PARKSVILLE, VANCOUVER AND JUST LIKE THAT, OUR ADVENTURE IS AT A CLOSE

Black Swan Pub in Parksville.

The back of the pub and the outdoor seating

The view from our RV taken at sunset.

Parksville, with a population of about 12,000 people is about 37 km/60 miles north-west of Nanaimo (where the delicious chocolaty Nanaimo bar was invented and where we took the ferry to Gabriola Island) and was the location of our last two weeks on Vancouver Island. Once again we had access to a beautiful beach but, alas, not the dogs. In March and April local beaches are closed to pets, even pets on leash, as the Black Brant geese make their way back to Alaska and use the shores around Parksville and Qualicum Beach as a stop. Local folks have told us they would just as soon our dogs took a run at some of these geese as they are not on any endangered lists and, besides being incredibly noisy, they leave a remarkable amount of droppings behind.

Because it's also the spawning season of the Pacific herring, thousands of other waterbirds, seals, eagles and sea lions hang out on the coast line hoping for a meal of herring.

Together with Parksville, the neighbouring towns of Qualicum Beach, French Creek, Coombs/Hilliers, Errington and Nanoose are collectively referred to as 'Oceanside'. Our RV Resort was smack in the middle of Parksville on the beach and next to an enormous municipal park that had everything a community could require including outdoor gym equipment, walking trails for dogs and their owners and a book exchange. Parksville enjoys a very moderate climate with temperatures rarely dipping to freezing in the winter or going much beyond 20c/70f in the summer. Tourism makes up most of the economy of the area.

The beach during the day at low tide.

If you visit Vancouver Island and venture up to mid-island you really must go to Coombs. This tiny little town, population 1,300 or so, is about 10 km/6 miles west of Parksville and is home to the Old Country Market.  www.oldcountrymarket.com  Not only does this market sell some wonderful and unique produce, and has the best ice cream in the world, they also have a family of goats living on their roof. Truly, I would not make that up!

Goats on the roof.

Taking a ferry from the small hamlet of Crofton, population 1,100 or so with a pulp and paper mill being its main source of economy, we went to Salt Spring Island for the day.

Salt Spring Island is the largest and most populous of the Gulf Islands (population 10,300) and has more tourists visiting than any other.  Like most of the Gulf Islands, Salt Spring enjoys a very moderate climate.

Harbour at Vesuvius, Salt Spring Island

A cafe in Vesuvius on Salt Spring Island

We visited with friends of Erik's for the afternoon and, once again, had lunch outside in a very beautiful and pastoral setting. There's nothing like having a nice lunch with a glass of wine outdoors when you know friends back home are still shoveling out from that horrible last snow fall of the season.

A little bit of interesting and not well known history about Salt Spring Island: In 1858 blacks from California moved to Salt Spring to escape new legislation in that state that discriminated against them.

After a month on Vancouver Island, two weeks in Metchosin (just west of Victoria) and two weeks in Parksville it was, once again, time to pull up stakes and visit Vancouver that most sumptuous of cities to see cousins and old friends. The ferry ride to Vancouver was from Departure Bay in Namaimo to Horseshoe Bay at the most westerly tip of the city of Vancouver and is a 2 hr 30 minute ferry ride. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed out of vehicles on this ferry so Erik and I sat in the truck with them and played cards and talked. No, the dogs did not play cards owing to not having thumbs but they did offer advice. Horseshoe Bay is pretty gorgeous, surrounded by mountains and spectacular homes dotted on those hillsides.

Horseshoe Bay

Our RV Park www.capilanorvpark.com was close to downtown Vancouver, within walking distance to a shopping center, some beautiful walking trails through woods and parks. Our social scene was pretty good too: One evening I had dinner with my three cousins at a local restaurant and Erik took the dogs to the home of one of his ex-colleagues for dinner. The following evening some mutual friends (actually old friends from Brockville) came to our RV for dinner and brought the entire dinner with them.We had one full day to take in Vancouver, which is just fabulous, went through Stanley Park and had lunch at Granville Island.

On Granville Island, mountains in the background.

Lion Gate Bridge seen from Granville Island.

Vancouver traffic.

First stop, after leaving Vancouver was Kamloops for the night to have dinner with old friends of Erik's. Kamloops is actually a pretty little city, about 85,000 people, interesting topography and is at the junction of the north and south branches of the Thompson River.

Beautiful Rockies. Leaving Vancouver and heading east.

On the Cocquihalla Highway on our way through western BC.

This was our only brush with winter the entire time we were gone.

The summit of the Coquihalla.

Other than the summit of Coquihalla where one would expect snow in mid-April we experienced pretty nice weather all across BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In fact, until we crossed over into northern Ontario we did a good job of avoiding winter.

From Kamloops, where we stayed just one night, we continued on the Trans-Canada Highway. Some interesting stuff about the Trans-Canada Highway:  The Trans-Canada Highway connects all ten Canadian Provinces, spans 8,030 km/ 4,990 mi and is one of the largest national highways in the world, right up there with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Number 1. Ferry rides are part of the Trans-Canada. Construction started in 1950 and was completed in 1971 but was officially opened in 1962.

The part of the trip that was terrifying for me - and I do mean Totally Terrifying - was just east of Golden, BC. We were certainly high up in the Rockies and I was pretty busy taking lots of pictures and taken in by the sheer magnitude of the mountains and the gorgeous gorgeous scenery all around me. We stopped at the little town of Golden, population 4,200, and high up in the Rockies, 800 m/2,600 ft to be exact, for a bit of lunch and a walking break for the dogs. When we left Golden we were still on the gorgeous new section of the Trans-Canada and then, suddenly, we weren't. Suddenly, we were driving on two lanes, huge transports trundling around the many corners on this narrow narrow roadway toward us where truly there was barely enough room for one small car let alone huge transports and us, a truck and a fifth wheel. It felt as though we were going to just fall over the side, the side, I might add, that was very steep, a sheer drop in fact, with nothing but a tiny little metal barrier that was supposed to keep us on the road. I think not. I wish I had some photos to show how creepy it really was but it's hard to take pictures when your eyes are closed and you are hunched over the seat trying to hold onto the lunch you had just eaten.

With excellent driving skills and an enormous amount of patience Erik cleverly kept us safe and away from the sheer drop of the edge and to safety. We took the Trans-Canada through the remainder of BC and started our descent through the Alberta Rockies and stayed the night in a town in Alberta called Cochrane, just a bit north and west of Calgary. We were still pretty high up, 1,186m/3,891 ft,, but kind of on a plateau. The RV Resort we stayed in was one of the nicest and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Mid-April is not prime time for RV Parks to be opened in Canada even though the weather was really very nice and mild and the snow in that area was all gone.

The Rockies are breathtaking.

Completely awe inspiring.

Entering Alberta.

Our spot at the RV Park in Cochrane

We were on Lion's Lane - get it - Freddy is a Ridgeback

 

Our rig. It really was a nice park. Too bad we were only there for one night.

An enormous off leash walking trail with a creek adjacent to the RV Park

Looking back on Cochrane as we headed toward Calgary.

          Crossing through the Badlands of Alberta. www.canadianbadlands.com

Heading out early in the morning, from Cochrane we head toward Saskatchewan and the town of Swift Current where we would stay for one night. Along our route we pass Medicine Hat, Alberta and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, two of my favourite place names after Dildo, Newfoundland. Both towns are pretty small.

Crossing into Saskatchewan.

The prairies.

In Saskatchewan we visited Indian Head, apparently the home of the television show Little Mosque on the Prairie

The Indian Head at Indian Head, SK.

In the television show the fictional town was called Mercy but Indian Head claims it.

Driving quickly through Moose Jaw.

One night in Swift Current and then east toward our next destination of Brandon, Manitoba where, once again, we would stay for only one night.

Not quite sure what or why but there were what seemed like man-made shallow lakes along the side of the TCH

About to enter Manitoba

You don't often see one, let alone two, telephone booths these days. But in Brandon, MB you do.

Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, along the Assiniboine River in the southwestern portion of the Province and has a population of about 56,000. The RV Resort we stayed in felt strangely familiar; we had actually stayed there in 2009 when we rented an RV to move back to Ontario from BC. When we checked in they still had our information on file and even asked if we still had the three dogs - sadly we only have two left. Quite a little pang in my heart.

Kaede and Freddy and you can just see HarryBoy's head peeking behind Freddy. 2009 trip

The RV Park was adjacent to woods and farm land with open fields for the dogs to run in. As they did in 2009, but without their pal HarryBoy, Kaede and Freddy once again ran the fields. We also saw a few jack rabbits.

Next morning, off we go again with Dryden, Ontario our destination for the night. Beats me why it's so much colder and more wintry in Northern Ontario than it is west of there but it is. As soon as we crossed over into Ontario near Kenora it felt colder and there was snow still hanging around. In Dryden, our first stop it was close to freezing with rain and snow.

I have to say, though, I can imagine what this RV Park would be like in the summer months or in the fall when all the leaves are still on the trees but bursting with autumn colours. This time of year, not so inviting.

After Dryden we were pretty much in a southerly direction until Thunder Bay when we had to kind of go north around Lake Superior before heading southeast, following the lake to Marathon. It was still very wintry there and we parked in the driveway of the RV Resort and plugged our electricity into a little cabin on the property. We had the awful feeling that we had not missed winter entirely.

We were actually pretty lucky because so far, in northern Ontario, we had found RV parks that were not actually opened up for business yet but allowed us to stay for one night. We had no services other than electricity as the water was not yet turned on and the sewer systems were not open for business. The trip was winding down now and we were essentially just thinking of getting home as we drove through snow.

Last, and final stop, North Bay where we did the ultimate exciting thing you can do while in an R.V. - yup, we stayed in the parking lot of the local WalMart. There was not a single park in that area opened due to there still being a substantial amount of snow on the ground. I retract my statement of not having seen snow other than on the mountains; good old Ontario made sure of that.

And so, after having left home on November 3, 2014 to start this adventure we arrived back home in the afternoon of April 25th, 2015 having driven through or stayed in 17 American States, 5 Canadian Provinces and a total of 15,000 km/9,000 miles. That's a lot of traveling. There were some high points, some not so high points, lots of laughs, plenty of scenery to look at, interesting, tasty food, and a whole ton of memories. It would be difficult to pick one favourite and least favourite or one experience that stood out over the others; it was all good. I would not hesitate to recommend this mode of travel to anyone out there who would relish such an adventure.