Travelling Across Canada

Ogema - Kimber Sider is traveling across Canada, starting at New Glasgow, Nova Scotia to ride from the Atlantic to the Pacific, finishing her journey near Vancouver, B.C. Kimber's inspiration to make this journey came after she read the book, "Ride the Riding Wind: One Woman's Journey Across Canada (published in 2006 by Newest Press) by Barbara Kingscote. Barbara was 20 years old in 1949 when she set out from Mascouche, Quebec to ride her horse Zazy to Zazy's owners in British Colombia. She had no idea how far it was, but after 16 months later, after many detours, Barbara and Zazy made it to the Pacific. On her journey, Barbara found what she refers to as the "generous heart of my country". Barb and Zazy were invited into the homes and hearts at every leg of their journey across Canada.
Kimber is 25 years old and has degrees in film and theatre from York University and is planning to make a documentary of her trip entitled "Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History" with the camera she's carrying in a backpack and with the help of cinematographers willing to shoot regional segments along the way.
"The idea of our ride is to see if we can make it across Canada on Canadian kindness. We've only camped out one night and the rest of the time people have taken us in." Kimber said to Daniel Winters, a reporter from the Western Producer.
To explain why she is doing this, Kimber has written about her journey on her website www. ridecanadawest.com. This is an excerpt from her website:
"Our pioneering, warm, hospitable spirit is what we , as Canadians, are know for internationally (well right after hockey that is). It is this character that endears us to the world and makes us proud of where we come from. But are we the embodiment of theses virtues on our own soil, or is this merely a hangover of days gone by? Is the image of the inviting, helpful Canadian, with a strong sense of community, no more than the modern equivalent of thinking the igloo is our standard style of housing? Or is our true character, the generous heart that Barb (Kingscote) found, merely hidden by our brand name labels and the frenetic pace of our urban centres?
I believe that we are still the same generous warmhearted people at our core that Barb found on her journey over half a century ago. I believe this is the spirit of Canada and I am willing to bet my quality of life for the six months of my journey on this character. Kat and I will make it across this country with nothing but the bare necessities and the generosity and kindness of the Canadian spirit to get us there…And if I am proven wrong? If the cynics are right, that this vision of Canada is merely a fond memory of the past, well then it is going to be a lot of camping and nonperishable food items. If that's the case, let's hope that Kat proves to be a better conversationalist than the average horse. (I best be brushing up on my "nay" just in case!)
This journey is also about daring to do what is not done. Riding across Canada is something that "is not done" and especially not by a lone woman. It is not done today and it certainly was not done in the 1940's when Barb made it to the Pacific. To me, this is exactly why it must be done. We will never grow and discover all that we never knew we did not know, unless we blaze our own trails and inspire others to be "ill-behaved" and dare to make history. Canadians throughout history have made such journeys and wrote the story of our country, though the details of these tales are rarely recalled these days. Barb was one, as was Agnes Dean Cameron who journeyed 10,000 miles from Chicago to the Artic Ocean in 1908 and wrote of her experiences in The New North. Another inspirational example in Mina Hubbard who spent two months mapping Labrador in 1905 and wrote of her exploits in her book "A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador". I want to not only tell our story as these women and many others have done before but experience our nation through the faces of our people and character of our landscape.
"Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History" is the story on one woman and her horse taking the path less traveled to meet the heart of Canada today, to see where we as Canadians have journeyed over the last six decades and who we have become."-taken from Kimber's website.
Kimber and Kat are riding along Highway #13 because it has less traffic than number 1 Highway and the trip is quieter, more scenic and relaxed, with interesting people to meet along the way. Kimber and Kat stayed the night at Dr. Andy and Yvonne Acton's farm with Kat resting in their corrals. Carol Peterson showed Kimber around Ogema, and Kimber took lots of video footage of our town but said she wasn't sure how much would get into her documentary. She had three batteries for her video camera, which would each take about 5 hours of filming before they have to be recharged. She then send the digital videos to her editor in Toronto to be edited for her documentary. Kimber uploads onto her website on her blackberry and keeps a running commentary on where she has been. She encourages people that she has met to sign onto her blog and follow her progress across Canada. She was a very interesting person to talk to and we all wish her well in her journey.