Man on the RUN!

So, I set out this morning to raise a little buzzzz and that’s just what I did. I started out like I usually do - traveling down my usual…safe…close-to-home route that gives me a lot of exposure with the ferry traffic without a lot of risk of face-to-face encounters, but I then I kept going a little further. This extended route I tried for the first time last Friday and had a lot of people in town talking (at least that’s what I was told) so I decided to give it another spin before the article comes out in the paper here and explains what I’m doing.

Well, I thought last Friday was busy, but today was even more so… So COOL! I started out a little later in the day and maybe that was a contributor, but wow LOTS of people to give me funny stares.

It ranges the gamut from those who hang out their windows and yell - “WOOO HOOO!” to those who give me the loco sign (spinning their fingers around their ears - they look crazy too if you don’t understand theirsymbols!) Then you have the guys who slow down to get a BIG LONG eyeful. You gotta love those, though, who struggle hard to ignore you - like a man in chains running down the road is something they see all the time!

Every now and again people stop and ask! BRAVE PEOPLE!

Today I found out what really happens though.

After running down Raffi (literally - I saw saw him pass me and pull over so I went to his car window in chains…He was a little hesitant to open the window, but after the explanation he wants more info), and running past the high school gym class who was running the other way (one of the kids explained to his peers that I must be training for an Ironman or something. I didn’t have the time to correct him…not Iron…Stainless Steel!) 3/4 of the way home a truck pulled up next to me to tell me that the police were looking for me up ahead!

I wonder - did he think I really was an escaped con and he was helping me out?

Anyway, I kept moving ahead in the noontime heat and just as I passed the corner I saw the lights come on (at least he didn’t use the siren - might have been the first high-speed chase in Saltspring for a long time!) When the officer got out, I recognized him and small talked a bit before he asked, “Aren’t you going to explain?” I waited a second “about the chains?” he finishes.

I give him the spiel and his smile visibly grows all the while. He laughed and said “Do you know how many calls we’ve had about you?” I asked “What do they think I’m en escaped Convict?” He said, “Honestly - they don’t know what to think. It took a while getting out here, but by the time I did, I couldn’t see you anywhere, so I stopped and asked a few people (I’m sure they loved that!) and no one had seen you today…but ALL OF THEM had seen you last week out on long harbor!”

I tried to get him to bring me home so I could get a picture, but he had other things to get to so that will have to wait for another time. “Besides, ” he said, “You need to be training!”