NOT THE STORY I WANTED TO TELL
I wanted to fight the Provincial Government over photo-radar, not the Federal Government over free speech.
It's funny how plans can change overnight. I took the photo above on February 14, just as the blizzard that forced me to my fate began to hammer the foothills. It was late, I had just written my second article but I couldn't upload pictures nor video's and I started to stress out over it. Back then, I still had hope and it was my hope that I could somehow work myself into Automotive Journalism and maybe make a career of it. I didn't know it at the time, but my life was about to get turned upside-down.
It all began with me feeling empty an alone. My father had passed away six months earlier and I've been having some trouble coping with it so I decided to take a road trip to clear my mind. I was driving a BMW 328i when I decided to take the road trip and instead of driving a car with AWD and only 244 bhp, I cashed in my life savings and my inheritance and traded up to the M4 Competition. I was actually going to buy an M3 but my salesman Eric, internet sales manager at Bavaria BMW, suggested I try the M4 instead. I fell in love the second I saw the interior so I threw $80,000 at Eric and said, "I'll take it."
I started buying BMW's because they boast legendary reliability. I like to beat the crap out of my cars, so I thought it would be a good choice. It would have been nice to have all my camera's when I had the 328; that little car took all the abuse I could throw at it and it just begged for more. The valves started making some noise though, but it had 54,000 km on the clock when I got it, so I didn't mind, and it kind of reminded me of driving my Honda.
My plan at first was to just drive the most horrible roads I could find to test the reliability of the M4. I decided to add testing the legitimacy of photo-radar while on my road trip as well. These were just the secondary objectives for my trip, the primary was to find myself and my place in the world. On February 10, I hit the road and made my way to Robb, Alberta. I thought it would be a good place to start my journey of self discovery. I'm Robb, I'm looking for myself so why not go to Robb? I drove Highway 47 to Robb, booted around town for a bit and then headed west on Highway 40 to Hinton. I got back on the road after two days of hiking and exploring around Hinton then returned to Highway 40 and followed it down to Nordegg.
Chapter 1
Nordegg was amazing. There isn't much to the town, but it was peaceful and I had some wonderful realizations there. My journey was to discover myself and I honestly felt that I found my person somewhere in the hills surrounding Nordegg. I felt alive and recharged but that feeling soon turned to dread. A blizzard had rolled in from the coast and the road I wanted to take was snowed in, so I went east to Red Deer to ride out the storm.
I was arrested by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in Red Deer. I cannot talk about the case right now though, you can always read through Supervillains to get an idea of what went down.
My life got a little crazy for the next week and I was distracted from my mission. I had to start preparing for the worst so I rounded up all the villains I know and forged a few alliances.
Once my security was in order, I started to get back to work. I was unaware of what the government was doing at this time. I knew I was being investigated, I just didn't know to what extent so I just went on with my life. I still had a story to tell and I wasn't going to let an arrest get me down.
I stayed in Edmonton for a few more days since I had a service booked and I wanted to get my M-Performance steering wheel installed. In that week I also took the time to learn how to automate my drone and did a few experiments with out-side-of-the-car filmography. I hit the road again on February 28 with the intent to finish my run down Highway 40 and then make my way to Canmore. I was going to tour through Banff National Park after then drive south to Crowsnest Pass, near the United States border. I took a break in Rocky Mountain House and noticed an RCMP officer take great interest in my car. I stopped off at the Museum and he followed me in. Then another RCMP vehicle showed up with an unmarked right behind. The three of them took up positions covering the exits from the museum parking lot, so I decided to go into the museum and take a look around.
I gathered my thoughts inside the museum and worked out a strategy. I left the museum 45 minutes later, ready to face off with my adversaries. They were not prepared for what I had in store for them.
Chapter 2, part 1
There was a touchless car was just up the hill that provided over-watch on the museum. I bought a ticket and watched the police. I don't know if they saw me leave or not, they weren't looking my way when I snuck out, nor did they follow me up the hill. I was in the car wash lineup for almost an hour, which gave the RCMP enough time to call in the INSET team from Red Deer. I saw the reinforcements roll in just before I went through the wash. They ran out to Highway 11 thinking that would be the way I would go; I took Highway 11a instead and lost them just as fast as they found me.
Chapter 2, part 2
My plan from here was to find a place in the woods to camp out. I needed a spot where the police just wouldn't think to look. The Forestry Trunk Road was technically closed so I thought it would be the perfect get-away road. Fate provided me with the perfect hiding spot.
Chapter 2, part 3
My night in the woods was peaceful. I could not have picked a better spot to spend the night, I suppose it would have been better if the car wasn't stuck, but I didn't mind. The INSET team tasked with watching me must have been panicking because they stepped up their game after the spotted me the next afternoon on Highway 20, almost 300 km from where I spent the night. The police do not like it when they lose sight of the mark and they really don't like it when the mark loses them for a full 24 hours. I counted seven different tails, each one in the oncoming lane. They would spot me, turn off, speed around to get ahead and then spot me again. Each tail would appear every 20 minutes or so. All of the batteries for my camera's were dead, so I didn't get any video of the tails, but there would be plenty of time for that in the two weeks to follow...
Chapter 3
The next night while I was back at home, they broke into my car, bugged my phone and placed a tracking device on my rear-view mirror. The level of surveillance on me was insane; there was a drone tasked, there were unmarked vehicles parked all around my neighborhood, but it wasn't enough. I called out every tail they sent, I lured their drone into restricted airspace and they lost the privilege to use it, I took photo's of them, their cars and their licence plates. I do not know why INSET insists on spending so much taxpayer money on me, but they are, so I feel it's my duty to make sure Canadian Citizens are actually paying for something. We can chalk this one up to training, because I'm no threat. If I were a threat, I'd be getting away with what ever I was doing because they just couldn't keep me in view. I am the Supervillain after all. Perhaps I should usurp Canada...
So ends Act One of my story. Stay tuned, this show is about to get interesting.
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Comments (21)
So, what did you DO ? Obviously, you DID do something illegal.... something pretty bad by the sound of it. Not buying the BS that the polizei are chasing you because you are a poor, unfortunate victim.... and they are just a bunch of blue meanies. BULL.
Sorry about your father and your troubles in life. I've lived through quite a few travails myself and spent much time wondering if I should continue with life. But, through it all, I NEVER resorted to hurting anyone, let alone criminal behavior, to assuage my pain. NO excuse for that. None.
Man up. If you have done criminal acts, do the RIGHT thing for a change and accept what is coming to you. If you have been falsely accused, then fight the charges in court. But you'll get no sympathy from me for playing the victim.... and continuing on the course you've chosen for now.
I spoke and they didn't like what I had to say. What's to man up too? Speaking shouldn't be illegal. And where am I playing the victim? Get the facts before you tell me off.
Where have I hurt anyone?
What did I do that was illegal?
Read moreI would read a bit more.
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If you get a chance hit up the forestry trunk road. It's a fantastic north south drive. Takes a couple days though.
I was actually up near Grande Cache last week and was going to hit the north section of the ftr but the roads were a mess from the melt. I'm going to wait until later in spring to take it.
Ya it's not the greatest weather for a beamer up there. We had an old dodge 4by4 the last time we ran it and it struggled a bit through the really high terrain spots around this time of year.