The hotel room is near one of those metal grate bridges. As the cars zoom over, it makes that hollow, rushing sound. Now some may find that irritating but it reminded me of the wind all night, and I think I slept better for it.

Still waking up early, so I guess we’re not home yet. I am, however, looking forward to Eggs Benedict and ice-cold orange juice with good coffee for breakfast: definitely not boat fare…

Looking in the mirror this morning (a full-size mirror finally), I noticed that with three weeks’ scruff and short hair (for those of you who don’t know me, two days before I hopped the plane for Vancouver, my hair was past my shoulders), I am really, really gray. Gray. Where the hell did that come from? Next think you know I’ll be eyeing up the Metamucil in the grocery store…

Maybe it was the sea air…

I put on my rings for the first time in 3 weeks. I noticed most of the sailors wore their rings and I suppose the likelihood of an issue on a sailboat is low, but I’ve caught them in so many unlikely places that doing any sort of ‘work’ with them on makes me nervous. I like my fingers 🙂

Last night I sent off my boat notes to Cooper Boating and an enquiry to Nanaimo Yacht Charters about availability. I need to start working on the Doctor before she starts thinking about work again. Desolation Sound sounds pretty damn empty… And according to my system (admittedly skewed, but don’t tell her), she still owes me 8 weeks of vacation.

I had neglected to mention an odd thing that happened on the long run back to Powell River. Somewhere around Squirrel Cove when we were playing bucking bronco with the waves, we heard, clear as a bell, on VHF channel 68, “Welcome to McDonalds, can I take your order?”

We both burst out laughing. It had definitely been a young woman, and it sounded really practiced so it seems unlikely it was someone screwing around. However it is equally unlikely that McDonalds is using VHF frequencies and the nearest McD’s had to be Lund or Campbell River. Weird.

Then about a half an hour later, while I was talking to R Shack Island, we heard her again. This time we heard a bit of someone ordering something as well. We thought the order might have been a jokester replying on the VHF , but we can’t be sure. Dave never mentioned it, so I don’t know whether he even heard it. Amusing stuff on the high seas.

So I’m going for my second hot-hot shower in less than 12 hours and then some Eggs Bennie. Life is good. (Leslie went for maple & blueberry pancakes. HUGE!)

 

I’ve got a response back from Lorraine already. The dates aren’t perfect but we could definitely make something work, especially if we were willing to pop from one boat to another mid way. That would preclude heading back to the Broughtons, but we could make a couple of weeks in Desolation Sound work and maybe a week and a bit in the Gulf Islands. I’d like to try the San Juans or even further down the Puget Sound as well.

The best bet looks like a Beneteau 40, which is a lot of boat for two but we could make it work. There is also a Beneteau 321 for 2 weeks after Aug 7, or we could ‘jump ship’ and take out the Bayliner 3288 for late July/Aug. I guess I should discuss some of this with L before she reads it online 🙂

We are off for the flight in a bit. Should be getting kitty snuggles in about 5 hours–if they are still acknowledging our existence, that is.

 

Cats waiting patiently (at Carmen’s house!)

We wanted to go to the Comox CFB Museum since we had time, but as luck would have it, it’s closed on Mondays. Next time…next time…

As we sat in the terminal waiting Lesslie got paged to baggage screening. It seems that even though I told them about my life vest, they still wanted to double check there was a inflatable life vest. No problem other than the redundancy. Having the vest was worth it, though.

So we got back to our cozy seats to wait the hour and a half for our flight when they announced a delay. We now have a wait of almost five hours for our plane. Did I mentioned the museum was closed? What the hell are we going to do to amuse ourselves for 5 hours? I’d rather be sailing…

And… No Rogers signal in the terminal and the free wifi has gone flaky! Without the boat to keep me busy I am slipping into internet withdrawal… Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

Waiting.

[later] Waiting…

[a little later] Waiting…

[much later] Still waiting… And now my battery is dying…

[a little later than that] Now they’ve announce our plane has left Edmonton. Should be here at 4:20, taking off again at 4:50. Waiting…

[later x 2] Through security. Waiting…

[later plus, now with extra patience] Da plane! Da plane!

[Leslie] You’re too tall to do that…

And we’re off. Georgia Strait, Texada Island, Powell River.. Hey! There’s the marina! South marina, fuel dock finger 7… 8… Hey that white blob should be R Shack if they are still there.. Hi! [waves like idiot!]

And now, the pretzels!

Arrival at 7:19. W00t!

C’s agreed to meet us at the pub for beer/dinner and maybe some pda’s on the side. She might even bring Sam if they can find her ID.

And so, so long, farewell, adieu….