Just Perfect

I have spent two very peaceful days at Georgie Lake. (50.744553, -127.614665) You couldn't ask for a nicer spot. Free, water front camping and I no neighbors.

Tomorrow Serenity descends into the belly of the beast for her 16 hour trip to Prince Rupert. I am looking forward to seeing the splendor of the inside passage and maybe some Orca. Tonight I will be camped in lane 8 at the ferry terminal. (map) Loading begins at 5:30 am. 

Heading North

Back to Port Hardy, again.

I stayed a couple of days at this free spot in Union Bay. The rain has stopped and blue skies and present temperatures prevail.

The black berries are ready, yeh

The black berries are sweet and succulent. It takes about 15 min to pick a bowl full. 

Last night in another beautiful free spot. 

Arrived Port Hardy today. I made ferry reservations to go to Haida Gwaii on Friday. It will be a 16 hours sail up the inland passage to Prince Rupert. I am so excited, I have always wanted to do this. Then over to Haida Gwaii for a week of exploring. I have booked a two day tour of the Gwaii Haanas National Park. I will be staying one night in a floating lodge.

two years ago

three years ago

Good To Go

The cable arrived, was installed and I am on the road again. How sweet it is.
I highly recommend Berk's Intertruck for service on Vancouver Island.
2230 McCullough Rd, Nanaimo, BC V9S 4M8
(250) 758-5217

On the Road Again, Almost

The Story So Far

Deserted by Coach-Net roadside service.

On Friday the infamous problematic workhorse auto parking brake failed to release.  Checked around town and found that Black Cat could look at it. Called Coach-Net to request a tow. They called Black Cat who said that there was no need to tow me, they would send a mechanic to me. They did and he could not repair the brake. Called Coach-Net back and a nice lady told me that they would check into a shop that could do the repairs and arrange for a tow. It was late afternoon and all this would happen Monday. Checking in Monday and was told I would have to pay for the tow. Why? They only make one covered response per incidence, and that was the call to Black Cat. So even though they had not towed me anywhere, I had used my one call. I was hung out to dry on a technicality.

Plan B

I found a shop in Nanaimo, Burk’s Intertruck, that works on Workhorse chassis. I disabled the parking brake by cutting the cable that engages it. This means that I have to put my levelers down to prevent Serenity from rolling when parked.

Ace mechanic Dave at Burk’s Intertruck found that the pressure switch on the booster was leaking. I had a spare and repairs were completed in an hour and half. 

Leaking, badly engineered, failure prone, pressure switch.

The cable I cut has to be ordered and hopefully will be here tomorrow and I will be back on the road.

Well, the cable that arrived this morning was not the one for Serenity . Again, hopefully, the correct one will be here tomorrow afternoon. I had them order two so I will have a replacement on hand if I have to cut the cable again. These pressure switches are such a problem that prudent Trek owners carry spares. 

Top mechanic Dave has me covered.

two years ago

FILOMI Days

Being stuck in Port Hardy for the weekend was not too bad. The whole town turned out to throw me a party. FILOMI stands for: FI - fishing, LO - logging, and MI - mining. A local told me that the salmon fishing was the first to crash, then the Island Copper Mine closed in 1995 after 25 years of operation. Now it is only logging and tourism.

The chair went to the boy in the black T shirt

Down in Port Hardy

Pulled into Port Hardy for fuel and Wifi at the library. I am still in the library parking lot. When I went to leave my auto parking brake would not release. A local mechanic spent several hours attempting to fix it. No luck. My roadside service will, hopefully, find a repair shop and send a tow truck on Monday. I guess I am lucky that it happened in town and not out in the boonies where I was last night. Lots to see and do here.

Late night's spectacular camp 

(50.562640, -127.355499)

Telegraph Cove

Telegraph cove is an old fishing and cannery village now turned to eco-tourism. The village grew out of a one room station at the northern terminus of the Campbell River telegraph line. The old homes and cannery  buildings erected in the 30's and 40's still provide homes for about 20 lucky soles that call this paradise home. It is very picturesque and now a center for fishing, whale watching and kayaking.

North Island Kayak offers one to eight day kayak trips. Two to four day trips use base camps they have set up around the islands. Long trips you pack every thing with you. Trips run approximately $250/day

one year ago

two years ago

Mechanized Log Handling

As one would expect, logging like all other industry has been mechanized to the point that it would amaze early loggers.  This is the log handling yard at Sayward, BC. There is a great deal of logging activity out here on the island, but you never see a logging truck on the hi way. The trucks travel on a system of gravel roads from hills to mill. Often you see these roads paralleling the hi way.

One big grasp and they're off.

Over to the skids at water's edge. As the load is lowered,
two metal arms come up to hold it there.

Then this machine wraps two steel cables around the bundle

Then down they go where the little tugs push them around.

The boatmen whip these small boats around causing them to lean at very precarious angels, but they alway bob back up. They are like those bottom weighted blow up toys you punched as a kid.

Sayward has a nice campground next to a small lake in the middle of town. (50.380302, -125.960393) I had it to myself, but I was told it is busy on the weekends. $15 CN per night and there is free water and a dump. 

RVer's are always looking for water and a dump. That is not a problem on Vancouver Island. Every town has free water and dump. Very nice.