Rainy Days

Anonymous Campground
Port Renfrew, V.I.


Juan de Fuca Strait is wilder on the Island side. Past Sooke, Hwy 14 deteriorates into the worst paved road I've ever traveled on. Top speed of 35 mph, and not often that. The bedroom TV let go on one of those unexpected bounces, winding up face down in the bed under a tangle of metal. Still works okay. Next time I get near a Home Depot, I think I'll replace it with a bookshelf. I haven't watched it once in the last two years.

I'm at Port Renfrew now, the local version of the end of the world. Things could be worse. The view that I was told went "clear to Japan" ends a hundred yards off shore, when the fog takes over. But there's good chowder at the local cafe, and the waves sing me to sleep each night. When it's not raining too hard.

And I've got internet access in my trailer. Telus, Verizon's partner, does a great job in the hinterlands of BC. The only towns I haven't been able to get on were Jasper and Lillooet, and there I could get voice. I wish the coverage was as good in the PNW. Maybe it's improved in the last couple of years, but used to the west coast of Washington might just as well been the far side of the moon, for cell coverage.

Satellite radio, both XM and Sirius, have also worked well. There's no fade out, no distortion. Either they come in perfect or they don't come in at all. The only trouble has been in tunnels and a couple of deep canyons.

Right after I got here, a fellow showed up in the rain and started putting up canvas shelters and tarp lean-tos. He said at least 30 people were going to be with him on this small beach by the weekend. It seems that at last the coho have smelled enough fresh water, and are coming into the San Juan River. The fishermen are swarming also. So far they are not too boisterous. No drunken singing at night. I have stayed an extra day in hope of a break in the weather, and perhaps to get a picture of this seminal event in salmon life, but tomorrow (Friday) I'm off to Victoria regardless.

It's been a restful day, mostly cooped up in the trailer. A bit of reading, some satellite radio, catching up in Quicken and on the newsgroup. I think I've been traveling too much. I'm still fighting that old "vacation trip" mentality, scheduling something every day. After the PNWCO, I hope to find some place to settle down for a week, to read and watch the gulls fight over bits of clam.

Maybe I'll go up to Klalaloch, and take up a spot in the gravel pit they use for an overflow area. It's right on the beach, as I am now. But after PNWCO. No hurries, no worries, then. Yeah.

Being retired is harder than I thought. Mentally, I mean. Letting go of old habits, old hurries. I keep making up "work" to do. Gotta watch that. There's a rat race at the end of that road.

See you back in the USA.


Bob