Trains, Planes & Ferries

High Speed Ferry across the water to Victoria and Return

Hanging out in Comox and cruising by sail boat to some nearby islands had been laid back but filled with walks and explorations. It was time to head south again to Victoria then Port Angeles. We had left the truck in P. A. but the Travel Trailer (Errol) was still in Port Townsend. This meant a full day of driving around when we got back to Port Angeles because once we united the truck and the trailer we still had to come back to Sequim to set up for a stay. But I am getting ahead of myself. Our morning in Comox was slower getting started than it had been the previous few days. Angus had a breakfast cooked up in no time but we were just slow getting moving; this is no complaint at all. Once underway we had time for a walk around a local park with flora and fawna, (yes, I know it’s fauna, but this park had baby deer mingled with the adults and we got VERY close), then the air park...




...after a noodles sort of lunch of Vietnamese food. Yum, is all I can say about that. In any event it was finally time to say good bye, it was hard because we likely will not see Angus and Rolande for a long time since their general plan includes crossing the Pacific (the puddle jump) this coming season. Hugs all-round and we were on the train going back to Victoria. Until that moment I did not realize that this was Sandy’s first time on a train!!

We saw a lot of interior on the way!!

One thing about this train ride was that the whistle is liberally used at the many road crossings and another is that the forest does not allow for much view much of the time. I did not tire of the whistle but I would have liked more of the fantastic view. This is a place where scenery is captivating so what we could see was thoroughly noticed. There must be something about trains on this island because everywhere I saw people waving at us. Everywhere we went the people were more than just friendly… they were positively effusive and helpful. I have seldom been someplace where my “accent” was noticed so much… I do not hear it myself!!! As it happened Jean-Guy was waiting for us at the station and drove us a few blocks (it was truly close) to his home and we had a splendid dinner before retiring. It was extremely fun chatting our way into the evening. Hopping on the ferry going back to the U. S. of A. was slightly more complicated because we were going to have to go through customs/immigration… BUT, it is not nearly as nasty as the stupid way WE (Homeland Security) handle border crossings in Nogales, Arizona. Can we say, “Too much hassle”?? Having waited in line for more than an hour in Nogales it was good to just pop into line and spend a couple of minutes to get through the process. I will leave the idiocy of the current fear-mongering on U.S. radio and TV making life miserable for so many to a later day (this is something where the political middle line has disappeared in the mist of bombastic crap) and full book to follow. Whoopsy!! I digress way too much!! Suffice it that we did reunite truck and Errol and in the fading light settle in for a few hours to get up early the next day for a rapid trip (four hours) back to Vancouver, Washington for a medical check up and return as far as we could toward Sequim!! We made it to Olympia.