The Long Run

In the time that we’ve been in Calgary, I’ve driven back to Victoria six times. This time took the longest. From the time we left (5:00 am in Calgary) to the time we arrived at Dad’s (10:45 pm in Victoria), it was almost 19 hours. For all of that, it really wasn’t a bad day. The only real “head desk” moment was that both kids forgot to bring earphones. That led to a bit of extra delay in Kamloops as Miranda bought a set of Sony earphones at Best Buy. There were a few jackass drivers, but nothing really concerning.

We had three bikes on the back of the car this year: Tammy and Miranda will be riding the Challenge distance in the Tour de Victoria. That posed its own challenge: our “four-bike” bike rack really is barely big enough for three. There also wasn’t room to strip the wheels off the bikes, so they were a substantial drag on the car throughout the day. That led to another delay as I drove a little slower than usual.

There was construction, and there was smoke, but overall I don’t think they really slowed us down that much. We didn’t have to stop for any construction, but there were slow zones. The police were radaring on the Coquihalla and Pat Bay, but I wasn’t risking any tickets.

The kicker of the day was the long delay at Tsawwassen. Apparently both of the Spirit-class ferries experienced a problem and the traffic was high. When we arrived at the terminal at 5:20 pm, we were warned there was a three-sailing wait. The 8:00 was possible, but not guaranteed. That meant we had lots of time to kill.

But it also was a lovely evening and there were lots of ferries to watch! Ian was thrilled. This is one of four timelapses that we took of:

• The Coastal Celebration docking and Coastal Inspiration leaving,
• The Salish Raven docking,
• The Spirit of British Columbia docking and
• The Spirit of British Columbia leaving and the Queen of New Westminster docking.

Ian’s second major thrill was that we got to ride on the Queen of New Westminster. He had been watching the ferry timetables all week, and the QoNW had been the 6:00 pm ferry from Tsawwassen. We were going to make a reservation on the 6:00 just so that we could take the QoNW. But in the morning, Ian was disappointed to find that the QoNW was the 8:00 ferry instead.

Little did he know that thanks to the backups at the terminal, we would end up taking the ferry he wanted. The 8:00 ferry didn’t leave until 8:40, so it was very late when we got to Dad’s house. He was there to help us move our luggage into the guest suite and his condo. The kids were ready to crash into bed and so was I. We were off to bed with barely a hello and a hug, but that’s okay.

Today’s agenda: sign in for the ride, walk downtown, and probably see Stephanie and the kids this afternoon.