Well I finally made it back in Ottawa.
Also, I got my stolen laptop & external hard drive (with all my photos) back! A guy named Paul, who volunteers at the Kelowna Gospel Mission (where lots of homeless people and crackheads go through according to him) found it there. He overheard a group of guys sitting around my laptop, talking about whether they should sell it. So he got suspicious and took it from them (of course they protested, and he told them to fuck off). He found my resume on my laptop and contacted me. And from there that's how I got it back!
Some highlights on the drive back.
- I saw Ed again at the Regina hostel (the funny old guy still searching for a place to live). I felt even more bad for him, because he's been at the hostel for well over 2 months, struggling to find a place to live. His entire apartment building was renovated into condos, so everybody was kicked out essentially. Also his health was getting worse, and he is 92 years old.
-In Winnipeg I met a pretty interesting guy named Ron. He was born in Edmonton, and had been a lawyer for 17 years in south California. However, after seeing every kind of sick human behavior and dealing with their problems he left the profession. Now he is essentially a nomad, doesn't own a house, and lives from place to place across the world for the past 12 years. He told me spent the past 8 months in northern Manitoba, just living in the bush and doing cabin renovations. He only came into the city get new supplies, see the dentist, and do some legal paper work.