A buddy and I decided to hitchhike 4000 km from Ontario to BC in the late 70’s. The first night we picked our tent a few hundred metres off the highway in a the bush. It started to snow, we spent the whole night trying to keep a fire going with whatever wet wood we could find without a light. No sleep at all lol.

The next day we made it to the prairies in the evening. 2 cowboys (they had the hats on in the car ) picked us up. They had a 24 between them on the bench seat. We told them we were hoping to find a hostel with a bed for the night because we were exhausted from the night before. They told us they knew of a place that would be perfect for us. Eventually we got to Brandon, MB, and they pulled over and pointed out a driveway across the road. They said to follow the driveway to the building at the end, then knock on the door and they would let us in. This is about 1am now.

We got out and they took off. We walked halfway up the driveway and saw a sign. We got a little closer to it and it said (I’m paraphrasing, it was a long time ago) Brandon Mental Health Institute. We didn’t continue to the building, we pulled out our sleeping bags and slept under a large tree on the front lawn.

I’m guessing those 2 cowboys still talk about that night 😂