As I write this, I am on a train. In coach. Somewhere out of Churchill, Manitoba. We are on the homeward leg of a most wonderful adventure. As musicians on Via Rail, we've been given passage considerations in return for entertainment, and for us, it has been a wonderful arrangement.
Train travel is my favourite way to go, and this has not been a disappointment. A community of travelers takes shape within the first hour, and we enjoy many stories from far-flung places...Dotty from New Jersey, four foot-eight, with a giant sense of humor. Roger, her new buddy, six foot-eight, from California, with a marvelous singing voice and sad eyes. Denise and her sister, also from California, who remember everyone's names, come to all of our shows and really grab life with both hands. The couple from Scotland, who don't believe that the Finn Polka is a Scottish tune. The mother/daughter duo from France, who looked more like twins. The francophone couple from Winnipeg, with my ideal of the perfect French Canadian accent. And Joel, from New Mexico, whose knowledge of trains is exceeded only by his love of them, and who came to see us off at the station, even though he was staying in Churchill for another two days.
There is another community on the train, as well. For the local people, this is their primary link between their communities and with the rest of the world. On the way up, we were joined by several men who told us about the Manitoba Hydro projects and how those dams displaced their people, and how there is now work for some of them with the corporation. They enjoyed a beer, a chance to connect with each other, a game of cards, and seemed to appreciate the music we were making.
This morning, across the aisle from me, three little girls, part of a family travelling from their reserve, Pikwitonei, to Thompson were doing what most little girls do as they travel nowadays...using their electronic games with great glee.
Outside the window, the trees are getting bigger again. Such a variety of terrain! For hours out of Winnipeg it is flat. Flat, redefined. Then, slowly, we made our way into poplars. Further, spruce. Even further, muskeg country with black spruce and tamarack. Churchill is on the edge of the tree line, with small, tortured trees, all with their backs to the winds that blow in from the Bay.
The beauty of Churchill is not the trees, but the rocks! Worn smooth by the glaciers and buffed by the wind, they are simply heart wrenchingly lovely to look at, but not so walker-friendly. The moisture in the air combines with the lichens to make a treacherous and slippery surface.
It was a difficult place to leave. People are good to each other there, and so good to those of us from "up south" who have come to see their fall tourist attraction -- the polar bears, as they begin to move toward the Bay in anticipation of the winter ice.
Our hosts at the Seaport Inn graciously gave us the use of their pickup truck to go on our quest for the great white bear, and we were not disappointed. Down near the bay we met a huge older male, dozing on the rocks. For awhile we thought he was just another rock, as some rocks can be white. But much to our excitement, this rock lifted his head to sniff the air, and then got up and came a little closer to check out the new odor. He was beautiful. We sat and shared the area with him for almost an hour until he eventually decided we weren't terribly interesting, and laid back down to nap. Thrill, redefined.
After our stop in Thompson, it was quite a different group of passengers...voices louder, children more animated. This may not have been a boon to nappers, but for the musicians in the dining car, it was sheer joy! We had small children playing the rhythm instruments with vigor, if not with a down beat, many requests for jigs and reels, and a fellow up dancing a jig, (who we learned had lost his leg in a hunting accident as a child.) Just before Thicket Portage, the calls were for the train to slow down, maybe even stop so we could play a little longer. Or could we possibly get off and come home with them? And of all the surprises on this surprising adventure, they wanted to take up a small collection among themselves to give us! A gift for a gift. Class in every colour.
On the train there is the gift of closeness to nature, and the gift of leg room. There is the gift of new acquaintances. The adventure begins at "all aboard."
