On the Road Again 2015 #12

It was hot in Hope. Really hot - that kind of heat that sucks the moisture out of every part of your body, including your hair. Thankfully it does not take long to walk through the town and soon I was at a familiar spot with my thumb out. It was slow going, there was a lot of traffic passing through the intersection just forty feet from where I stood, but much of it was going in the other direction. What vehicles did pass me were either full or had already reached maximum ramp speed. I started to second guess myself about the wisdom of travelling on a national holiday. After all how many single people would be travelling towards Vancouver? I was also a bit anxious as I did not want to get stuck in Vancouver overnight. I would rather sleep out near the terminal at Horseshoe Bay than on a park bench in Vancouver.

After about an hour of standing there, carefully nursing my water bottle (I realized far too late that (1) I should have filled up on water as I walked through town and (2) a granola bar can make you even thirstier that you were before), I got a ride to Chilliwack.

Something happened that has never happened before. I don't remember anything about the driver who picked me up in Hope, or in fact about the driver who picked me up in Chilliwack and drove me to a Skytrain Station in Vancouver.  Both of the drivers were men, they were friendly and I am sure that we chatted about the usual things. The first driver was young (I think) and was off to visit some friends. The second driver (I waited almost no time for this ride, but there was a bit of a sketchy walk from the exit ramp to get to a suitable spot at the entrance ramp ) was older. But that is it - I remember nothing about them. Which is a rather a shame as they deserve, no matter how little, some recognition that they helped a stranger out.

I got to downtown Vancouver without hassle. The cit was bustling with folks walking around with fake maple leaf tattoos (the tattoos were fake not the maple leafs), little kids with flags in their hands and the occasional obnoxious anti-Harper protester. I was standing beside a grandmother, her daughter and granddaughter who were also heading towards Horseshoe Bay. It turned out that we had just missed the bus by about 5 minutes. If I had not stopped to get a desperately needed bottle of water, I perhaps would have caught it.  There was not another express bus for an hour which would mean that I would miss the ferry I hoped to get. There was however, another slower bus leaving in a few minutes. It was a holiday, there could not be that much traffic on the road ....perhaps we would get lucky and get the ferry we wanted. Taking the slow bus also meant that I would get out of downtown Vancouver before the parade started. I am as patriotic as the next guy - but seeing a parade was pretty far down on my list of things to do.

The bus was crowded, there was far too much traffic on the road, and the driver scrupulously followed his schedule - meaning he sat at a spot for a few minutes just so he would not get to his next stop too early. We arrived at the ferry terminal just as the ferry was pulling away.

While I had some concerns about what was going to happen in terms of getting from Nanaimo to Duncan - I had achieved my goal. I would not have to spend the night in Vancouver.