After breakfasting with Maureen and Marcel, we left Parksville around 10 am, headed northward. We chose to take highway 19A almost as far as Campbell River, and really enjoyed meandering through tourist country along the water. The traffic was light, and we drove leisurely, enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of the oceanside communities between Parksville and Campbell River. While this is a prime tourist destination, it hasn’t been developed to the nth degree as so many places have these days. There is room for wildflowers to grow between the well-groomed gardens, and there is a casual friendliness in this area that makes me feel guilty when I lock the car door behind me before going into a café or shop. I imagine it must make me look like someone from a big city, and that ... read more

Canada Day, take 2 It’s been overcast much of today, and at 5:00 pm it seems to be turning cold. We are parked again at Long Beach, amongst the surfers, who are here in force. When we first got here, around 8:30, all the best view spots were already taken. We settled for one of the lesser view spots, made and ate our breakfast of oatmeal, Buck grapefruit, and mocha, and then headed for Tofino, where we aspired to use the Internet and take showers. We succeeded at the first, but failed at the second, so I think tonight it’s going to be sponge bath in the camper time. Or maybe we should fill the black plastic shower bag and put it on the roof for a few hours to see if it works in this ... read more

Pacific Rim Monday, June 27 we left Victoria around 1 pm, heading for Pacific Rim National Park, where we planned to camp for seven nights. We made the almost obligatory stop at Coombs to visit Goats on the Roof, but we didn’t do much shopping - we’ll be coming back this way again in a week. The ice cream cones were a bit too much to resist, however. If you love ice cream, this is the place to get it. Dozens of flavors and their single dip cone is enormous enough to feed us both. (Unfortunately we were greedy, though, and we each had our own, for which Roberta paid dearly a bit later that day.) We arrived at our destination about 6 pm, and had our first glimpse of wildlife almost the moment we entered ... read more

Final preparations to the camper To our great delight, the new poptop canvas we ordered at the end of May arrived Friday, so we will have it in place for the trip. We’re having it installed tomorrow at Go West. They will also replace our incandescent light fixture with a fluorescent one - hopefully keeping the camper cooler on hot nights, and saving the battery as well. We are hoping the used Bentley manual Kath ordered last week will also arrive before we leave. This is the official Westy repair manual, which many Westy owners like to keep in the vehicle, in case they run into mechanical problems far away from the nearest good VW mechanic. We have also packed the list of reputable VW mechanics in BC and Alberta, which we downloaded from Roadhaus Website ... read more

Our summer, 2005, travel adventure begins June 25. Planned destinations: * Victoria, to see the Tall Ships * Pacific Rim National Park for a week of camping * Parksville, to visit familiy * Port Hardy, to catch the ferry to * Bella Coola, and then up The Hill to * Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, then to * Williams Lake; and from there wherever we feel drawn in the BC interior until July 25 ... read more