MAPLE COUNTRY MUSINGS

FIRST - HAND ACCOUNT OF AN ADVENTURER WHO'S COMPLETED ALL THE FOUR LONGEST HIGHWAYS IN THE WORLD, SOLO. THIS MONTH, A DRIVE ACROSS CANADA ON THE WORLD'S LONGEST PAVED HIGHWAY

- Suresh Joseph

WHY DID I PLAN an expedition in Canada? The Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) is the third-longest highway in the world, at over 7,750km from Mile 0, Victoria, British Columbia, to St. John’s Mile One Centre, Newfoundland. I had already completed expeditions on the world's longest (the Australia Highway 1 at 16,500km), the second-longest, from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg (11,000km), and the fourth-longest (the Indian Golden Quadrilateral at 5,800km). Do you see the gap in the third position?

After completing the TCH in May-June 2019, I can claim to be the first person on the planet to complete all the four longest highways in the world, solo. TCH is the longest paved highway in the world and is marked by distinctive white on-green maple leaf-shaped road markers with slight variations along with the 10 provinces of Canada.

The first task upon landing in Vancouver, after the long flight from Hong Kong, was to get the car that I had booked online through Hertz. I told the Fijian lady who was handling my booking that I would like a car in good condition. She gave me a brand new Chevrolet Impala that had only run 643km! In the 1960s, years before the Indian economy opened up, I had heard people in Kerala talk in awe of “the man who owned an Impala”. And, here I was, ready to drive that massive white beauty. I paid around $3,000 for on-road assistance and car hire.

My first adventure was getting locked out of the car before the expedition started! I called Hertz assistance and, to my utter disappointment, was told that I would be charged $12 for them to remotely unlock the car; I had only paid for premium assists, not silly things such as being locked out of the car!