The plan was simple. Well, kinda. Load the motorbikes into the bed of the truck. Hitch the camper trailer to the truck. Drive 12 hours to Vancouver. Visit with family Saturday night, catch a ferry to Vancouver Island. Drive to the southeast end of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail on the coast. Drop off the trailer. Drive the truck loaded with bikes to the northwest end of the Juan de Fuca trail. Unload the bikes, leaving the truck at the end. Ride the bikes back to the trailer at the beginning of the trail. Hike 47km along the Juan de Fuca trail, taking in the gorgeous coastal scenery. And probably get rained on. Then arrive at the end of the trail and jump in the truck to go back and collect the bikes and trailer. Then off to a wedding!
The beginning of this was not promising. Justin had tackled the task of putting in some ducts in the basement, and hooking up a new furnace. It had been an ongoing project for some time, but with the chilly mornings, he was feeling compelled to get the furnace hooked up before we left. Before it got really chilly, perhaps in the ten days we were gone. Winter can come surprisingly quickly some years. The furnace ducting was a big job, and it was nearing completion. So Justin split his time, packing for the trip and finishing the ducting work. I helped as I could. Justin ended up finishing on Friday night, which meant we had to leave stupid early on Saturday morning. We were already averaging five hours of sleep each night that week, so mistakes were inevitable. We were both haggard, doggedly and joylessly preparing to leave for a vacation we would surely enjoy once we got there. Surely.
We loaded the bikes into the back of the truck on Thursday night. It was dusk when we finally tackled that task. The mosquitoes were fierce and the night was warm and humid. We loaded the bikes quickly, and hurriedly strapped them down, slapping at mosqitoes. Later. Tighten the straps later. back inside to finish a few more tasks, and collapse into bed to grab a fe whours before the alarm rang the next morning. Too early, always too early. Hook up the trailer on Friday evening, load the last few things, pack the hiking bags. What had been forgotten? I finally reached a point where I didn’t care anymore. Whatever it was, I would do without or buy it in Victoria. After we got some sleep in Vancouver.
Justin put the last few touches on his work, and a quiet hissing filled the house. I blearily peered around. Was that rain on the roof? No, must be wind in the trees. Wait, was it getting warmer? The furnace! Justin had finished it, and the new furnace was quietly heating the house. It was much quieter than the old one. We celebrated with an exhausted hug, and dropped into bed at midnight.
5Am is usually too early, and especially so on a Saturday morning. Justin was not very cheerful when I roused him, and I could hardly blame him. I was frantically upbeat, half due to a desperate attempt to remain awake, partially to convince myself this vacation was worth it, and partially just to annoy Justin. It’s the little things that keep this long term relationship going, I think.
I gulped down some leftovers, cleaned the spoilables out of the fridge, emptied the trash, and the compost. Put the bins near the road, and hopefully our nice neighbours will put them out on the road for garbage day. Justin did some last minute packing of course. I don’t think we spoke. Well, I talked at him a bit, but mutual communication was a bit too much apparently.
Justin strode in and out of the house a few times. His body language was getting agitated, moreso than the early hour and my offensive good cheer would usually account for. I met his eyes.
“Have you seen my bike key?” he asked me. Now, I have teased him a bit for leaving his keys all over the place, as I routinely hang mine up on a peg so that I can find them again.
I furrowed my brow. “No, I haven’t. I think I left mine in the ignition when we loaded, we were in such a hurry. Did you?”
Justin met my eyes and nodded. “But it’s not there now.”
“My key isn’t there either?” I was feeling a little unease now. I had thought about bringing it in, as I fell asleep the other night, as I was worried rain would get into the ignition cylinder. Maybe I had?
I checked the key hanging spot. No key. I checked the bike ignition. No key. I peered around the back of the truck, in case it had somehow fallen out. No key.
Justin couldn’t find his either. And his tank bag had been jerked to the side.
After some fruitless calls to “24 hour” locksmiths at 6:30am, and a little more searching, we finally admitted that it wasn’t going to work. The bikes were just so much fancy extra weight now. As their security had been compromised, neither of us wanted to leave them in the garage, protected by a flimsy wooden door. So we drove out to a secure storage space just outside of town where we keep them for the winter usually. It had the benefit of being far from where the keys were stolen, and y’know, secure. We dropped them off, and glumly drove back to the house. Getting them mobile again would be a task for another day.
All told, that key theft had taken three hours out of our schedule. So we were not gonna make it for dinner in Vancouver. And now we would have to hitchhike or bus back to the truck, after hiking the Juan de Fuca trail. There goes the fun winding road riding I was looking forward to. All for a stupid key theft. Really, did the thief think we would just leave the bikes at home after that? Or that we wouldn’t notice the keys, and it was just to inconvenience us? Very frustrating.
Loaded up, hooked up, still running on too little sleep and caffeine, we pulled out of Edmonton and headed west. Twelve and a half hours of driving before us, then a parking lot sleep to look forward to before a ferry ride to the island in the morning. We would not be early enough for dinner with family, and we would arrive 4 min too late to catch the last ferry to the island that night. So it was find a parking lot that hopefully isn’t too loud, and set off in the morning.
I’m sure we’ll enjoy it when we get there. Surely.
Wherever you are, Be There 