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If you've ever driven across this country, you know it is both a long and amazing journey.

The Atlantic Ocean gives way to the magnificent St. John River Valley. Then the St. Lawrence River beckons, and beyond that, the Great Lakes, Northern Ontario, the Prairies, the Rockies and the Pacific coast.

That is the same journey the Olympic flame is on for 100 days, albeit taking the scenic route as it travels more than 45,000 kilometres through 1,000 communities.

Today the flame is in our community as we celebrate Olympic tradition and pride in our country.

Many reading this will remember seeing the torch on its cross-country journey in 1988 to the Calgary Winter Olympics. Perhaps you were a child then, or your children were very young, but the event was historic enough that people remember the day the torch came to town.

In The Daily Gleaner's newsroom, the memory of that day is clear, with the comment that one young reporter had never seen so many people gathered in Fredericton for one event.

That's what we hope for today in Oromocto and Fredericton: the historic gathering of two communities with throngs of people anxious to see that torch bearing the Olympic flame that's come all the way from its birthplace in Greece.

In Oromocto, LeRoy Washburn is the official torchbearer, with several soldiers from CFB Gagetown also carrying the flame.

In Fredericton, Olympic silver medalist Marianne Limpert has been designated as the official torchbearer, one of 630 in New Brunswick and 12,000 across Canada who will each run 300 metres to deliver that historic, symbolic flame to its destination in Vancouver in time for the Winter Olympics on Feb. 12.

We cannot begin to imagine the feeling of carrying that torch, knowing the history of the games, the many hands that have also had the privilege of carrying that flame to its destination, and the pride in being one of those chosen for such a journey. It is the adventure of a lifetime.

Today celebrations begin at 11 a.m. in Oromocto, and this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. on Prospect Street in Fredericton, the flame arrives.

We'll be there to witness the event, and we encourage readers to join us. This is simply one of those days that will remain with us for a lifetime. It's not every day that you get to see history being made. We predict you will be filled with pride for this country, its people, its culture and its opportunity to host the world's Olympic Games.

This is a big country we live in, where geography does as much to divide us as it does unite us.

But not today, because today is one of those days when the pride of being a Canadian is so real you can see it and touch it. You can see it on the faces of torchbearers and those standing on the sidelines. You can touch it because it's right there, embodied in a torch.

As Canadians we are so proud of our country and all it represents. Today is a day to remember.