It’s going to be at least another day or two before I can get this podcast cut together so I’ll spare you all the suspense and fill you in on the Vancouver portion of the trek. You all read about how I got there so you know things were kind of at low ebb.

Now picture this: You’ve been through a grueling twenty-four hours of travel to make it to one of only three hedge mazes in North America (according to VanDusen Botanical Gardens). Finally the low-grade frustration that accompanies a rough stretch of travel starts to give way to the excitement of crossing one more thing off your list.

You approach the main entrance of a large botanical garden eager to interview an employee and wander around a maze for a while getting lost. As you get closer to the ticket booth a sign begins to come into focus. A sign that says something like this:

(GARDEN CLOSED DUE TO LABOUR DISRUPTION DO NOT ENTER)

I’ve had quite a few conversations with people over the years about what constitutes a “sign” or “omen” and personally I’m not a big believer. Sure, there are plenty of people out there that would shrug, announce to the world at large, “Oh well, it’s a sign (+2 for the pun)” and go on about their business, but I tend to take it as a personal attack.

I don’t know where this ridiculous stubbornness I have came from (Mom and Dad) but I am incapable of letting things lie. If there is ANYTHING I can do to change the outcome of a situation in my favor than I own it to myself to try. I don’t look at obstacles as “signs” I look at them as some crazy intangible bastard trying to stop me from doing what I want to do! Like hell I’m gonna let ANY someone, much less an intangible someone beat me.

The obvious route was to find the management team and explain to them my situation and the nature of Amtrekker. So, I did. Or tried. Turns out the management team was on strike too. Which, incidentally, left a GAPING hole in the “we exist to make sure no one sneaks into the botanical gardens” department.

I’m proud to say that after jumping SIX cyclone fences, #37 is officially crossed off the list!!! And if you ever find yourself with the opportunity to go wandering around a hedge maze I highly recommend it! I already have a terrible sense of direction so it was awesome so have an excuse for being lost.

I really do have some cool footage to show you guys if I can find a couple more spare hours to sit tight and do some editing.

Which brings me to the all-important begging for feedback portion of today’s story. There’s no way I can keep up with this much writing AND put out a regular podcast, I only sleep every other day as it is. So, best guess, what kind of mix between writing and video do you guys think you’d like to see?

And just as importantly, if you like these posts feel free to…

Seriously, don’t let me stop you.