Road Trips

[Gene]

More photos:

1. We arrive in the inner harbor of Victoria. They opened the door early and these cars are to be first off. None were pushed into the water. Victoria is lush with trees, bushes and flowers.

2. I don't known what that tree with all the moss is.

3. Barb waits in the truck before we leave the ferry. Like every ferry we've been on, the guys who direct you use hand signals that are incomprehensible and then get disgusted when you can't figure out what all that waving is.

4. Part of the very large Parliament building in Victoria. So you can sound smart when visiting Canada, the head of a provincial government is the "premier" and the head of the national government is the "prime minister". Note to Bob: telling them when they won't let you in that the premier or prime minister is a friend will not help. Just surrender your tomato stems.

Someone asked me what it cost to take the ferry—my addled brain can't remember who. There is a $16 reservation fee because they have a very expensive computer. For a truck up to 18 feet plus driver, $126. Each passenger is $36. Every extra foot is $5.25. Total round trip for 46 feet is $456, all US money. That's for a Toyota Tundra and a 25' trailer. The local Chamber of Commerce recommends you stay for at least 2 weeks because it is so expensive. The province does not subsidize the ferry as Newfoundland does, so it seems to me they are limiting tourism and get less money for the Island.

The photos won't upload. Maybe some day.

Gene

[Fly at Night]

Originally Posted by Gene

I doubt Smitty's was the reason since I was feeling bad before we went there; it got worse as we were waiting for the meal. I don't eat meat or fish, so I can't blame bacon or oysters. Just had some ice cream—best meal I've had for a while. I feel a bit better and am watching The National. I hope you aren't near the fires. The sky is grey here and the haze (smoke!) isn't doing me any good. The A/C filters are helping to clean up the air in the trailer. Barb is going to see if we can stay here a few more days. Hopefully I can go out this weekend, but I don't want to drive (or be driven) to Strathcona PP. The bowling ball in my stomach is not helping. The view out the window is pretty especially since the tide is in and the mud flats are covered. But mostly I stay in bed. I'm glad I'm not in a motel room and looking at for square walls with bad art on the walls and a bad bed to sleep in. I'd rather feel crappy in our trailer which feels like home.

There's a national election here in October. I've only seen one campaign ad attacking the leader of the Liberals for being too young and only seen that twice. In the US the ads would be running all the time.

I'll try to post some photos later.

Gene

Gene, in your jammies by ten to watch the National, then lights out by 10:30? You're a real Canuck now. However, a few Canadians like to live on the edge; they stay up until 10:45.

Likewise, our federal elections are quite boring. And so are federal politicians - to the point that any spectators who wish to visit the in-session House of Commons are routinely given reconditioned Ottawa Roughriders' football helmets because too many were falling asleep, keeling over, and knocking themselves out on the marble floors.

The only time anyone really got a kick out of it was when Prime Minister Chretien exclaimed, "I will win the popular vote on election night." However, due to some facial paralysis and a heavy French-Canadian accent, it sounded like "I will win the poopular vote on erection night."

Justin Trudeau did rebutt that kick in the diaper ad during the recent debate. He said it was "silly." That's it. "Silly." See what I mean? Boring.

Too bad mom and dad isn't steering that campaign. High entertainment value there too. Dad (Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau) would have told 'em to go "fuddle duddle" themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXKSGRyZtz8

And then there's Maggie, (Justin's mom and the former Mrs. Pierre Elliott Trudeau, our "First Lady" - before she ran off with the Rolling Stones.) She gleefully expounded that she liked to wear garter belts because they "turned her and Pierre on." hmmmmm.....I guess that was on election night too. She also thought Canadians would gain much if they climbed a tree and pretended to be a bird like she did.

Dem was the good old days of Canadian politics.

Oh "fuddle duddle." I sure miss 'em.

p.s. Please get well soon.

[reelfastgreg]

actually the Black Ball ferry is less expensive than a ride on the BC ferry system which is also self sustaining. i was shocked when we were up visiting the 'sunshine coast' at the cost of those ferries. the 2 week admonition has some merit as getting to Van Isle is an expensive proposition.

[Jim & Susan]

fan, i tried to view that video and i get a script that says "the uploader has not made this video available in your country". whatever happened to nafda?

all jokes aside, hope you're feeling better Gene. enjoy the trip and keep posting most of us are never going to be there. love to read your stories.

jim

[Gene]

I'll try to post the photos again (didn't work, but other things are working on my laptop, some on iPad; Tengo, the bane of computer users, slows things down a lot when you post photos once or maybe twice).

Raining a bit this morning and cooler. The bowling ball in my stomach is now not the 16 lb. men's ball, but the lighter weight woman's ball. I hope I'm getting better. I got dressed for the first time since Thursday or was it yesterday? I guess I got dressed yesterday for an hour to move the trailer.

I am recovering from my pathetic state yesterday. While an intestinal disorder is not like cancer or heart failure, it can really wipe you out. We had Thai food in Pt. Orchard about 5 or 6 days ago with Ken and Sue and though Barb ate what I ate, there may have been some bacteria in the part I ate. It also had a lot of fish oil in one dish we had and my body is not used to fish products. It was a day or two later I started to feel bad, so my immune system was strong, but finally lost the battle. I hope Ken and Sue are ok.

We hope to tour Nanaimo today. We missed the bathtub races, but how can you not want to see a place called Tub City? Barb says the city, the 2nd largest on the Island, is built on hills and parking downtown is difficult. We are here for 3 more days, the longest we have ever been in one place. We have talked about leaving early and eating the last day, but we have to find another place, maybe in Pt. Alberni. We stayed at a motel there 10 years ago, but didn't really see the town. I am still kind of weak and had only water, ice cream and a grilled cheese sandwich yesterday and feel empty. Some Irish oats for breakfast is mild enough for me. I'm craving vegetables and will look for a Chinese restaurant.

Gene

[Fly at Night]

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

fan, i tried to view that video and i get a script that says "the uploader has not made this video available in your country". whatever happened to nafda?

all jokes aside, hope you're feeling better Gene. enjoy the trip and keep posting most of us are never going to be there. love to read your stories.

jim

Jim & Susan, oh darn. That's the CBC for you. They don't like Americans.
Too bad, because the clip is hilarious. Pierre tells a member of the opposition to "FO," then tries to lie his way out of it by saying he only said "Fuddle Duddle."

[Gene]

Moved again and though the first two sites were easy to back in, today's was much bigger and so it took 20 minutes. Maybe I'm not as recovered as I hoped. Found a Chinese restaurant, bakery and laundromat all in the same place. Barb is getting stir crazy, must carry on. Stiff upper lip and all that.

Gene

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Fly at Night

[B]
And then there's Maggie, (Justin's mom and the former Mrs. Pierre Elliott Trudeau, our "First Lady" - before she ran off with the Rolling Stones.)

So is Justin "too young to be prime minister" Trudeau Mick Jagger's son? Maybe a better pedigree. Mick graduated from the London School of Economics, has probably ingested more drugs than the Allman Bros. Band and is still dancing around stages unlike most 70 year olds.

We went to the north end of town and found at one intersection a German bakery (chocolate cake and multi-grain bread, 25¢ extra for sliced), a pretty good Chinese restaurant (Da Tang; very different versions of Chinese food, but good) and a laundromat run by a Swiss guy with a thick German accent—all within 100 yards of each other. The chocolate cake goes down easily and I am now eating with my teenage appetite again. The laundromat at Living Forest CG did not pass Barb's inspection, but the laundromat we went to (Crystal Clean) was the cleanest, best run one I've ever seen. Very high quality machines well maintained. So, a successful afternoon and as soon as I try to eat the entire cake, it is time for a nap. Feeling better with food instead of bowling balls in my stomach, but kind of weary. Tomorrow we may see the other sights.

One of the sights is three college students dressed up in military uniforms marching down a street to a fort and then firing three cannon towards Vancouver. Beware Vancouverites—your city is about to be leveled! I guess they rebuild it every night, because it will be leveled again and again. Must have really messed up the Olympics when it was in devastated Vancouver.

Just up the road are petroglyphs in a small prov. park, or you can see fake ones at a museum downtown. Like Pt. Townsend, the city seems to have been thriving in the late 19th century. It was coal mining center (centre to Canadians) and has a long history as a shipping port. Although there are 83,000 people, it doesn't seem crowded, though Barb says there was lots of traffic on Friday.

Yum, another piece of cake sir? Don't mind if I will. Do you have ice cream to go with it? No sir, we are out of ice cream, but we'll have some tomorrow. Thank you, I'll come back for more with mint chocolate chip.

I've tried to post photos again, but no luck. A victim of Tengo, but I've got chocolate cake.

Gene

[Ag&Au]

Gene,

Glad to hear you're feeling somewhat better. Perhaps the meat (in whatever Barb, Susan and I ate) ate whatever organism in our food, that you ate in your food to make you feel sick and wondering what you ate.

We set out to rescue you today and headed north. Unfortunately we only made it as far as Silverdale. There we were taken captive by a raiding party that forced us to go shopping for furniture. After that they then made us promise to go straight back home. We tricked them though and make a couple of stops on the way.

This morning there was a mother and baby raccoon over by the pond while we were out supervising the cats. The young one was trying to wrestle with his mother while she was trying to find something to eat. She growled quite loudly at him. Daisy heard it and demonstrated that she was smarter than Tiger and Kimba, by proceding immediately to the door at full speed. The two boys just said "ho hum" and went back to trying to capture grasshoppers. We had to get them and carry them back to safety.

Perhaps you need to import some American food and quit trying to eat the exotic Canadian cuisine.

Get well quickly,

Ken

[Gene]

Ken,

Those were actually Canadians dressed as "raccoons". They were out in the sun too long and because they had worn sunglasses, looked like "Canadians". You may not know that real raccoons are all left handed, but you can only tell if you ask them to write something. But even then, many "Canadians" have learned to use their withered right hands to scribble something.

We saw a group of these "raccoons" waiting at the ferry terminal to go to the US and wreak havoc. Apparently some of them got past US customs and immigration and escaped to your pond looking for a cat dinner. Since NSA monitors all international e-mails, I expect the army is coming to your pond right now. Since official US policy is to destroy something to save it, watch out and let the cats take care of this.

And burn that furniture right away. "Furniture" is well known to be Quebecois disguised as "furniture". We are barricaded in our trailer holding off giant prehistoric beavers that have been created from ancient DNA by "raccoon" scientists to eat US forests and sell the lumber to Loonies from Alberta. One of the Loonies is even Prime Minister.

Fortunately the chocolate cake came from a German bakery. It was baked very efficiently on an Audi engine. The Swiss laundromat used a combination Swiss Army Knife to scrape the clothes clean and the Chinese food as cooked on a burning Volvo. I used my Chinese made iPad to gain entry. Life is sure complicated here, but if you think fast, you can survive.

Other than that, I am feeling better after a nap, want to eat more and have not spent so much time using the toilet paper that by now feels like it was made from 100 grit sandpaper. Right now there's a silly programme on CBC that is like Allen Funt's Candid Camera from decades ago. Very colourful. Now I'm spelling like them. Pretty soon I'll be nice to everyone.

Gene

[gandttimes]

This is why we don't let Americans bring their guns to Canada.


George

[Ag&Au]

Gene,

Until you return to the US (if you do) I think you better have Barb screen your posts. Otherwise you may be permanently detained or find yourself paddling back home on top of your Airstream while trying to plug water leaks with you toes and other body parts not used in paddling.

The Canadians have their own Gitmo. Its called Alert. From there they can throw you to Russia. (at least it's close enough that Sarah could see it from there).

Ken

[Fly at Night]

Originally Posted by gandttimes

This is why we don't let Americans bring their guns to Canada.

George

Exactly. Bad television, diarrhea, and gritty toilet paper makes them trigger happy.

BTW, even though the bowel condition has improved, when in "Port" as the locals call it (Port Alberni), make sure you are not downwind from the pulp mill because that all-too-familiar odour will again waft through the AS. Or....as Chretien would say, you're again going for the poopular vote.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, I think the Canadians poisoned Gene after they were informed that Gene told the whole world that he saw a Canadian flag on the missile that destroyed my Salem house.

[Fly at Night]

I think his youthful vigor returned, so he decided to climb one of those 300' Douglas Firs in Cathedral Grove, and now he can't get down.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Brazilian owned TimHo....even tha syrap is better in Vermont.

Bob

[Fly at Night]

Timmies is in the same league as our cheap beer, curling, Hockey Night in Canada, and any sitcom produced by the CBC.

And now it's owned by some Brazilians?

Oh well. They do such a brilliant job marketing their "Canadianess," that many view the *"double double" as patriotic holy water.

*double-double is the Canadian vernacular for Tim Hortons coffee, double the cream and sugar.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, Gene must be in a Canadian jail or on permanent WIFI restriction. We all know how well WIFI works at times. Last night I sat in a chair in front of the office just to get fair WIFI. The owner/manager came out of her trailer when she saw my flashlight headed to the office. I told her I was trying to get WIFI.

[Ag&Au]

I sent Gene an email this afternoon. No reply yet, but of course that won't do any good if he's out of internet coverage, or in the pokey.

Ken

[Arcticfox]

I just heard there was some guy with an airstream got caught trying to "Free Willy". That wouldn't be Gene would it? Sure hope not. They will lock him up in the fish food room for sure....

Cheers
Doug


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