No time is a good time for goodbye

June 30, 2020. Nanaimo to Coal Harbor by car.

The boat is quiet tonight, the wind is blowing hard, the skies are overcast again. I’m exhausted, and my mood has taken a downturn.

It was hard to sleep last night in Nanaimo. The sounds of traffic on the road just outside the hotel room were jarring, and unfamiliar. I was up at 0500, aware of everything that had to get done today. We got out of bed at 0600, and had quick showers. The hotel was not serving breakfast, due to COVID, so we headed over to Tim Horton’s, and grabbed breakfast croissants and tea to eat in the car. Then, we drove to Country Grocer, and stocked me up on food for the next couple of weeks, replenishing some of what we had eaten.

It was then time to say goodbye to Sara, who is heading back to Rossland to work. She has stopped in Kelowna tonight to visit her friend Shawnee. It was hard to say goodbye. Despite the weather, we’ve had a wonderful few weeks together on the boat. It has been a rare treat, in a rare time, for both of us. We always make a good team on the boat, with skills and attitudes that are really complementary. It will be hard to keep going without her, but having gotten this far, there is really no other option at this point.

I made a couple more stops in Nanaimo, at Canadian Tire and the dollar store, before heading to my parents house for a visit. As it turns out, Christopher has the week off, so he decided to visit his cousin at UVic, and is here this week. He drove up to Nanaimo this morning, and we all had waffles and blueberries on my parents back porch, socially distancing appropriately.

Social distance breakfast with some familiar faces

Around 1230, I started to make my way north again. It was good to leave the strip malls and parking lots of Nanaimo, and slowly get back into the wild of the north island. There was a lot of traffic heading north, and it was slow going on the single land highway past Campbell River. It is Canada Day tomorrow, and it looks like lots of people are taking an extra long weekend, and getting out and about, now that the travel restrictions due to COVID have been relaxed somewhat.

I made good time overall, and got back to the boat in Coal Harbor at about 1700. I unloaded the car, then drove back into Port Hardy to fill it up with gas and drop it off. It took a long time for the cab to come get me, but after about a half hour wait, Bud was there again. I hopped in the back of the cab, and enjoyed someone else driving for a bit after the long haul to Nanaimo and back over the last two days.

Back on the boat, I started to put groceries away, and unpack the laundry and all the things we had bought. I had a quick dinner of canned chili and a salad, then sat down to catch up on IH work and PFTs. I still have lots to do before I get off the dock tomorrow, but I’m starting to run out of steam for the day. I think a good night’s sleep will make me feel more keen to carry on, and improve my mood.