Hi Friends 👋🏽
Greetings from the road! This week I’m traveling across Canada with my girlfriend. We’re over 2,000 km and halfway to Vancouver where we’ll be spending a few weeks with friends and family. I got to cross off a bucket list item for the summer and chopped wood, made a fire, and cooked a prime rib steak.
We’re currently in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. We’ve been mostly on the road and in the woods so this week’s post is a quick personal update plus some tips for the road.
Last week’s email had a 53% open rate. The top two links were a weekend project I built called Supertrack and the Onym guide for naming things.
No. 019 —
1 — Road trip highlights
I’ve been posting a daily photo on Instagram for highlights of the trip if you’d like to follow along.
2 — Wild camping
iOverlander is my most used app this week (iPhone, Android). Helps us find wild camping sites on the road trip.
3 — Canada’s true center
Here’s something I learned this week and filed under the only useful for trivia category.
The center of Canada has always been unclear to me. I’ve heard some people describe it as Ontario while others claim it’s the prairies. I took driving about 2,000km but I think I got the final verdict. If you consider the center of Canada as the midway point on the Trans Canada highway from St. John New Foundland to Victoria, then the center is surprisingly East at Chippewa Falls just a few hours outside of Toronto. However, the longitudinal center is in Manitoba about an hour outside of Winnipeg.
3 — Internet on the road
Installed a cell signal booster in our campervan before hitting the road. It’s essentially a mini cell phone tower that amplifies weak cell phone signals. This newsletter was sent through that connection.
4 — Stock Market Landscapes
The coolest thing I saw on the internet with the few minutes I’ve been online. Visual insights designer at Nike by day, Gladys Orteza spends her off-hours transforming otherwise dull stock market charts into brilliant landscapes. Check out her Instagram.
5 — Podcast I’m listening to
Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel. Esther is a well-known therapist and considered one of the leading voices of modern relationships. In this podcast, she broadcasts therapy sessions with couples. The names are retracted for privacy, but it’s a great in-depth look inside the lives of others. Another reminder that our problems are rarely unique. I recommend listening to It's Very Hard to Live with a Saint.
6 — Quote of the week
Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames — Rumi
7 — Photo of the week
As we were leaving Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, a couple of foxes had staked out the road. The professional panhandlers were stopping every car and waiting to be fed. Seems like natural selection will favor them over ones who actually hunt. Begging seems much lower risk than hunting as long as you don’t get run over. I quickly snapped this photo from my car window. We didn’t feed the fox.
Last Words
As always, thanks for reading.
If you’re new here you can read previous editions and subscribe here.
Next week I’ll be writing to you from the Rockies.
Until then,
Yashar