Sunday ; Port Alberni to Tofino to Ucluelet to Nanaimo, ferry to Vancouver, to home near Keremeos, British Columbia
Today started out cloudy and mild, becoming sunny and very warm.
Once again I feel as if I have severely undercharged for a trailer towing job. I am typing this at 7:05 PM, at the Nanaimo ferry terminal. We missed the 3:15 ferry that I had a reservation for. When we arrived at the ferry terminal at 5:30 PM, the 5:45 PM ferry was full and just about to depart. At that time, the 8:15 PM ferry was full, and we are in the "standby" wait line for 8:15 PM, definitely on the 10:45 PM ferry. < heavy sigh >
We were up this morning at 7 AM and left the motel in Port Alberni at 9 AM. We continued west on Hwy. 4. The 100 km. stretch of Hwy. 19 from Port Alberni to the Pacific coast / west side of Vancouver Island was brutally difficult with a 38 foot trailer in tow. At the Pacific coast we turned north for the last 35 km. to Tofino.
We arrived at Crystal Cove Resort exactly at 11 AM, as planned, as that is their check out time and we could not check in with the client's trailer before that time. Access to the client's reserved campsite was ... ( what else ? ) ... exceptionally difficult ! < another heavy sigh > Getting the trailer situated in the site, and set up ... slides, electricity, water, sewer, unload bicycles from inside the trailer, etc. took two hours. "Normal" set up time is one hour, so ... we were an hour late by the time we were leaving the campground at 1 PM. We knew by then that we would not be able to get to the ferry terminal for the 3:15 PM ferry. SO ... Joanne wanted to make a short side trip to visit Ucluelet. We drove south to Ucluelet, then through the village to look around. I bought $20 worth of diesel fuel in Ucluelet just to ensure that I had enough fuel to make it back to Port Alberni where I wanted to refuel at Extra Foods Fuel Bar. We returned north to Hwy. 4 and headed east back towards Port Alberni and Nanaimo.
Halfway back to Port Alberni we stopped in a rest area to have a very late picnic lunch. We chatted briefly with a family of four from Germany. At Port Alberni I refilled with diesel fuel. KA-CHING ... another $110 ! At Coombs we turned south on Hwy. 4A and followed it to Parksville where we got onto Hwy. 19 and continued south back to the ferry terminal at Nanaimo, arriving at 5:30 PM. And that was possible only because
I travelled all of Hwy. 4A and Hwy. 19 at 130 km./hr., 40 km./ hr. over the speed limit !
It’s now 7:35 PM. The ferry from Vancouver is arriving, ten minutes early. Joanne is extremely crabby ! What fun we’re having ! ! !
8:10 PM. On the ferry. About to depart. About to eat supper. Wife still crabby ! Will be arriving in Vancouver at 10:15 PM. Five hours to drive home ... in the dark ... should mean we’ll be home at ... about 3:15 AM ! < sigh > Five hours later than planned !
I really got to start charging more money for my trailer towing services ! Especially the long haul jobs that involve ferry crossings.
Off ferry in Vancouver on time at 10:15 PM. With no stops for meals, fuel, or puking puppies ... made it home in four hours, arriving home at 2:15 AM ! Might have exceeded the speed limit a bit ... < cough > !
Monday ; Sunny and warm.
What eclipse ? Must have slept through it !
Actually, I didn't, but Joanne did. I awoke at 9:30 AM and went immediately to get Bo at our friend / neighbour / mail collector / dog sitter Jeanine. After showering, etc. I spent the rest of the morning doing trip accounting, retrieving electronic payments, etc.
This afternoon we visited with Jeanine to find out how her two days of dog sitting Bo went, and to retrieve Bo's leash and food. Back at home we unloaded all the trailer towing equipment and supplies, and returned Lanoire the truck to its parking spot underneath Elsie the camper. We watered our composters and gardens. I tried to glue repair a soapstone brooch that I bought in the Northwest Territories, that broke during travel. < sigh > The glue repair did not work.
Bo survived his two days with Jeanine. He was a bit morose. Emma survived her forty hours alone, quite well, it seems. Joanne survived our two day trip to Vancouver Island and back, but does not want me to accept any more trailer towing jobs over to Vancouver Island. Well ... we have another one in two weeks when we have to bring back the trailer we just delivered.
Tuesday ; Sunny and hot. Joanne cooked a Saskatoon cake and a sweet & sour chicken cutlet, pineapple, and rice dish in the Sun Oven today.
Spent the morning working on "administrative" chores at my desk. In the afternoon I did some preventive maintenance on the truck and minivan, and a small refurbishment project on the camper. Both of us spent time on the computer trying to make a motel reservation more conveniently located to Tofino than the one we already have in Port Alberni, for the return trip in two weeks on the Labour Day weekend. I finally managed to get a reservation at a hostel in Ucluelet. Never been to a hostel before. We have a reservation for a double bed in a room with four beds. In a house with two bathrooms for eighteen guests ! Hope it works out okay. The hostel specializes in surfers and offers surfing lessons. < blink blink >
When we took Bo for a walk around supper time we walked down to our RV park's orchard and Joanne harvested plums and peaches.
Wednesday ; Sunny and hot. Joanne cooked Swiss Steak in the Sun Oven today.
This morning we removed the rear seat from the minivan and loaded our four pieces of artwork in the minivan to take them to Penticton tomorrow. This afternoon while Joanne went into Keremeos to refill our five gallon water jug I went fishing. I fished for about an hour and a half, and caught four, large ... Rocky Mountain Whitefish. HMPH ! Don't want 'em ! Too full of bones ! Released 'em ! BUT ... they're spunky ! Fun to catch !
Last week I kept a large Whitefish. Made ( liquid ) "smoked", ( maple syrup glazed ) "candied" Whitefish in the Sun Oven. Yeah ... tasted fine ... but ... still full of bones !
Thursday ; Penticton
Sunny and very warm during the day, cool and windy during the evening.
This morning at 11 AM we headed for Penticton, for a noon meeting with the owner of a fine art gallery, to discuss the sale of our three Group of Seven limited edition, numbered prints, and our very large Italian tapestry, purchased on Joanne's 40th birthday in January, 1994, in Florence, Italy. We unloaded the four pieces of art from our minivan, took them into her gallery, unpacked them, and left them with her for a few hours to assess them with the assistance of a colleague of hers who was not there yet.
We had lunch at Tim Horton's. We went to Service Canada and submitted our passport renewal applications. We went to my gastroenterologist's office and picked up the colonoscopy pathology report from my colonoscopy in May. We refilled the minivan with fuel. We went to Total Pet and bought some blade wash. We went to PetsMart and bought some dog food. We returned to the art gallery and had a discussion / negotiation with her about selling our four art pieces on a contingency basis. The discussion / negotiation was a bit disappointing, but ... life goes on !
We shopped at Wal-Mart, mostly for groceries. We shopped at Superstore for groceries. We finished and left Penticton about 6:30 PM. We arrived home about an hour later. I barbecued Dan-O-Cheese-Dogs for dinner. We watched Saturday Night Live's summer replacement show, Weekend Update ; Summer Edition, followed by a reality show documenting the emergency department of Vancouver General Hospital.
Friday ; Mostly overcast ... maybe smoke haze ... warm.
This afternoon we reinstalled the rear seat on the minivan, and did some rearranging of emergency equipment and supplies in the rear. I went to the park's burn pile and scavenged a couple of long pieces of 2" x 8" lumber. I took them to the woodworking shop and used a radial arm saw to cut one of them into blocks to be used under the truck's tires when we need to level the camper when we're parked somewhere that is not level, and a four foot section to be used as a levelling board under trailer tires when needed on trailer towing jobs. I disinfected and refilled the camper's freshwater tank.
I replenished toiletries and bathroom supplies in the camper.
Late this afternoon Marcie came over to ask for help. Gord had tumbled backwards off the top / fifth step leading into their house, landing on his head, shoulder and elbow. Joanne and I rushed over, Gord was lying on the pavement at the base of the steps, moaning in pain, bleeding from the elbow. We picked him up, got him into the house and settled into his living room plush chair. Joanne and Marcie tended to his bleeding elbow.
Gord is in the final stages of life. He has been suffering from mesothelioma / asbestos caused lung cancer for about sixteen months, and is expected to live only a few months more. He's very frail.
A couple of hours later Marcie was back to ask for help again. While she was outside for a few minutes, Gord tried, but failed, to make it from the living room to the bathroom. I found him sitting in a kitchen chair, urine all over the kitchen floor. He wanted an ambulance to be called. Good decision ! He used the "Lifeline" emergency call device strapped to his wrist. A Lifeline agent opened communications from a speaker phone on their kitchen counter. I explained the situation, and Lifeline called for an ambulance.
Impatient after a forty-five minute wait, I told Gord to press the Lifeline button again. A Lifeline agent again opened communications through the speaker phone device on the kitchen counter. I expressed my impatience. The Lifeline agent called again for an ambulance, then came back on the line to advise me that their records indicated that they had called an ambulance forty-five minutes earlier, but that BC ambulance dispatch had no record of that. < SPUTTER > I was dumbstruck ! But ... that was not the time for me to throw a hissy fit.
Fifteen minutes later an ambulance arrived. They got Gord assessed, and loaded into the ambulance. HMPH ... easier said than done ! They took him into the Keremeos clinic to have the doctor on emergency call assess Gord further. About half an hour later they phoned me back to advise that Gord was being taken to, and admitted to, Penticton Hospital. Great ! He's much too ill to be taken care of at home by Marcie any longer !
Joanne went next door and arranged to take Marcie to Penticton Hospital tomorrow morning.
Saturday ; Sunny and very warm.
Joanne left at 10 AM this morning to take Marcie to Penticton hospital. I sliced Roma tomatoes thinly and placed three racks of them into the Sun Oven, dehydrating them all day to make sun dried tomatoes. The top rack was finished by the end of the day, but the lower two racks will require more time in the Sun Oven tomorrow.
Around noon I walked Bo, then Ozzie. After walking Ozzie, I examined his ears.
I spent all last summer battling Ozzie's severe ear infections. In May when I examined his ears, they were fine. Today ... YUCK ! One ear was fine, and one ear was more severely infected than I have ever seen. < sigh > Poor Ozzie ! The ear was inflamed, plugged with pus, and extremely smelly. YUCK ! ! ! I cleaned the ear as best as I could without anybody else to help, and I applied antibiotic, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, analgesic ear drops. < sigh > Looks like Ozzie and I will be seeing one another every three days or so for the next little while. Poor Ozzie ! It must take a lot of courage for a little dog to trust someone while they are doing something that hurts as much as the ear cleaning obviously did.
I was napping when Joanne came home from Penticton with Marcie around 4:30 PM. She got our dirty laundry ready for laundering, and while it was in the washers and dryers in our park's laundromat, we visited with our neighbour / friend Jeanine whose home is near the park's laundromat. In the evening I downloaded, printed, reconciled, and paid our monthly MasterCard billing. WOW ! Expensive trip to Northwest Territories and Manitoba !
DSK
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