yet after hours of watching cars pass by the connection seemed to disappear. Instead I could feel the motorists piercing eyes judging us, categorising us, and then forgetting us. As if we were trying to get something that we didnt deserve.