October 31, 2005

October 31, 2005

Nanaimo to Victoria, B.C.

YEAR 2 DAY 136

 

Today was cold and raining. The rain would start and stop about every 15 minutes, all day long.

That's why we took a long time to get ready to depart from RV Resort On The Lake today. I would go outside and work for 15 minutes or so, then stop working and go inside every time the rain would start. This morning after regular morning routines, I went to the clubhouse with the laptop to get online with Wi-Fi for the last time before we left the park. I retrieved e-mail and updated my blog. As I returned to the trailer, it began to rain again, so I went inside to read for 15 minutes or so, until the rain stopped. I repeated that process frequently today. In addition to preparing for departure, I did regular preventive maintenance, filled the fresh water tank, and drained the black water and kitchen grey water holding tanks.

We had lunch. We continued our frequently interrupted departure preparations until finally we were ready to leave. We headed south on Hwy. 19 towards Victoria. Just south of Nanaimo we stopped at Arbutus RV beside the Nanaimo Airport to see if they had an RV part that broke this morning on Harvey. They didn't, and it's non-essential, so I guess I'll wait until we're at a Camping World in the States. Camping World has everything. A little further south, at Ladysmith, the rain stopped just as we were coming into town, so we stopped at a Shell station, adjusted the air pressure in 5 trailer tires, removed, refilled, and reinstalled a propane tank, and filled up with diesel. Sure enough, as we pulled out of the service station, the heavy rain resumed. Near Victoria Hwy. 19 turns east towards the B.C. ferries at the coast, and Trans Canada Highway 1 continues south into Victoria. We took TCH 1 into Victoria all the way to downtown. On the way through the city we passed the Wal-Mart that we intended to spent the night at, and continued to downtown to find the ferry to Port Angeles, Washington. We wanted to be certain of where we needed to be tomorrow morning. We found the Port Angeles ferry, right downtown on the harbour front, near the B.C. Legislature Building and the grand, old Empress Hotel. We managed, with just a bit of difficulty, to get turned around, and headed back towards Wal-Mart.

We got parked comfortably in Wal-Mart's parking lot, then went window shopping around the mall fora little while. I went into a foam mattress store and priced exactly what we had just bought in Parksville a few days ago. It was a lot more expensive here at a retail store in an urban shopping mall. Joanne wanted to window shop more than I did, so I returned to the trailer and read a magazine cuddled on the sofa with Teddy and Bo. When Joanne returned she made supper. After supper I read for awhile, then did today's accounting and journal entry.

Just before Wal-Mart closed at 10:00 P.M. I realized it was my last chance to buy some junk food snacks that are not available in the United States. I rushed into Wal-Mart and bought 4 bags of Cheezies and Bits & Bites. When I returned to the trailer, there was a group of 5 "young men" standing beside their car, parked behind our trailer. They were drinking booze, and shooting off fireworks. I was a bit concerned, so I kept an eye on them through a window. Sure enough, one of them eventually hit the back of the trailer with a firework. I stomped outside, had a few words with them, and the problem was resolved. Hoodlums ! Joanne had suspected that staying overnight in a mall parking lot, on Hallowe'en, might present some problem. I guess she was right. At 12:30, after we had already gone to bed, there was a knock on the trailer door. It was mall security, telling me that we couldn't park there overnight and had to leave. Where the hell was mall security a couple of hours earlier when hoodlums were drinking booze and shooting fireworks at the trailer ? ! ? This was the first time we've ever been kicked out of a Wal-Mart parking lot. Sometimes municipal bylaws prohibit overnight parking in a mall, but in this case it was simply the mall property owner who didn't want overnight parking. Fine ! I left Joanne in bed with the animals, and drove over to an adjacent mall with a Sears store. We spent the night parked beside the Sears store, with no problem.

DSK