Reg Baylis came so far for beauty and he found it on a park bench in Montreal.
The beauty he sought was intellectual, from the time he left the Pacific Coast on July 13, 2004 until he wheeled into Parc Du Portugal on Aug. 23 and dismounted his bicycle for a well-deserved rest.
He was there waiting for his son to finish his university classes. He was excited to see his boy, so far from their Prince George home, and after pedalling all of those lonely and gruelling miles. He was also chuffed at the idea that he was so close to his literary and cultural hero Leonard Cohen.
Cohen is beloved the world over for his poetry, paintings, his novel Beautiful Losers, and his groundbreaking music. Cohen was an elder statesman of rock 'n' roll, a beloved and evolved veteran of the '60s folk scene, and one of Canada's great icons of art. He passed away about two weeks ago at the age of 82 only three weeks after releasing the already applauded album You Want It Darker.
In 2004, however, Baylis knew that Cohen lived in the same neighbourhood that his son Daniel inhabited while taking classes at Concordia University. Baylis even had dreams - he goes so far as to call them visions - of Cohen while he pedalled across the Canadian expanse on his personal odyssey.
When he wheeled to a stop in the park that pleasant day, Baylis was gobsmacked but oddly unsurprised to see a couple of people chatting under the trees. One was a stranger who was ever so briefly verbalizing his appreciation for the man to whom he spoke. That man was unmistakable to Baylis's eyes.
"The first person I laid eyes on in that park was Leonard Cohen," Baylis said. "I was speechless, just shaking."
The young man paid his respects and left, which meant Baylis and Cohen were now alone together in the greenery. Baylis didn't waste the opportunity. He said hello, mentioned that he was a longtime appreciator of Cohen's work, and that his wife Catherine back home in Prince George was an even bigger fan.
"He said I should relax, everything was ok," said Baylis.
To his surprise and delight, Cohen was happy to chat and even picked up the nearby payphone to call Catherine with a surprise call. Catherine was in a meeting, however, and couldn't come to the phone. Instead, Cohen wrote her a personal note on one of the pages of Baylis's travel diary. That note is now framed and has a special place in the Baylis home.
"I asked him if he'd ever been to Prince George before and he said no, he hadn't been there. Then he started asking me questions about the bike trip. He was interested in that," said Baylis.
The visit lasted awhile.
They parted with pleasantries, said Baylis, and they bumped into each other again a couple of days later, this time with Daniel also present and Cohen's daughter Lorca with the great poet. Another brief visit ensued. A third encounter happened about a year later when Baylis was again visiting Daniel.
Daniel went on to become an author himself, writing the book The Traveller: Notes From An Imperfect Journey Around The World.
Baylis retired from his teaching and sports coach position in School District 57, but got to see Cohen twice in concert following the meeting in Montreal.
