No worries. Im not dead. Its been quiet for a long time, I know. Thats completely on me. To sum it up, I made it into Canada (as you know), made it out of Canada (as you may not know) and back to whence I came. With a few things happening in between. Its a long story, to TL;DR here:
I met some fantastic people, had an interesting time, encountered some hiccups, and after fixing those afformentioned hiccups, I left via Buffalo>New York>New Orleans>Cen Cal.
Below is a slightly more indepth account. Still not the best though, as my memory isnt that great.
So I had managed to get into Canada, on the visa that expired on the seventh of that month. Following that order to the T, I left Canada via bus, then re entered almost immediately. Surprisingly... it worked. So I found myself back in Toronto. I found a charming little spot by a burbling brook, in a quiet part of the nearby forest. Not. A small ravine separating a residential neighborhood and an apartment complex is where I found myself. Behind me was a wall, separating me from the highway. It wasnt the worst spot, but due to my tenuous position in Canada, I was very worried about causing problems. Hence pitching camp in the cold for a period of a few weeks.
It went okay though, I eventually upgraded my accommodations to a nice little boiler room under a large apartment complex. It was a nice change. Warm, dry, reasonably secure. After the third night I stopped worrying about someone finding the nook that Id picked out for myself. Apparently no one ventured down there. The only caveat was my entrance and exits had to be very carefully done, lest I run into someone in the more occupied parts of the underground utility systems.
I had set up a decent routine. Meet up with my friend around midday, return for a nap, head downtown to busk till early morning, then return and sleep. Rinse and repeat.
Yes, I became a bit of a homebum. Woe is me.
It was during this time I ran into some trouble. In the course of a nightly outing to the store, I was picked up by a concerned policeman for “looking suspicious” thus begun a very complicated series of events that led to me being jailed, then sent to court where I was then bailed out by my dear friend. I was now tied to Canada, unable to leave. And since me living in a boiler room wouldve supplied the over eager office with yet more ammunition, I changed my place of residence to my friends home. An upgrade? Yes, but the circumstances couldve been much better.
Being jailed once wouldve been enough for me, but then Canadas immigration services caught up with me. Due to the intensely civic minded police man, I was now red flagged under immigration, also partly due to my fault and a clerical error on the part of the immigration services. I was now deemed as an overstay, and jailed again for that. I was then released, and the court proceedings continued. After a very complicated few months; in which my friends family were extremely generous in giving me a warm place to stay, good food, and company; the proceedings were over, the lawyers paid, and I was (not forcefully) booted from Canada for a year. TANGENT: Summers in Toronto are very nice, and I am very fond of Canada, and will return once that year is up.
So, after being booted. I found myself in Buffalo and back on the road. I spent a few weeks there, making friends and mistakes, before moving on to New York, Manhattan to be exact. Again, more friends were made, dumpster diving learned, and Central Parks slept in. I was then lucky enough to pick up a job, driving a families car (sans family) from Manhattan to New Orleans. I took it in a heart beat. One 19 hour drive later (yes I am proud of that) I made it to NOLA intact, and was then offered another job by the same family, to fix up the house a bit for them before they arrived, in exchange of living there for a few days.
I, again, jumped on that job with enthusiasm. I had only passed through last time, but now I actually got to experience New Orleans. The food is tremendous, as is the humidity. I then found myself on a bus back to Cen Cal, and here I am. My trip didnt take the full year, but it was worth it.
Obviously theres a lot I left out for the sake of brevity, but if you’ve got questions, ask. And if I remember Ill answer.
Cheers,
Siph