For most people, summer vacations normally include some sort of travel, but because of our circumstances, travel was a necessity. We had no home in Canada. During the school year, we lived in a teacherage provided by the school district, and when summer vacation arrived, we were forced to vacate the teacherage, and become gypsies, with no home base.
In 1975, our summer vacation began with us leaving camp on the Northern Thunderbird “Sched”, a regularly scheduled flight on a small plane that stopped at Lovell Cove on Takla Lake, where the Silvacan Resources mill was located. After a bumpy flight to Fort St. James, and then a flight on a regular airline to Prince George, we caught a ride with Frank the camp boss, to Williams Lake, where he dropped us off at a field, where our International Scout truck had been parked since March.
The enthusiasm we had with actually starting our summer vacation, waned when we discovered that the Scout had a flat tire, but what was worse, someone had broken into it and stolen the tape deck, radio, and our tent. We did get a little satisfaction upon discovering that the thieves had forgotten to take the tent poles and camp stove. While they stole a crumby hatchet, they overlooked the tool box and truck battery.
We had to spent the day getting the Scout operational again, before we could finally settle into a our motel room for the night. Bright and early the next morning we drove the Scout down the highway for seven hours, headed for the BC ferry that would take us to Victoria, where we could stay with my cousin, and visit with the her relatives. Once there, we waited for the arrival of more relatives who were due to arrive the next day on the ferry from Seattle.
The next day after a big reunion, we were eager to make up for all the shopping we had missed while we were stuck up in the logging camp. We bought backpacks, a new tent, and I bought my wife a tea set for her birthday. The evening was spent with more food, visiting, and guitar playing with my cousin, before retiring for the night in our new tent that we had set up in the yard.
My cousin, his wife, and my wife, had planned a camping trip to Galiano Island (one of the small Gulf Islands nestled between big Vancouver Island and the mainland). One of the real joys of being in British Columbia were the ferry rides and provincial parks. We parked our car at the ferry terminal and walked onto the ferry.
After the leisurely ferry ride along the beautiful, dramatic and rugged BC coastline, we disembarked and backpacked the short distance to Galiano Provincial park, where luckily, were able to secure the last campsite. Once we got our tents set up, we headed out to explore the beaches, take a swim, then hike back to the campground where we cooked a meal. In the evening, we ambled back down to the shore to marvel at the sun setting in the orange of the sky and water. After a very satisfying day, we finally climbed into our sleeping bags in our cozy tent.
Up next morning we wiped the sleep from our eyes, ready for more of the West Coast experience. We did more exploring on the beach, then returned to the campsite where we packed up our tents and sleeping bags. After hiking back to the ferry terminal, we snacked at the ferry terminal, waiting for the ferry that would take us back. It was a quick getaway, but it made me fall even more in love with British Columbia.
View my paintings at: davidmarchant2.ca
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