"Reason is always a kind of brute force; those who appeal to the head rather than the heart, however pallid and polite, are necessarily men of violence. We speak of 'touching' a man's heart, but we can do nothing to his head but hit it." --G.K. Chesterton

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Big country, friendly people

Swiss vacationer Lustenberger. (Photo by Terry O'Neill)
My old reporter's instincts kicked in this morning while I was at the RBC branch at Barnet and Johnson near Coquitlam Centre.

I noticed this fellow (see photo) in the parking lot. It looked like he was at the end of a long bike ride, and so I asked him about his journey.

Sure enough, he was in the final day of a five-week, two-day ride from Montreal to Vancouver. The man's name is Rene Lustenberger, and he's a retired office worker from Switzerland. And the mammoth ride was his vacation!

He spent most nights in campgrounds but had to resort to motels three times because of inclement whether (as in torrential rain).

Rene's "best" day was 222 kilometres, which he achieved while riding through Saskatchewan.

His impressions of Canada? "Big country" and "friendly people." I couldn't have said it better.

Congratulations, Rene, and have a safe journey home!