Sunny country hitch-hiking

I'm on a sunny-day hitch-hiking high right now! Quick background: on Friday a friend from work invited me to join her and some friends at her cottage up in Lac-Saint-Joseph. For the Americans: think Maine and you've got the idea. So I went, and it was great. We went swimming at sunset in the warm lake, stood in a freezing spring, made spaghetti, had fun. Today we drove out to a huge waterpark, but I didn't feel like going, so I said goodbye to them at the entrance. Now, though, I was on foot out in the boondocks, so how to get home to Québec? Hitch-hiking, definitely. But with no cardboard to make a sign, how would people know where I wanted to go? Fortunately I had a marker in my bag, so I took off my T-shirt, got a little artsy-fartsy, and quickly solved that problem.
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Sweet hitch-hiking fashion, I know! Before thumbing it, I walked aways and came to a country craft sale, full of maple products, handmade soaps, pickled turkey eggs, country music and a quilt exhibition to boot! So I walked around the tables and talked to people who taught me all kinds of stuff about beekeeping, maple syrup making and quilting. Strangely enough, as I soon realized, almost everybody there was English. It turns out Saint-Gabriel-de-Val-Cartier is one of those rare anglophone farming communities out in rural Québec. So, bought some honeycomb, some pickled ketchup, an egg sandwich for the road, stuck out my thumb, and within 10 minutes a fireman picked me up. Yes, a fireman. He was going to Québec and brought me right to my front door! Every time I hitch-hike I end up feeling so good about human nature.

If you want to see the cottage and some quilts: 12 pictures here