Journey for a Tobacco-Free World

IT’S ALL GOOD,
EVERYTHING’S FINE.
HEADIN’ SOUTH…
GOIN’ DOWN 69 !!!

The highway, of course!

Okay, the first couple of lines of my ‘prose’ aren’t exactly true but…

After a couple of absolutely brutal, freezing cold nights in the van, it seems I’ve arrived in the tropics; day time temps in the mid to high teens.  On top, I wore just a t-shirt for the first time in a month or more (instead of the usual 2, 3 or more layers)…and they actually mentioned something on the weather forecast about a UV Index!?!

Spent most of today (Wed, Oct 6) plotting my course for tomorrow.  That suddenly got a little challenging in this neck of the woods (south of Parry Sound), as I start getting into ’400 series’ highways, where pedestrian traffic is not allowed.  The funny part is nobody seemed to be able to give me any real solid advice as to the most direct alternate routes to Toronto; the OPP sent me to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, which sent me to the Chamber of Commerce…which was closed today!!!  So, with some advice from a few people and a reasonably detailed map, I plotted my course for tomorrow, which involves walking 5 km (in both directions, on 69), then driving about 18 km south on 400, walking 16 km (in both directions, on the ‘Old 69′), then driving 3 km further south, to my starting point for Friday.

If you haven’t done so yet, please check the freshly-updated schedule link, which gets me right through to Montreal…and the end of the Canadian leg of the JTFW.

The fact that I have ZERO corporate sponsorship/funding continues to frustrate and infuriate me.  HELLO CORPORATE CANADA (and Corporate America):  There’s no need to be afraid of so-called ‘Big Tobacco’!  Other than all of the carnage it’s responsible for, it’s not really all that scary!  Stop treating the tobacco industry like a hot potato!  It is the leading — AND MOST EASILY AND CHEAPLY PREVENTABLE — cause of disease, disability and premature death, by far…and it can and must be shut down, period!  Ultimately, all that’s required is a little bit of POLITICAL WILL…and that’s what I’m trying to generate, but I can’t do it alone and with no money!!!

That said, a huge “THANK YOU!” to Dave Bialkowski of TRYSPORT (www.ontariotrysport.com), here in Parry Sound.  Dave did what Running Room, Mitch’s and others couldn’t/wouldn’t:  He gave me a new pair of runners.  The ones I’d been wearing since Medicine Hat, Alberta (about 2,500 km ago, bearing in mind that about 400 – 700 km is the ‘life expectancy’ of an average pair of runners) gave out…and caused a couple of severe blisters (one on the side of my heel) that required a visit to Parry Sound Hospital a couple of days ago.  And many thanks to the awesome staff there, too…one of whom suggested TRYSPORT.

ATTENTION ALL POLITICIANS:  Public support for the idea of shutting down the global tobacco industry — both the legal and illegal industries — is huge!  I’ve talked to hundreds of people across the country (both non-smokers and smokers) and, with the exception of a CBC radio reporter in Regina, support is unanimous!!!  So please, give it the attention it deserves.

47,000 PREMATURELY DEAD CANADIANS, ANNUALLY, IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!  THE FACT THAT 47,000 CANADIAN TEENS AND/OR PRE-TEENS MUST START SMOKING EACH AND EVERY YEAR (that’s 123 per day!), JUST FOR THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY TO ‘BREAK EVEN’, IS EVEN LESS ACCEPTABLE.  IN FACT, IT’S OBSCENE!  THE TIME IS LONG PAST DUE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Story from Around & About, Oct. 5 issue:

Journey for a Tobacco-Free World – Errol Povah, President of Airspace Action on Smoking and Health continues his journey walking across Canada. At the estimated rate of 42 km a day, six days a week, the cross country, shore-to-shore trek is expected to take six months. Errol is a 57 year-old BC anti-tobacco activist who made his way through Massey, Webbwood, Mckerrow and Nairn Centre on Thursday, September 30. Errol’s mission is to raise awareness about the continued scandalous practices of the tobacco industry which annually kills 47 000 Canadians (more than alcohol, drunk driving, car accidents, drugs, murder, suicide and AIDS combined), and five million (and rising) globally. Errol’s goal is to put the tobacco industry out of business! He is asking for your assistance in spreading the word about his journey.
Tax-deductable donations are available through Physicians for a Smoke-free Canada http://www.smoke-free.ca
If you would like to follow Errol’s Journey across Canada or would like more information visit the website http://www.tobaccofreeworld.ca

Contacting me by telephone will be a little more challenging than usual for the next few days:  My cell was run over by one or more vehicles on the Trans Canada highway just south of Wawa, Ontario… after I left it on the roof of the van, completely forgot about it and drove off.  It’s pretty mangled, but I’m hoping to retrieve the hundreds of pictures I’ve taken with it.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a new phone (with the same number!?!) in Sault Ste. Marie by Wed or Thu at the latest…and, with any luck at all, no more areas with no cell coverage too!?!

A real quick “Hi!” from Schreiber, Ontario…a very nice, small town; population 1,000.  And it has a library, with Internet access!!!

Night lows are very close to freezing, but days are generally nice enough for shorts and a t-shirt.

I’ve developed a couple of blisters again…for the first time since B.C./western Alberta.  Some pretty big hills here…and one scene that looked amazingly like the scene from the top of the Malahat (Saanich peninsula, Gulf Islands, etc.).  This time, it was northern Lake Superior…and some of the small islands just offshore.

Gotta run!

Thanx again to everyone for your support…and sorry, I just can’t respond to individual comments on the JTFW site right now…will try to get to some of those later.

From CKDR-FM in Dryden:

B.C. Man Trying to Kill Tobacco Industry
Errol Povah has visions of a tobacco-free world and he’s determined to see that through.
Povah is walking and running from Victoria, B.C. to Montreal to raise awareness and money.
The Vancouver man stopped in Dryden Wednesday.
Povah says its his goal to put the tobacco industry out of business.
He notes tobacco companies have no morals and no ethics and are targeting area youth to keep their product strong.

Note: The cell phone coverage here isn’t very good. If you’re trying to phone me, well, just keep trying.

The subject says it all.

August 2, 2010 was an extremely important date…and I completely forgot about it, until just now (15 days later).

August 2 was the first anniversary of the death of our very good friend and colleague, Roger Perron.

For those of you who didn’t know Roger, he was an amazing guy who died — because of the tobacco industry — way too young (56).

For more info about Roger, check the Endorsements link. Or, better yet, read his book:  My Addiction to Smoking.  Before he died, I jokingly gave him hell about that title, telling him that smoking, per se, is NOT addictive:  While nicotine is the most addictive drug known, smoking is nothing more than a habit…sometimes a very powerful habit, but still, nothing more than a habit.

A big “Hello!  And so sorry I missed the first anniversary of Roger’s passing.” to Michelle (Roger’s sister) and the rest of the family.

And to you, Roger:  I really miss you!  You volunteered to be (part of) my support crew (the driver) for my Journey for a Tobacco-Free World!  And it’s all your fault that I have to do the same 21-kilometre stretch of highway twice (both east and west), instead of a 42-kilometre stretch once, dammit!  Kidding.  Take care!

- or – ’CSIS’ and ‘ROASTS’ take on whole new meanings!

For me, CSIS means ‘Constantly Soaked In Sweat’ (although with a sudden change in weather over the last couple of days, I may soon have to change ‘Sweat’ to ‘Snow’)!  And “ROASTS”?  Well, besides very accurately describing what I’ve been doing quite consistently for the last few weeks (as temps, with the humidity factor, hit 40 degrees Celsius), ROASTS is my acronym for ‘Risk Of A Severe Thunder Storm’ which, along with the high day-time temps (and it doesn’t cool off much at night), is a very regular occurrence, along with very high winds and heavy rain which, as you may have heard about, has caused severe crop damage throughout the Prairie provinces.

I wore my “TOBACCOFREEWORLD.CA” t-shirt into a Royal Canadian Legion last week.  I do wear it quite a bit (besides when I’m doing my marathon a day), but that was the first time I’d worn it into a bar.  There were a couple of dozen people in the Legion (mostly vets)…and I was expecting someone (possibly a smoker, but not necessarily) to say something to me about military personnel fighting and dying for “freedom and choice” (to smoke, etc.) but, much to my delight, that didn’t happen.

Then I wore it to an awesome outdoor concert in Spanish, Ontario (about half way between Ste Saint Marie and Sudbury)…with April Wine, Prism and Honeymoon Suite.  Al Harlow, lead singer of Prism, got me in for free (tickets were $96).  It was a smoke-fest…and I had an interesting conversation with a young First Nations fellow who, while not terribly impressed with me or my t-shirt, acknowledged that he was a little drunk.  So I gave him my card…and he promised he would call me the next day, when he was sober.  I’m still waiting for that call.

Lookin’ forward to hitting the road again tomorrow, starting about 30 km east of Winnipeg.  Hope you’re all well…and say a few prayers for some (better late than never) Corporate Sponsorship for me, will ya!

Tags: Al Harlow

I start from the west side of Winnipeg today.  42 kilometres per day is, relatively speaking, a piece of cake; it’s the incredible heat (high 20s, low 30s), combined with very high humidity (or the “sweat factor”, as they call it on the weather reports) that’s the really brutal part.  In the exact same way that the ‘wind chill’ factor can make 5 above feel like 5 below, with the sweat factor calculated in, the temperature on a couple of recent days was 40!!!  I’m seriously looking forward to fall/winter weather.

As always, time is very limited…so I’ll sign off for now.  Thank you — ALL OF YOU — again, for you awesome support.

Story by Allison Werbowetsky in Prairie Post: B.C. man makes stop in Swift during anti-smoking walk across Canada