Getting ourselves to that big island

On July 1, Canada Day, we drove from Chilliwack, BC to the Tsawassen ferry terminal near Vancouver. Got there early, and so hung out at the terminal’s long-term parking for a couple of hours. We had reserved a late-afternoon sailing because BC Ferries offers quite the discount for long rigs on sailings after 4 PM on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the summer.

It was hot here, too, but not as hot as Chilliwack. I took advantage of this layover to do a copywriting assignment for a client. There was also ice cream for Sooz. Whee!

I should note that, in the ferry lineup, we saw another Escape trailer — a 19, I think. We all waved to one another. At one point I walked over to chat, but they had gone off to get ice cream or a soda or whatever. Oh well.

At last, onto the BC Ferries Coastal Inspiration and into the bowels of the ship. Very warm bowels. Doggies not allowed anywhere else, so we walked them around the car deck and took turns going up to the passenger deck to get food. It turns out the Cafe serves up some excellent salmon filet sandwiches and Caesar salads. Best ferry meal ever, not that that’s saying much.

We spent most of the time inside Toto, reading, sharing sandwich bites with the boys, and wishing it was a little bit cooler. It felt like we had been uncomfortably hot, off and on, for three days, and that was just enough, thanks. We were all pleased enough when the alert sounded to get in our vehicles and prepare to disembark.

Tyler and Wally wondering if the day would ever end. “We gotta get out of these car seats, Dad. We’re cramping up. And what exactly does disembark mean? We don’t like the sound of it.”

It’s just a ten-minute drive from the Duke Point ferry terminal to the Living Forest Campground and RV Park. It’s a big place! We’ll be back here for two days next week — this is just a one-nighter to break up the travel to our ultimate Tofino destination. Because we only needed one night, we were lucky to snag an “oceanfront” site.

That Escape 19 checked in not long after us — I saw their site, not far from ours, on a walk the next morning. Again, I missed the people, but they certainly have wonderful taste in RVs.

From site 141 at The Living Forest Campground and RV Park in Nanaimo. We drank in the view, and also some wine.

Parked, set up. Surprise! Though the Living Forest website had suggested we would need to unhitch and park TinMan beside Toto, the site was plenty long enough for our rig, and flat enough that we didn’t need to do much leveling. We sat outside — still in the high 80s (F), so we plugged in a fan (Toto has an outdoor electrical outlet), which kept us cooler and discouraged bugs, too. Meanwhile (after a good walk, of course) the boys were conked out in the trailer. Pretty soon, so were we.

We liked this campground and we’re glad we’re headed back to it for two days next week. Now I have to go for a walk on the beach. Someone has to do it.