I had come to this part of Canada for the summer to work in the reforestation industry, trimming the brush around stands of new-growth trees that were planted in clear-cut areas. In Canada, lumber companies are required by law to reforest a certain amount of land after they cut it. The brushing job that I was doing helps the "crop trees" (pine and spruce) to grow healthier and more quickly. After the 3 day Greyhound bus trip from Houston to Northwestern Alberta I worked in the bush for about a month. It's a whole other story about how badly that job went. Exhausting ten hour days of running around, jumping logs with long, heavy saw were earning me about thirty dollars a day. Another worker, Steve Morris, found himself in a similar situation, and the two of us both quit the brushing job and decided to head to Jasper, a beautiful town in the Rocky Mountains, to seek a different kind of employment. After living off peanut butter sandwiches for three days we were both hired at a tourist trap called the Jasper Tramway, as tour guides on the mountain cablecar.