Many of the 3,400-odd kilometres of highway between Hamilton and Calgary are not exactly parts of Canada most people often see. That’s why, this past week, the adventures of Anthony Novak have been so interesting to Canadian soccer fans.

The Forge-turned-Cavalry FC striker has been driving, on his own, across the centre of the country since Monday, choosing to take the scenic route on his way to joining his new teammates at Spruce Meadows. On Thursday, having stopped for the night in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Novak phoned up CanPL.ca to report on his cross-country trek before arriving in Calgary on Friday.

Apparently, his hotel in Swift Current was the nicest of the four he’d stayed in yet – just one of many details Novak was sure to relay.

The first leg of Novak’s journey, which took him as far north as Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., got him off to a good start. Novak revealed he hadn’t been north of Barrie since he was a kid (insert Lord of the Rings reference here).

He was certainly amazed by the Canadian Shield rock formations along the highway, but Novak was perhaps even more taken with one mysterious sign in particular near Webbwood, Ont.

“I saw this huge sign for ‘Man Versus Fish,’ and I was like, I don’t know what that is… but I seem to have missed it by a couple months, so I was disappointed with that,” he said.

“It would’ve been an interesting thing to pull off and see. I don’t know how man fights a fish, or if man is just trying to accumulate as many fish on his hook, or what it is – maybe a massive fish, I don’t know.”

After about eight hours on the road, Novak arrived safely at his modest hotel in the Soo. It seems the adventure was just getting started, though.

Novak’s second day on the road – the leg from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay – was when things really got interesting.

“The second day was hands down the most beautiful drive I’ve ever been on. Hands down,” he said. “It was so good, like the entire time it was up and down, I guess you can’t technically call them mountains but mountain-style ranges and huge elevations and drops. It’s all between massive rocks, it was so beautiful.”

Although he went camping in Thunder Bay once as a child, Novak explained he’s never truly experienced that part of Canada as an adult.

“It was an unbelievable drive,” he added. “It took a lot longer though, because a lot of the time it’s just one lane, and you have to pass if you want to go. You can’t really go as fast because everything’s winding, but I felt like a rally car driver or something like that.”

Of course, his lunch stop in Wawa, Ont. was memorable as well:

Day 2 drive highlights – SST Marie to Thunder Bay is the most beautiful drive – In Wawa ON the Tim Hortons ladies remember the local drive thru orders “are you sure Tammy wants chicken bacon ranch? She normally has chicken Caesar wrap dbl check please for me before u ring it in”

— Anthony Novak (@AnthonyjNovak) May 5, 2021

“I saw the population sign when I went into Wawa and it’s 3,000 people, so the size of my high school,” Novak said. “I was like, somebody’s gotta make sure Tammy gets the right order because she’s gonna be upset.”

At last, on the third day of driving, Novak finally got out of Ontario – but not before at least a couple more escapades on the road.

Like all good road-trippers, Novak has been trying to maximize his fuel efficiency – ideally, his daily fill-up stop lines up with his Tim Horton’s lunch stop around midday. On Wednesday, though, he perhaps cut it a little too fine.

About 11 kilometres from the next gas station in Dryden, Ont. – just over three hours from Thunder Bay, and two hours before the Manitoban border – a fuel light popped up on Novak’s dashboard.

“I’m, like, coasting into town, and the last six kilometres I’m barely pushing the gas just to make sure,” he recounted. “I fill up, whatever, I go pay and I get in the car, and no dice. The car does not start.

“I’m sitting here going, ‘Oh my god.’ I am somewhere between Thunder Bay and Manitoba and I’m thinking, ‘what on Earth am I gonna do?’ I leave it for a second, give it a couple of minutes, but also at this time I’m in the gas station spot at the pump, and there are only two pumps, and I’m getting these mean mugs from these dudes in a truck who are staring at me.”

Of course, there was no garage or mechanic nearby. The dashboard began popping up with new lights – check engine, the battery, the oil, everything – even though Novak had the car (a 2013 model) serviced, and the battery replaced, a week before departing.

With panic beginning to mount, Novak called his dad.

“My dad goes, ‘Listen, I can’t really help you over the phone, I only know so much,’ as not a car guy but just a useful human. He goes, ‘Call Neil in the shop,’ where we get our car done in Ajax.”

So, Novak called Neil in the shop.

“‘Hey, Tony Novak Jr. here. Listen, I’m stuck between Manitoba and Thunder Bay and I’ve got a little bit of an issue. So I’ve turned the car off, I’ll turn it back on and tell you what I’m looking at here.’

“I turn it on and it just starts. And he goes, ‘I’ll send you a bill in the mail.'”

Disaster thus, miraculously, averted, Novak hit the road again en route to Winnipeg. He had one more stop in store for that eventful day, though. Near Kenora, toward the very edge of Ontario, Novak took note of the lake running next to the road.

“It was a beautiful lake surrounded by nice forest and stuff, and I thought that’d be a nice place to swim, but I didn’t have the gall to pull off because I was making good time,” he explained.

“But I thought to myself, I’m not gonna remember the time I didn’t swim in Kenora, Ontario on the way to Calgary. So I pulled off at the next one I could find.

“I thought to myself initially, I’ll go out for a nice stroke a couple hundred yards or something like that. I got, like, 20 feet and was like, this is outrageous. I feel like my heart’s gonna stop.

“I swam back and some truck driver saw me getting changed on the side of the road and honked, gave me the peace sign.”

It seems that final day in Ontario was the most eventful of Novak’s journey – for better or for worse. Since then, it’s been smooth sailing across the Prairies in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Day 3 highlights: Thunder Bay to Winnipeg is very fast. Car didn’t start in Dryden ON after getting gas (momentary panic). Took a cold swim outside Kenora see attached (sound is necessary) also in Manitoba ppl are eating inside pic.twitter.com/PA1R43CWAr

— Anthony Novak (@AnthonyjNovak) May 6, 2021

Those final legs of the trip were certainly a grind. Novak said he spent most of Thursday on the phone (hands-free, of course!) with anybody who would answer – former Forge teammate Daniel Krutzen, his parents, his agent, and several others. It seems, after so many days in the car, his music playlist won’t cut it anymore.

“I was grasping at straws,” he admitted. “I called two of my friends and they didn’t answer. I couldn’t just listen to music anymore. I was the only person on the road, I would see somebody every 15 minutes when I would pass something.”

At last, though, Novak has arrived in Calgary; his first order of business upon arriving in the city was getting a COVID-19 test, so that he’ll be able to join his Cavalry teammates on the pitch as soon as possible.

Novak is hopeful that he’ll be able to transition into the club’s training sessions easily – it’s not easy to maintain fitness during a fairly sedentary week of driving, but he explained that he’s been running each night to at least keep somewhat in shape.

That said, nutrition isn’t necessarily a fine science during a cross-Canada road trip.

“I don’t even want to disclose what I’m eating, because I’m gonna be giving my receipts to Cavalry and I’m just, like, ashamed of what they’re gonna see,” he joked. “But really healthy food has not been available, it’s just these stops in these towns that just have nothing in them.”

At the end of it all, Novak won’t regret a moment of this trip; certainly, he’s glad he chose this method rather than simply flying to Calgary.

“It’s gonna be bittersweet when it’s over; I’m gonna miss it almost,” he admitted. “It’s been a nice journey, I don’t know how many people can say they’ve driven across the majority of Canada.”

Five days and 3,500 kilometres later, Novak officially has that accomplishment in the bank.