She's Gone Missing!
Past Stories
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date: October 2017
“Remnants of tropical storm Nate are expected to bring appreciable rain to Toronto overnight Sunday into Monday”. I sat listening to the news on my couch. I grinned with a mix of excitement and nervousness. It would be my first bike tour where the rain would hit, and it would hit hard. The next day, I would start a 4-day bike tour from Toronto, Ontario to the Bruce Peninsula.
Sandra and I hiking Bruce Peninsula National Park, pleasantly surprised by the lack of rain!
Little did I know that the rain was the least of my problems.
Little did I know that on Sunday, I would stand bewildered and confused at the crime scene tape surrounding my friend’s vehicle.
It was creepy. It was random. It was confusing. But soon, the details were going to unfold.
Sandra, a friend of mine who is new to bike touring, decided to join me for part of my ride. On Saturday, she drove 2.5 hours north of Toronto to a small cottage town called Hope Bay. I pedalled my way to the intersection I told her to meet me at, and noticed she was very concerned about parking in this random-middle-of-nowhere neighbourhood. I thought she had nothing to worry about, but to make her feel better, I asked a couple folks from the neighbourhood for their advice. They said she could certainly park in the area. Sandra was still concerned. But alas, she agreed to park her car just beside what seemed to be the entrance to an abandoned farm property. She carried her bike out of the car, and within 30 minutes, we were both riding the beautiful road to Bruce Peninsula National Park.
I knew the rain was coming for us. It was forecasted to hit at 4:00pm. As the sun slowly set, I braced myself and I noticed myself pedaling faster. But the rain didn’t come! In fact, we arrived to Bruce Peninsula National Park at around 5:00pm, set up camp, went for a BEAUTIFUL hike, cooked dinner … and still no rain! “We are so lucky!” I shouted to Sandra as I crawled into my hammock at about 9:00pm.
Well of course I spoke to soon! Ten minutes later, the rain started coming down. My tarp setup could not keep up. The night was dreadful. I managed to fall asleep, but I woke up countless times because parts of my clothes and sleeping bag were drenched.
I woke up, yet again, at 6:00am and decided I would start packing up, despite the constant downpour. At 8:00am, Sandra wakes up and luckily, the rain has decided to ease off a little. We decided we would try to ride back to the car. "It's only 55km" I said to her. "We could do that!" We knew the storm was coming back, but perhaps we could just ride it out until it gets REALLY bad.
Long story short, the rain got the best of us. We decided to hitch a ride for the last 10km and arrived to Sandra’s van at 1pm. Under the rain, we shared hugs with the generous couple who offered us the ride and quickly put our bikes into the van. I jumped in the passenger seat, and looked to my left waiting for Sandra to hop in the car. I notice she was staring blankly at some crime scene tape surrounding the driver’s window. She took off the crime scene tape, and slowly comes into the car. “What…. What is this? Did I get a ticket?” It was so strange. I couldn’t answer her, because I had no idea what the crime scene tape could mean! "Maybe we should call the number on the tape”, I remember thinking to myself. We were both confused, and not excited to pay a parking ticket.
Only a few minutes later, I receive a Facebook message request from Sandra’s brother.
“Hey. Sorry to bother you. Are you with Sandra?”
“Yes, she is all good! Do you need to speak to her?”
[...]
“She has been reported as missing. You need to call the police”
“WHAT????”
I immediately call the police, trying to piece everything together. Sandra sat in the driver’s seat extremely confused. I had the phone on speaker, and held it up to her. The police asked her a couple questions. All of a sudden, the undeniable voice of an anxious and concerned mother replaced the voice of the police officer. Sandra's face immediately changed. Finally, the police had all the evidence needed to prove that Sandra was no longer missing. Before closing the call, I asked for more details on how on earth this whole situation unfolded.
I hung up the phone and immediately broke out in laughter realizing the amount of miscommunication that had managed to occur in the last 24 hours. Sandra, on the other hand, stared blankly ahead of her, imagining with terror the expression on her parents’ faces when she would arrive home that evening.
I will break it you, it wasn’t that creepy. Just miscommunication. Turns out, someone in the community had reported the car to the police, because they thought it was odd that someone decided to park there. When the police came to investigate, they asked the locals if they had any information. One person said something about “a woman on a bike taking her”. Apparently, that sounded dangerous enough to investigate further. Rightly so I guess - never underestimate a girl who cycles. Sandra did not tell her parents any details of the trip, and also did not have her phone on. One thing led to another to another, and a missing case was opened.
This story still makes me laugh. And despite me being an independent woman, this story also reminds me I should just tell my parents where I am going from time to time…. just in case if a woman on a bike comes along…
Happy Halloween folks!
Life behind bars on the Georgian Trial