Bicycle Mania (VIII): The Long March II:.... Parksville to Ladysmith ... 60 km

6:00
Hangover or Muscle Ache?  Probably a combination of both....

7:30
The chain has been waxed, the neighbours and their car are still sleeping...

... the shirt has been hung out to dry,

.... and I'm a little tipsy again....

9:00
I don't want to pack yet.... I feel like a nap.... not the best starting conditions for a day of cycling....

Jim & his fancy ride

10:00
on y va

I take a detour along the Nanoose Bay road to avoid and drive around a STEEP hill on the highway..... Good thing, because otherwise I would never have seen Bambi & Mother ;-)

But soon the road joins #19, The Island Highway.   And it is HELL ON EARTH.... the flying dirt and dust, the different stenches of different types of exhaust, the torturing NOISE of all those STOOPID Pick-up trucks..... 

Soon I get back on the #19A towards downtown Nanaimo.... not much better but at least the cars only go 60 km/h instead of 100 km/h.   The outskirts of this city are a city-planning atrocity ... One mall after the other.... and all of them have the SAME STUPID Chain Stores..... UGLY UGLY UGLY

Timing issues.... both ferries are FULL and have a one-sailing wait if you're wondering ;-)

I'm weighing my options between the Vietnamese restaurant and a Sushi place.  That Vietnamese place last night was just WRONG...so I try the Sushi place ....

Too bad it's TUESDAY TODAY ;-(

Next stop:  Saigon Kitchen.... I am relieved to see actual Vietnamese staff and hear that familiar sing-song of tieng Viet ;-)

And that Chicken Curry is REALLY good!

it's so HOT that it steams up my camera lens !

It's so good, I have them pack the remaining half to-go and I pack it into the saddle bags.

It's because of the UGLINESS of Nanaimo's Suburbia that I decide to return to the UGLY highway as soon as possible..... because it's still better than riding through Nanaimo with all its traffic and be forced to stop at a traffic light every 100 meters!

A bumpy bike path.... unmarked, of course ... I only found it by accident

And it's not so bad... I FLY up the hills because of a strong tail wind ;-)

Concrete, Cars, Trees.... is that all Canada is ?

I already reach my Ladysmith hotel at 14:00.... My room isn't ready yet... but I REALLY need a toilet.. that curry is having an effect ;-)... the Chinese manager let's me use a room that's just being cleaned...  Xie Xie !

Then  I try to waste that half hour by cycling down to the water...

Memories keep flooding over me.... 5 years and 3 months ago I stayed in the same hotel with George and we walked down to the water..... 

But I also remember how in those days I still let other people rule MY life.... and consequently my life was MISERABLE and one of the great regrets that I will carry to my grave will be that I let my misery affect George.  
Because he didn't deserve that.  
NO ONE deserves that.

As promised the room is ready by 14:30.... thank God it's not the same room that I was in with George 5 years ago... 

16:30
I'm thinking of going to the liquor store, but I'm just too bloody EXHAUSTED ....
Have a tea, maybe that helps ....

17:15
I've done the liquor store.... 

17:45
The Hotel WiFi FAILS..... for some reason it still works for my cell phone, but it does NOT work for my laptop..... I reboot three times... still nothing.... Could my laptop be fucked ????   I walk to the Sushi place around the corner.....

I REALLY do NOT like this town..... but Cultural Appropriation (Native banners), potted pink&white hanging baskets (HIDEOUS!), some old wooden houses, and the fact the 50th Parallel passes through town seem to be enough to attract tourists here...... but then I've mentioned often enough what I think of the median IQ of tourists....

The WiFi at the Sushi place works and my laptop has NO problem picking it up.....

But I'm sitting in a dining room that is simply SATURATED with deep-fry smells... the mediocre food is served in a single-use plastic tray..... God I hate the boonies with their low standards....

By the time I get back to my hotel, the hotel Wifi works again....

Yes, that is a Crack pipe in the flower bed of the roses just outside my window ....

18:30
I feel unable to stand or even sit any longer....

21:00
OMG, I am STILL so tired....

By 21:30 I manage to sit upright again...  Tomorrow will be a complicated day... I better not get lost on those stupid islands .... I check out the route on Google Maps.....