Road Trip

Port McNeil, BC
THis was an insane idea, but that is the nature of my travel schedule these days.   It’s late – almost 2 in the morning – and I’m awake because I’m still a little buzzed from having driven this trip tonight.   It’s bad enough to drive have the length of Vancouver Island, but crazier still to do it with a six hour flu and starting the whole trip at sundown.

For whatever reason this afternoon I developed a pounding headache in the middle of a little Open Space meeting I was facilitating for our learning community on Bowen Island.   I got a little healing from my friend Roq and popped an advil before lining up for the 5:00pm ferry from Bowen to the mainland.   On the ferry ride over, I could barely gape in awe at the colours of the sky because my stomach joined in the fun.   It was most comfortable for me to stand leaning against the wall with my belly, in a state of half sleep.

Once I reached the other side, I turned around and lined up for the ferry to Vancouver Island, grabbed a shot of espresso from Blenz in Horseshoe Bay (meh) and then borded the 7pm boat to Nanaimo.   On that trip whatever it was that was bundled up inside seemed to just dissipate, and I was clear and calm and quite concentrated actually.   I did a little work on the ferry, resigned myself to a super of apples and oranges and had a cup of tea.

When we arrived in Nanaimo, I put Carmina Burana in the CD player, crancked it and headed up island.   I was completely in flow and stayed alert for the whole 3.5 hours it took me to rocket through the mountains to Port McNeil.   There was hardly anyone on the road at all – I passed probably less than 12 cars between Campbell River and Port, and I was lucky enough to see an elk meandering along the side of the road.   Lucky too that he was on the OTHER side of the road.   Halfway through the trip I switched disks and cranked my friend Moritz Behm’s CD called “Beauty” which is one of my all time favourite road CDs.   It never leaves the road trip case.

I pulled in to the Black Bear Resort (it’s a motel on the edge of town, but comfy enough and the young woman at the counter stayed up past her 11:00 closing just for me, so yay to them for great service) at 12:30 feeling clear and refreshed, as if I had been meditating for the past 7 hours, and indeed I had.   So under good conditions, even at night with patches of fog but a three quarters moon illuminating the snowy clearcuts, it’s 1:30 to Campbell River from Nanaimo and 1:50 to Port McNeil from there.   And that’s good time, within the legal speed limit…mostly.

Later this morning, I’ll be up early to catch a ferry to Alert Bay, where more adventures await.   Amazed though tonight at how solid everything is.   Maybe that guy Roq was working more than just a little headache healing…

[tags] Vancouver Island, Port McNeil[/tags]