Ultimate Canadians: Fredericton men trudge through blizzard for Tims coffee
Elizabeth Fraser | CBC News | Posted: February 14, 2017 2:54 PM | Last Updated: February 15, 2017
What would you do for a double-double?
Not even a major New Brunswick blizzard was going to come between two Fredericton coffee lovers and their caffeine fix.
What started out as a joke between colleagues and friends Darryl Schulz and Chris Moore quickly turned into a serious quest for coffee at around 10 a.m. Monday — right in the middle of a treacherous blizzard that lasted all day and brought in more than 75 centimetres of snow.
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Inside his Garden Street house near the Shannex Parkland, Schulz said he could barely see out the windows because of the extreme whiteout conditions. But that wasn't going to keep him from his daily coffee routine.
"You know, got to make the coffee run," Schulz said in an interview with Heather Hiscox on CBC News Network.
The ultimate Canadians
His friend Moore called a Tim Hortons along the Hanwell Road to see if it was open, which it was.
'I was like, 'We could make that, it's walkable,'" Schulz said. "It's only a couple of kilometres."
The friends bundled up in snow gear, donned ski goggles and began their trek.
Not your typical Tims break
Visibility was low and the snow deep. Although no vehicles were in sight, the men played it safe, hugging the shoulder of the road all the the way to the coffee shop.
We had to drink it out in the snowbank because it was too hot. - Chris Moore
"It was really bad out," said Schulz. "The drifts were pretty significant yesterday."
When the duo finally reached their destination, the lights were out and they were convinced the coffee shop had closed.
Then they spotted a few people inside, sipping coffee or soup.
"Initially, it was success and excitement, and then it was, 'We are so out of place right now,'" said Schulz.
Their long walk in snow gear had left them feeling uncomfortably warm drinking their coffee indoors.
"We had to drink it out in the snowbank," Moore said.
The men finished their coffee, checked their cups to learn they had not won Roll up the Rim to Win, and then stumbled all the way back. The wind was to their backs on the way there, but the walk back wasn't as pleasant.
"The walk back was rather terrible," said Moore.
But that doesn't change the pair's message to other Canadians facing snowy weather: embrace it.
"It's just snow …we are Canadians."