He had an unlikely passenger.
Tuesday morning in British Columbia, Canada, began like any other for Stijn François. After waking up and preparing for work, he hopped into his car, unaware that his routine commute was about to turn into an unexpected adventure—for a very tiny passenger.
Just a few miles into his drive, François noticed something unusual on the corner of his car’s hood. Parking under a tree at home, he assumed it might have been a stray leaf or pine cone.
“I thought it was a leaf at first… or a pine cone,” François told The Dodo.
But he was mistaken. Upon closer inspection, he realized he had an unexpected hitchhiker: a snail.
“Then it stuck its little antennae up,” François said. And with that, the tiny creature began a journey it had likely never imagined—zooming along at highway speeds atop a car.
Remarkably, the snail stayed put for the entire 6-kilometer commute. François admitted he even drove a little slower than usual, silently cheering for his slimy stowaway.
By the time he arrived at work, François started reflecting on the snail’s potential record-breaking journey.
“Google says that a snail may travel between 100 meters and 1 kilometer per year, and given they live only 2–3 years, that gives them a maximum range of about 3 kilometers,” François wrote in a post. “This one might just be a record-breaking snail.”
Though it had arrived in a familiar place for François, it was an entirely new world for the snail. Concerned about interfering with its adventure, he decided to leave the little traveler to its own devices.
Hours later, when François returned to his car, the snail was gone—leaving only a trail of slime as evidence of its extraordinary journey.
“I allowed it the dignity to continue its journey alone,” François said. “I did a double check that I couldn’t see it before I left.”
What seemed like an ordinary day for François had turned into a story about curiosity, patience, and a tiny life’s unexpected adventure. “I hope its journey ended in a good spot for it,” he added.