Bicycle Mania (IV):... Madeira Park to Powell River

5:45
that was a comfortable bed.....

Walking up to the street for every cigarette is a pain...  and I forgot how COLD it is here in the morning.... EIGHT degrees Celsius ....

The view of lingering fog from my window

8:00
Breakfast is yummy and fun. Homemade red & black currant jam and Dennis has a keen sense of humour.... we make fun of his guests who won't eat Gluten or Lactose or Red things or Green things or things that grow on Trees...... I kid you not, he has had guests like that

9:45
Where did all that wine go to?   I'm tipsy but still have to hang out here for more than one hour..... the ferry runs less than once every two hours and I don't feel like hanging out at the ferry terminal....

28 more sleeps until I'm back HOME !

10:30
Tonight's Motel is calling me and asking me when I will arrive.... Boonies in Action... maybe the previous guest asked for a late check-out.

10:45
It's too early to leave really, but I want to be outside, take pictures, and smoke cigarettes whenever I want.... 

.... so I leave.

there is a guy playing his guitar in the middle of nowhere just to the left of where I stopped

Ruby Lake....VERY PRETTY 

I reach the ferry terminal by 11:50

One whole hour to wait until my ferry leaves....

I use the spare time to call Grandma.... her caretaker is taking her to get a pedicure today.... one would think Grandma would be happy..... 
NO, still complaining about this and that and then something else.... I am SO HAPPY I am on this bike trip and consequently don't have to see that angry face every day.

12:55
The ferry is supposed to leave but as usual the DUMB CAR DRIVERS were really slow driving off the ferry (NO, that 100 meter safety distance to the car in front of you does NOT apply when you're getting off a ferry).

Of course, there is NO smoking on the ferry.... Car & Diesel exhaust is allowed though....   And there is NO WIFI !  

At least I've found an outlet to charge the bike battery ;-)

13:05
We're finally moving.

A quick climb to the sundeck.... 

One of the vehicles on deck is an ambulance transporting a patient (obviously non-critical).... the ambulance staff opened the rear doors and the patient is enjoying the sun....

.... 15 minutes into the ferry ride, there is a ferry-wide announcement "Would the owner of the silver BMW park behind the ambulance please turn off his alarm system.  The noise is disturbing the patient!".

The ferry approaches Saltery Bay Terminal..... I've been here before... In a GIANT beige camper van... back in 2012, 7 years ago.... 

This time I ride a bicycle and this time I notice things.... like this Bald Eagle:

This is a mountainous country.   So if you get off a ferry (necessarily at SEA LEVEL), there usually is a LONG & GIANT hill leading away from the terminal..... and EVERY single CAR driver is happy to get off the ferry and just GUNS his/her metal cage up that hill....... you can imagine the smell and noise.....  

So I pull over into a nice park entry road... and I smoke and drink some wine.... and wait for all those stupid cars to race up that hill...... I start cycling again when all the commotion has passed ...

yes, that bloody hill leads up to an elevation of ~200 meters...

I find Andrea in her GORGEOUS house. I get fed chili and we drink wine for 1.5 hours... then it's time to cycle to my motel before I fall asleep in that comfy garden chair.

The Westview Hotel is written on a derelict wooden building with one of the seediest bars I have ever entered...Could this be the same hotel where I stayed in 2012?  It has NOT improved, lol.  I am relieved when the bartendress directs me another few hundred meters along the main road to the Westview Centre Hotel ;-) 

Bicycle parking spot with a VIEW 

The first thing to do?  Cycle to the liquor store since I completely depleted my booze reserves at Andrea's place

18:00
I like the slightly-run down but well-kept up feel of this motel (if that makes any sense) so I renew for another night...

19:00
I just wanted to meet Andrea for dinner so we could chat about the missing 12 years.  I was thinking a nice Thai or Sushi place around the corner..... but German Woman made reservations somewhere else....The Laughing Oyster...

The ambiance is something else....

The food is very good (but not quite exceptional)

 After all these years, Andrea is still a tad paranoid..... she is afraid that some of the other guests will understand what we are talking about.... so I am forced to speak German all evening.... to prevent anyone from listening in....

 The bill?  I end up paying and it AIN'T CHEAP...
And I keep thinking that it's a GOOD thing that I have shed a lot of that "Need for Perfection" that Germans seem to have.... I do appreciate 'finer things' but I am perfectly happy eating a $1 meal under a tarp held up by bamboo sticks...

And one should always try to keep things in perspective..... 
just the TIP for the waitress from only our table of 2 ended up being more than a Vietnamese housekeeper earns in 3.5 days !  
And that is Bullshit !






More musings or character-assassinating thoughts..... because after all these years, that slightly spoiled girl of rich parents is STILL there...(actually, she doesn't seem to have changed at all)....  but what rings the loudest alarm bell for me is her sentence "I am not a racist, but if in a school class there are two WHITE children and the rest is CHINESE, then that is NOT OK"..... LOL.... all of a sudden I don't feel as bad about loosing contact with her all those years ago.... BEWARE of people who start a sentence with "I am not a racist, BUT....". 

23:00 This late already......