On the Road Again 2013 #6

In the last week I have travelled  a lot of miles.

For the third time in two weeks I walked on to the ferry to cross over from Vancouver Island to the mainland. I was off to a Rainbow Gathering and I was excited. I was excited in part because it was going to be an international Gathering with people attending from around the world. A few weeks earlier I had attended a Vision Council  where we had consensused on a Gathering site somewhere in the Kootenays and now I was off the help with seed camp (seed camp is when some folks arrive earlier so the things can get started. There is a pile of work that needs to be done including digging fire pits and building a kitchen. I go earlier to make things for the kitchen including tables, counters, rails and other things).  I had chosen to go by bus to Nelson. I was feeling lazy and did not want the hassle of getting through Vancouver. I think I am getting old......

While in Vancouver I stayed at the International Hostel. It is a nice hostel with tiny rooms but with great bunk beds made out of wood so that they don't shift or creak when the person above you moves around. The hostel is located on Granville Street which is a strange combination of young relatively affluent young people and  street people both young and old.There are lots of good restaurants and a few cheap stores including the requisite store selling porn and 25 cent peep shows.The side walks are full of business people and young travellers. It is an interesting place to spend an afternoon.

The next morning I was up by 5:00 AM. I was at the Greyhound Bus Station before 6:00. The bus  to Nelson was suppose to leave at 6:30 - it left 20 minutes and continued to run late the rest of the day. I chose to sit in the second row behind the driver for two reasons. One there is  a little bit more leg room in the first three rows behind the driver and secondly the driver usually stores his stuff behind him in the first row and therefore there is less chance that someone will lean their seats back and crush my knee. The bad part is that there is a mirror effect in the side window so that one can only see the opposite of the road reflected in the window. it makes all very confusing when looking out the window.

The first bus driver was quite nice but the 2nd one was, while friendly enough was not very flexible about where people could be left off or some of the other rules such as when a lady got on with crutches. As there was already someone in the very front seat cross from the driver, she moved down the bus. At a stop the first lady got off and someone who was large and had some difficulty climbing the stairs sat in that seat - the driver insisted in offering the front seat to the lady with crutches who was seated in her seat half way down the bus. It seemed to be a needless exercise in following the rules.

When we got to Nelson, the bus driver had a hard time finding my pack. It was a bit scary fora few minutes. The hostel was easy to find but it was at the top of a short but steep hill. If I ever open a hostel it will be at the bottom of the hill!  Nice hostel, very friendly and lots of people around. I was exhausted and after a walk around town and a bowl of soup I was off to bed.

While I had crossed much of BC, it did not feel very satisfying. I hoped tomorrow would be start of an adventure.