No one can accuse Matt Jackson of not being thorough. In 1997, the freelance journalist decided to pull up roots and hit the highway in what amounted to a four-year road trip to see as much of Canada as possible.
Thing was, he didn't take a car, a van, or even a motorcycle. He thumbed his way across this great big land of ours.
"The beauty of hitchhiking is that people invite you into their vehicles - and about 40 per cent of the time - into their homes," said Jackson, who brings his multi-media presentation to the Squamish Public Library on Thursday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.
"You can experience some really intimate moments with ordinary people that way, all in the context of a grand adventure."And you never know when you are going to be sleeping on a park bench," he said with a laugh.
It's one thing to make the trek, but most would agree it's quite another to come home and spend the next three and a half years - almost the same amount of time it took to make the journey -writing about it.But with over 30,000 km of pent up experience and 25,000 illustrative photos, Jackson said he was left with little choice.
"I always had it in my head to write a book, I just didn't know it would take that long," he said.
Jackson released The Canada Chronicles through his own publishing company Summit Studios in 2004. Later that year the Canadian bestseller won the highly-regarded IPPY Award in New York for Best Travel Memoir by a small press publisher. The worldwide competition includes more than 20 other countries.
The Vancouver-based author, now 35, had been working in the resort town of Banff, Alta. when the travel bug took hold of him. At 24, he set west on what he calls "a bit of a circuitous route."
First venturing to 小蓝视频, Jackson travelled to Vancouver Island and up the coast to the Queen Charlotte Islands. From there he headed farther north and spent the summer in the North West Territories and Yukon before heading to Calgary for the mild winter and to make a little extra cash to bankroll the next leg of his expedition.Over the next three years Jackson kept travelling when the weather was favourable, working during the coldest months to fund his mission. He managed to make it out to St. John's, NL and explore the Maritimes - an interesting endeavour for a prairie boy who grew up in the farming community of Hepburn, Sask. 40 minutes north of Saskatoon.
"It was definitely an experience spending time on the fishing boats," he said.
"It's a dirty, messy job. I'll admit the overpowering fish odour got to me. I guess it's depends where you're from the smell of manure never bothered me, but this was something else!"
Those who can make it out to hear Jackson speak and share his pictures are in for a treat. With loads of unique travel stories up his sleeve, guests can mine the travel writer for little jewels like the time he found himself in southern Saskatchewan and was picked up on horseback.As the RCMP celebrated the 125th anniversary of the 1874 Long March West - a treacherous excursion led by the North West Mounted Police that ultimately brought order, and peace, to the Prairies - Jackson found himself in need of a ride.
What he hadn't expected was a parade of cops on horseback, accompanied by a first nations group, to pick him up.
"They had an extra horse and offered to take me with them," he said.
"We spent the weekend in Fort Walsh, I went to their pow wow, it was incredible."
Both hard and soft cover editions of The Canada Chronicles will be available for purchase when Jackson speaks at the library, though the author adds there are only a few hard covers left before it is out of print.
The soft cover, revised and with fewer photos than the original, is also available in bookstores and on his website www.mattjackson.ca.
