After the smoothness of the drive to Victoria, the day before, and the ride itself, I suppose I was due for some payback.
Ian and I got up a little after five with Dad and we were on the road by 5:30 in the morning. We had a reservation for the 7:00 ferry, but we needn’t have bothered. We got to the terminal by 6:08, and there had been no waits for the… drumroll… six o’clock ferry. I don’t know how long it’s been in place, but apparently there is a 6:00 now. That takes the pressure off the 7:00, which wasn’t full when we sailed.
Ian and I had a great ferry ride, with breakfast in the buffet. The weather was lovely so we could spend all the rest of the time outside. That included taking pictures at the Spirit of British Columbia sailed by.
Our car was near the front of the boat, so we walked up and watched the ferry approach.
That’s where things started to turn for us. Somewhere between the front of the boat and the car, my glasses case fell out of my pocket. I was wearing my prescription sunglasses and didn’t notice the issue… until we stopped in Chilliwack to get some water. I tore the car apart looking for my glasses, but realized pretty quickly what had happened. I called Tammy and she called BC Ferries, but they won’t know if they were found (or run over) for a day or two.
So I did some quick math and realized that if everything went well, I would be arriving with Ian in Calgary around 8:30. The sun would still be up, so I wouldn’t have a problem wearing sunglasses. I hated losing the glasses. They cost a lot, being progressive, but they were almost two years old and my prescription has changed. I have contact lenses, which I have brought with me to Regina. (Hi from Regina!)
So we hit the road again. But then when we were halfway to Hope, Siri spoke up. She informed us that there was a highway closure, and our best route was taking the Fraser Canyon to Cache Creek, to Kamloops, to Tete Jaune Cache, to Jasper, and then the Icefields Parkway to Banff.
Wha?
I called Tammy, and Ian was helping try to figure out what the story was as we were driving towards where we would have to decide: Highway 1 or the Coquihalla? We couldn’t find any evidence of news about the Trans-Canada being closed between Kamloops and Calgary. Eventually, we found the supposed closure. It was in Glacier National Park, where there is a lot of road construction at the moment. We came through it on Thursday, and it meant we were stopped for a while, but it wasn’t a problem.
Tammy, Ian and I debated it until we finished lunch in Kamloops. I decided it was bad data and we would go straight east. If we went to Jasper, it would put us at home around 11:30, and I had to wear sunglasses! All the way, we couldn’t use the GPS, because Siri would give us ridiculous directions:
It turned out the highway was not closed. I didn’t even come to a stop. But there was so much construction in Yoho, that we might as well have gone north. We rolled into home just before 10:00, and the sun was already set.
So today I’ve dug out my inbox, done my last session at the Human Performance Labs, and flown to Regina. I am looking forward to being home this weekend.
Sorry about you loosing your Glasses. Nice pictures of you and Ian. Thanks again for your enjoyable visit Dad, Grandpa.
I think a couple extra things I should mention about losing the glasses are… they were two and a half years old, and I knew my prescription had changed. I was procrastinating on replacing them. And the other thing was that on the ferry ride to Victoria, the zipper on my Inform jacket broke. This was why I lost the glasses. This is the first thing about that jacket that has broken which is amazing. I got it in 2000 and I have worn it regularly. About ten years ago, I recall stating that it was an amazing jacket and it would probably outlast the company whose logo was on it. I was right in a big way. But now the end appears to be approaching for it.
All great things must come to an end! Allowing new to appear….