On the Road Again 2013 #17

I am now back in my apartment. I am obviously somewhat behind in my blog postings..... I will continue to discuss my trip in sequential order.

I don't know why leaving is so hard. I know that I am going to see my western family again at Christmas which is really only a few months away. I know that I will get to spend another two months with them next year. I also know that Peterborough is a great place to live. There is great food, good music, lots of green space and I have both good friends and a wonderful job but none-the-less there is an almost physical pain deep within my body when I leave. One would think that I would get better at leaving. I have done it so often.

My son along with the rest of his family drove me to Nanaimo so that I could stay in the hostel and then catch the early ferry to the mainland in the morning. Them driving me was a fitting end to this summer's trip. It is not that I could not have managed to get around the islands without their help - but this year more than most years they drove me those few extra miles to get me started and more importantly they rescued me a couple of times when I was too tired to make the last 50 miles home. They also received my guests into their home and made them welcome without a seconds hesitation. I am blessed to have such fine family at either ends of my travels.

Nanaimo has a large and well designed park along its waterfront. We had subs for supper and then went for a walk. Within the park there may be the largest children's playground I have ever seen.  There are three separate play structures, each of which would dwarf most playground areas; there are lovely walkways and of course the pier where one can go and watch the local crab fishers throw in and then haul back their baited traps. It is a great place to hang out.  But it is also the place I hang out every year as I start to process of separating from my island life and mentally getting ready to hitch across the country. Part of me wanted them to stay for ever, but there was part of me that wanted them to just go so that I could start the process of leaving. When they did leave, in spite of the psychological [reparation it was still painful.  As always, as I hugged my daughter-in-law and my son good bye there were tears in my eyes. Other than saying thank you there is little that I can say to express my gratefulness to them or to say how I feel. I am just too choked up. It was especially hard to say good by to my almost four year old grandson who didn't understand that I had another home to go to. He just assumed that I was going on another trip and that I would be back soon. While I had talked about it too him, it felt somehow like I was lying to him when I hugged him good bye.

The hostel was fine, I got a lower bunk which was great, the common room was crowded with lots of travellers making late suppers and using their computers but by 11:00 it was quiet so that I could at least try to go to sleep. I went for a brief walk before settling in for the night. I ended up buying some fries at a shop along the main street. I was the only customer in the store and the young server/cook asked me if I would mind if she went outside for a smoke. She then told me that her mother had just called to say that she had been diagnosed with cancer and she needed to compose herself. While of course I told her that I did not mind - I felt as if I should say something else. I didn't know what, so I said nothing.

The next morning I was up by 5:00 and out in plenty of time to catch the taxi I had ordered the night before. I could have (and have) walked to the ferry terminal. It is a long hike but certainly quite manageable. But the taxi ride is one of two things that I do to pamper myself before I start the journey. The second pampering thing that I do is to take the Greyhound bus from the Horseshoe Bay Terminal on the mainland to the town of Whistler. There is no way that I have found to hitch out of the ferry terminal. There are no shoulders for the first 30 minutes along the Sea to Sky highway. When I say none I mean that there is the road, then a ditch and then a rock cliff. There is no where to stand and certainly no where a car could pull off. I suppose I could walk it but it is all uphill and I suspect that it is illegal to walk along the highway. It is one of the few spots in Canada where I agree with the anti-hitchhiking laws. It would be dangerous for both the traveler and the driver to stop anywhere along the initial part of the route.

The bus was a hour later than I thought it would be so I had to spend almost two hours outside the terminal doing nothing. It was frustrating. I was so close to being on the road and yet I could not quite get started. However the bus did come, it got me to Whistler and five minutes after arriving at this once beautiful but now rich tourist focused village, I was on the road with my sign showing and my thumb stuck out.

I was finally on the road.