22nd - 24th October 1997

Wednesday 22nd October
Today was attempt to find a job day.  We had quite a large breakfast with stuff left over in the fridge, pancakes, fried eggs, toast etc.  Then we went in most of the shops looking for work, there wasn't any.  We started walking to Red Mountain but the hills are amazing and my legs were killing so I stuck my thumb out.  We got a ride eventually and went up to the resort.
What a difference from Whistler!
The resort is basically a 3 storied building.  We couldn't find any signs of life so we ate our lunch and Claire climbed Red Mountain while I napped like a homeless person in the corner by the door.  When she came back we went and handed our resumes in to the resort.  They didn't seem very friendly or promising, so a bit disgruntled we hitched back.  Claire is a bit low at the moment, despite the fact we're watching "Party of Five".  We're in that horrible transition period of trying to get a job and feeling really depressed.

Thursday 23rd October
Today we left for Nelson, we got here in two rides, one to Castlegar and then one more to Nelson.  We checked into the Dancing Bear Inn and then set about finding jobs and accommodation.  We asked in a lot of places and for me at least they weren't very encouraging, but for Claire there was hope, one in particular.  There was the coffee shop called "Glacier" and they had heard of The Coffee Pod and seemed really interested. So we went to a few more places and walked down to the Mall.  On the way there there were some notices about houses so we called a couple of then.  The first one had 1 room spare and was more than happy toilet us share it and split the rent, $550, 4 ways, they said they'd call back.  The second one actually had 2 rooms free so we went to see it.  It was in a really gorgeous house up a long hill but the woman wouldn't let us share a room and it reminded us too much of the Tofino hostel.  We came back to Dancing Bear and watched "Roxanne" and then went to bed.

Friday 24th October
Today I bought my jacket that I have been meaning to get for about 3 months.  It cost quite a bit, $335, but it should last a lifetime.  We also went down to Wal-Mart and got our photos developed and I got my reprints for Aaron.  Today our plans changed so much I lost count i) We were going to do a drive-away ii) We were going to travel iii) We were getting jobs and staying in Nelson iv) We were going to buy a camper van and travel.  We had decided for ii) then Al called and he said there was a van for sale in Tofino, unfortunately Claire didn't seize the moment and it wasn't until after the conversation that we decided iv) may be an option.  I called Aaron, and woke him up yet again, to ask if he could deliver a message to Al's van about checking out the new van for us.  Then we were busy dreaming about how cool it would be to travel right across Canada and into Nevada for Christmas and back up the West Coast of California and Washington State to Whistler for jobs in January.

<these are extracts from my diaries written whilst travelling and working in Canada and the US in '97-'98>